Scholars to be supported by the institutional career development program must be at the career level for which the planned program is intended. Scholars are expected to devote a minimum of 9 person-months (75% of full-time professional effort) during the appointment on the K12 award.

Scholars must be citizens or noncitizen nationals of the United States or have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time of appointment. Additional details on citizenship requirements are available in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

At the time of appointment to the K-12 Program, candidates must:

• Be a pediatrician holding the MD or DO degree.
• Have completed postgraduate residency training in pediatrics.
• Be no more than four years after attaining board eligibility in their subspecialty.
• Identify an approved mentor or mentors with extensive research experience.
• Not be or have been a PD/PI on an R01, R29, U01/U10, subproject of a Program Project (P01), Center (P50, P60, U54) grant, or individual mentored or non-mentored career development award (e.g., K01, K02, K08, K22, K23, K24, K25, K99). Individuals who are or were PD/PIs on NIH Small Grants (i.e., R03s) or Exploratory/Developmental Grants (i.e., R21s) may be eligible providing they meet the other eligibility requirements. Individuals who received Pediatric Scientist Development Program (PSDP) K12 funds are eligible for this program, subject to the six-year limitation on mentored K support described below.

The program is designed to support three scholar positions per year. Appointments may be two to three years in duration, consisting of consecutive 12-month terms. Scholars are generally expected to hold junior faculty appointments. However, scholars may be appointed to the K12 program in the final research year of subspecialty fellowship training if the fellowship provides research training similar to this K12 program.

Some individuals who are interested in the K12 program may have had a career hiatus because of family responsibilities, uniformed service, or other circumstances. For such individuals, the hiatus will not count against the three-year limit specified above. New scholar appointments may be made at any time during the year.

During the period of this award, scholars may not accept or hold any other PHS award that duplicates the provisions of this career award. However, scholars may compete for individual mentored career development awards (e.g., K01, K08, K23, K25, K99) provided they meet the eligibility requirements of those programs. Scholars may not hold concurrent K awards.

Combined support through the K12 and other NICHD mentored career development award programs must not exceed six years.

Please contact Karen Hagan at karen.hagan@vumc.org with questions.