Physician-Scientist Program

Program Overview:

The College of Medicine seeks to develop its basic science, clinical and translational research programs. The success of this effort will depend heavily upon training physician scientists. The specific focus of the Physician-Scientist Program is to support promising junior faculty members of the College of Medicine in the early stages of career development in clinical non-patient-oriented and translational research. For this program, patient-oriented research, as defined by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens, and cognitive phenomena) for which the investigator directly interacts with human subjects. This Program will provide salary support up to a maximum of $75,000 per year for a maximum of three years. The overall goal of this Program is to position the candidate for a competitive NIH K08 application.

Submission deadline is 12 p.m. on March 28, 2008. General questions regarding the program or concerning the application process may be directed to Dr. Geanie Umberger at geanie.umberger@uky.edu.

Program Eligibility Requirements:

Candidates for the Program must meet the following criteria.

1. M.D., D.O., or M.D./Ph.D. degree;
2. Academic appointment as an instructor, assistant professor or, in exceptional cases, an associate professor, in the Regular or Special Title Series;
3. Interest in and commitment to a clinical/translational academic career; and
4. Clinical privileges at University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital.

Application Process & Requirements:

Candidates should submit the following materials to:

Geanie Umberger, Ph.D., MSPH, RPh
College of Medicine Dean’s Office,
MN 150, Chandler Medical Center, speed sort 0298

The application process is modeled after the NIH K08 mechanism. Incomplete applications may be returned to the applicant unreviewed.

1. Candidate’s Statement describing the candidate’s qualifications, commitment to a career in clinical and/or translational research; commitment of 75 percent of total professional effort to the career development activities; and justification for the need for mentored training. (maximum – two pages)
2. Career Development Plan with short- and long-term career goals; and details of the didactic and experiential training proposed to achieve the goal of the Program – submission of a competitive K08 application. (maximum 2 pages)
3. Research Plan that will serve as an educational platform for the candidate’s career development. (maximum – 10 pages)
4. Mentor’s Statement & Mentoring Plan describing the mentor’s scientific qualifications and experience as a mentor; extent and quality of his/her proposed role in guiding and advising the candidate; history of research productivity and support. (maximum – two pages per mentor)
5. Environment & Institutional Commitment from the division chief and/or department chairperson detailing the facilities; resources and training opportunities being made available to the candidate; the source(s) of funding for the candidate’s research and the guarantee that the candidate will have a minimum of 75% time of his/her total professional effort protected for the proposed career development activities during the three-year period of the award. (maximum – one page)
6. NIH-style Biosketch of the candidate
7. NIH-style Biosketch of each mentor
8. Letters of Recommendations describing the candidate’s interest in and potential for a career in patient-oriented research. (maximum – two-page recommendations; three recommendations required)

The application should be constructed following the aforementioned page limitations and conform to current NIH PHS 398 guidelines with regard to margins, font and font size (no smaller than size 11).

Review Criteria and Evaluation:

All applications will be reviewed by the Physician-Scientist Committee. The committee holds the right to interview the most promising applicants when applicable. The Committee will place particular emphasis on the following aspects of each application.

1. The candidate’s promise to develop a competitive application for an NIH K08 award during the support period
2. The candidate’s promise to ultimately develop as an independent clinical and/or translational researcher
3. The quality and extent of the candidate’s mentor(s) and the mentored experience
4. The commitment of the candidate’s division or department to his/her career development including the provision of adequate resources and protected time

The committee will consider applications from associate professors in exceptional cases and the justification for the exception must be made in the candidate’s and the mentor’s statements.

The Committee will develop mechanisms for the annual review of all funded scholars including but not limited to:

1. Annual progress reports;
2. Participation in Physician-Scientist Program activities:
1. Spring and Fall Research Conferences hosted by UK’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS);
2. Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series held the first Thursday of each month in HG 611 (go to www.ccts.uky.edu for the schedule of speakers);
3. CTS Seminar Series hosted by the CCTS (go to the CCTS Training, Education, and Mentoring site at www.ccts.uky.edu for scheduled activities);
4. Biannual Physician-Scientist scholar meeting;
3. Construction of a K08 application during the course of the program’s support.

Following the Feb. 29 deadline the committee will meet to review the applications. Incomplete applications may be returned unreviewed. The applicant will receive a critique and notification of fundability within eight-weeks of committee review. For successful applicants, funding will begin July 1, 2008.