JHU SOM Clinician Scientist Career Development Awards

CLINICIAN SCIENTIST AWARD

Background and Purpose

In an effort to promote the research career development of young faculty physicians in the clinical departments, the School of Medicine has created a fund for the provision of salary and fringe benefits. Allocations from this fund are based on a competitive application process which is tied closely to concurrent efforts to obtain external support of research. This initiative has been developed to address the problem of increasing pressures on young faculty to expend substantial clinical effort in order to generate sufficient funds to support their salaries. The purpose of these awards is to protect the research time of qualified young faculty.

Eligibility

• M.D. degree (or equivalent)
• Full-time primary appointment as instructor or assistant professor in a clinical department, salaried by the University at the time of initiation of the award
• Nomination by the department director and commitment to permit at least 75% research effort if an award is made
• Submission of an existing, pending or draft application for external research support – especially career development/ mentored awards (e.g., NIH K08, K23) or other career awards for new investigators obtained through a competitive peer review process (federal or non-federal)
• Active role as a clinician and evidence that the award of a CSA will in fact result in protection of research time which otherwise would be devoted to clinical practice

Application Deadline
We offer two cycles each year.

Our Fall 2024 deadline will be November 25, 2024.

We are moving to standard deadlines in 2025!

Spring Cycle (Award Start – July 1):
April 1 (or the next business day)

Fall Cycle (Award Start – January 1):
November 1 (or the next business day)

All applications are due by 5PM on the deadline date.

Award Amounts

• Awards may be made for up to $80,000 per year for a maximum of two years to support up to 75% of the applicant’s salary and benefits. Salary support from external awards will be subtracted from the 75% figure in determining the exact amount of the internal award. The CSA is not intended to supplement external support in order to enable the applicant to devote more than 75% effort to research
• Funding beyond the first year is dependent on the continuation of the Program and a satisfactory progress report
• Expenditures are limited to salary and fringe benefits 
• Awards to faculty with concurrent external support equal to/greater than $50,000/year (direct costs, irrespective of funding purpose or restrictions) will be limited to a maximum of $40,000 CSA support per year. 

Application Submission

• Applicant will email their CSA applications to [email protected] by 5:00 PM on the due date listed above.

Guidelines and Required Documents

1. Coversheet
2. Abstract
3. Letter of Support from department director addressing:
   • a. Qualifications of applicant and career plans
   • b. Research space (building, room number) and facilities available to the applicant
4. Letter from applicant addressing:
   • a. Overall plans for research career development
     • i. Specific impact of successful application (include information on the extent and nature of your clinical responsibilities with and without the CSA)
     • ii. Listing of other existing, pending or planned research support (internal or external)
     • iii. If this not your first application for the CSA, be sure to also provide specific details about your progress since your earlier submission and how this application addresses your previous reviews
5. Letters of support from two people (other than the department director):
   • a. At least one letter should be from the mentor, which addresses the interactions with the mentee and the mentor’s track of mentoring individuals
   • b. A letter from the applicant’s lab director is expected if the applicant is working in facilities other than their own
6. Applicant’s curriculum vitae
7. Copy of existing (funded), pending (submitted) or draft (unsubmitted) application for external research support or career development from a sponsor (federal or private) which makes selections based on a peer review process.
8. NIH Summary Statement, if available.
9. Appendix material (i.e. reprints pre-prints, or other supporting materials).
10. One-page Mentoring Plan (required only if the application – see #7 above – does not include a mentoring plan).
11. Salary and Effort Planning Form
    • a. Enter salary figures only on this form (do not include fringe benefits).
    • b. TOTALS should include projected yearly increases when proposed period overlaps beginning of new fiscal year (July) or salary changes proposed at other times.

Criteria for Selection

• The grant – Is the grant sufficiently focused and is the applicant able to articulate the potential strengths and weaknesses in the application?  Can the applicant address questions that the reviewer may raise about the application’s scientific issues or the overall structure of the grant proposal?
• The quality of the mentor/applicant relationship.
• The productivity of the applicant both in prior publications and in the development of preliminary data for the grant.
• The commitment of the mentor, division director, and department director to protect the applicant’s research time.
• The strength of the recommendations.
• The strength of the career development plan.
• The overall feasibility of the applicant’s ability to complete the specific aims of the grant and publish the results in peer-reviewed publications.

Reporting

• To document the benefit of this program, successful applicants will be required to report to the Committee on their research, publications, and funding for several years following their award.

Cognizant Office

• Further information on this Program may be obtained by sending an email to [email protected]

CURRENT RECIPIENTS

Second Year Funding

• A second year of CSA funding is usually awarded at no more than the level of the first year, provided that the candidate has demonstrated sufficient progress, and has a continuing need for salary up to 75%.
  • – The awardee will automatically receive notification regarding the format of the renewal report at least one month before it is due. 
  • – Please note that salary support from external awards will be subtracted from the 7% figure in determining the exact amount of the internal award. 
  • – The CSA is not intended to supplement external support in order to enable the applicant to devote more than 75% effort to research.  If funding equal to or greater than $50K is received by the awardee, notification must be given to [email protected] when the NGA is received.  In such cases, your CSA second year award may need to be capped or relinquished.
• If a draft application was used to apply for the first year of CSA funding, an application for a research project or career development award must be submitted to a peer-review sponsor prior to applying for the second year’s funding.