Institutional Career Development Core

The KL2 training program within OCTRI is built on a strong foundation of excellent scholar outcomes, with a strong rate of progression to independent funding, a pool of faculty scholars in multiple disciplines, and supportive mentorship. Scholars and the mentor pool are recruited from OHSU and our academic partners, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Portland State University. The goal of the OCTRI KL2 program is to train a corps of clinical and translational scientists in the skills and competencies of clinical and translational research who can employ cutting edge technologies to translate discoveries made in the laboratory to the patient and the community. Through this program, we will select outstanding early faculty who are committed to developing a research career; each of the scholars will participate in a mentored research experience with a minimum protected time of 0.75 FTE. Scholars will develop a career development plan with the aid of a mentor team – which will include a designated primary mentor – to assist with career development, networking, manuscript writing, and grant development. Scholars form an independent development plan with their mentor and program leadership to enhance their research competency. Training is individualized and scholars participate in activities to enhance their research and career development needs: development of research competencies in clinical and translational research, professional activities, and experiential learning. Scholars enroll in the curriculum of the Master of Clinical Research program; all scholars must participate in training in qualitative methods, scientific communication, and research leadership. Professional development includes opportunities through the OCTRI Scholar program for peer networking, Design Studio, and access to research consultation. Community engagement will be emphasized in research development, with all scholars gaining experience with stakeholders. Scholars will also gain experience with grant writing and grant review. The goal of this program is to produce an independent, transdisciplinary clinical and translational researcher. The expectation is that scholars will move to an independent K award at the end of the KL2 funding period.