Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for CCaTS' KL2 Mentored Career Development Program, applicants must:

• Be employed at Mayo Clinic. KL2 scholars must have a 1.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) appointment in a consultant track position (including AC, SAC or consultant appointments as a career scientist, collaborative scientist or clinician) and be eligible to apply as a primary investigator for independent National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Applicants that have appointments in the research temporary professional to consultant path (research fellows, senior research fellows or research associates) may apply if they submit additional documentation with their applications that their department chair will support an application to at least an AC position in the event the KL2 funding is awarded. Residents or fellows in the final year of their programs may also apply if they provide documentation of a Mayo Clinic staff appointment meeting the KL2 eligibility requirements and which will start at or before the time the KL2 funding commences.

• Have a doctoral degree in a discipline applicable to clinical research. These degrees include but are not limited to:

  • M.D.
  • Ph.D.
  • M.B.B.S.
  • M.B., Ch.B.
  • Dr. P.H.
  • D.O.
  • D.D.S.
  • D.M.D.
  • O.D.
  • D.C.
  • Pharm.D.
  • Psy.D.
  • D.N.S.
  • D.Sc.N.

  Biostatisticians, epidemiologists, behavioral scientists and nurses with doctoral degrees also are encouraged to apply. Preference is given to applicants with a doctoral GPA of greater than 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

• Be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. Permanent residents must have a U.S. Permanent Resident Card or other verification of their legal status as a permanent resident at the time of application. Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible.

• Commit to 3 years in the program. During this time, at least 75% of the scholar's full-time professional effort must be devoted to the KL2 Program. The remainder of the scholar's time may be devoted to other clinical or academic pursuits that are consistent with the objective of developing a career as an independent clinical researcher.

  If sufficiently justified, scholars in certain clinical specialties, such as surgical specialties requiring enough patient care time to maintain skills, may have less than 75% effort, but no less than 50% effort.

• Be pursuing a clinical and translational research project. For the KL2 Program, clinical and translational research includes:

  • Epidemiologic and natural history studies
  • Translational research
  • Patient-oriented research
  • Clinical trials
  • Outcomes research that will lead to improvements in human health

  Review scholar profiles for examples of previously funded research.

• Identify a mentor. At least one mentor must be an investigator at Mayo Clinic with extensive clinical or translational research experience.

• Not be the recipient of an R01, P or U54 award. The applicant cannot have been a principal investigator on an NIH R01 award or on a subproject of a program project (P01), center (P50, P60 or U54) or other equivalent research grant award. Applicants may have had support on a National Research Service Award grant (F or T series) or NIH small grant (R03).

• Not have similar pending applications. Applicants may not have any simultaneous pending applications for other Public Health Service mentored career development awards, including any other K award mechanism, at the time of funding.

NOTE: The KL2 award is NOT intended for individuals making midcareer changes into clinical research.

Contact

The CCaTS Education Contacts page contains a listing of team members who can assist you with questions.