Applicants must hold a full-time faculty appointment at the University of Michigan. Applicants must already have a graduate degree.

Scholars are required to cost-share 37.5% of their salary with their home departments with the remaining 37.5% of the salary being funded through the MCSD program.

Candidates:

Suitable candidates are junior clinical faculty, mid career faculty interested in changing their career focus from basic to clinical research and fellows with a strong academic background who wish to pursue an academic career based on clinical research. Candidates may have demonstrated interest in research by having worked in a research laboratory or participated in patient-oriented research projects. They may have acquired skills at the bench and are now poised to translate those skills into clinical research protocols or may have served as co-investigators in clinical trials. While the definition of clinical research is broad, the selection committee would like to see applications in which the proposed research is GCRC-based. The NIH requires that the scholar devote a minimum of 75% effort to the training program. In identifying candidates, departments should select for nomination those individuals in their faculty or fellowship program with great promise for a successful academic career.

Candidates who already receive federal funding that supports their salary (K23, VA Career Development or similar types of support) are not eligible.

Mentor:

Candidates may have already identified a lead mentor with whom they wish to work. The mentor should be an investigator who is currently funded or may have had in the recent past NIH R01 type funded research or comparable types of grants such as a VA Merit award. This is an NIH recommendation to insure that the scholar will receive proper guidance in successful future grant applications. The UM K12 program has an excellent cadre of potential mentors in various fields of clinical research that could complement resources available in the scholars’ home department. It is envisioned that the scholar will have a scientific advisory committee selected with the assistance of the training program that will define their training requirements.

Training requirements:

Individuals without prior training will be advised to follow a structured program based on the existing University of Michigan K30 curriculum leading to a Master’s degree in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis. This basic core curriculum can be supplemented with additional courses appropriate to the type of research being conducted. Individuals with an MD, DDS or PharmD combined with a PhD or MPH will be advised on developing a curriculum appropriate to their background training and future research and career needs by the Program Advisory Council. In either case, the training plan will be carefully individualized according to need.