Notice of Support for Clinician-Scientists Supported by NINDS Mentored Career Development K08 or K23 Awards to Attend a Workshop

Notice Number: NOT-NS-13-028

Key Dates
Release Date: July 16, 2013

Issued by
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Purpose

Each year, the NINDS and the American Neurological Association (ANA) sponsor a workshop designed specifically for clinician-scientists who obtain a Mentored Career Development Award (K08 or K23) from NINDS. This workshop is also available to clinician-scientists supported by other mentored K awards, including the K12 and K99 awards. This workshop is organized and run based on the expectation that participation will have a large, beneficial influence on the success of K awardees in their pursuit of a dual career as outstanding clinicians and independently funded research scientists. The workshop has been given annually for over 10 years, is evaluated and updated annually and has been considered to be very beneficial by those who have attended.

The faculty of this workshop includes senior NINDS staff, Chairs of Neurology Departments, established clinician-scientists in neurology and clinician-scientists who recently transitioned from mentored K awards to independent funding. The workshop covers a wide range of topics, including grant writing, career development and problem solving for multiple issues pertinent to this population. In addition, the workshop includes a poster session and significant opportunities for attendees to network among peers, leaders in neurology research and NINDS staff.

The NINDS/ANA workshop typically begins on the Friday evening and continues all day on the Saturday immediately preceding the start of the ANA annual meeting.

NINDS K awardees are invited to attend this workshop twice (in non-consecutive years) during the 5 year K award period. It is intended that K awardees will attend this workshop during the 1st and 4th year of the K award. However, it is understood that time conflicts can arise, so historically, some K awardees have attended during the 2nd, 3rd and/or 5th year of their awards.

The purpose of this Notice is to inform NINDS K awardees of a change in financial support provided with their K awards, which is intended to facilitate attendance at this workshop. Currently, mentored NINDS K awards include $50,000 per year for research and career development expenses. Effective June 1, 2013, for new awards made subsequent to May, 2013 NINDS council, an additional $1,000 per year will be added to the research cost budget, for a total of $51,000 per year. This additional funding is being provided with the expectation that K awardees will use some or all of it to attend the NINDS-ANA sponsored workshop twice during the first four years of the K award.

Starting with K awards made on or after June 1, 2013, K awardees are expected to attend the workshop twice, once during either the 1st or 2nd year of the K award and once during the 3rd or 4th year of the K award (and not in consecutive years). It is highly recommended that scholars attend during their 1st and 4th year, but it is understood that, due to scheduling conflicts, this timetable may not always be possible. Because much of the emphasis of the workshop is preparation for transition to independent funding, which should be in process during the 5th year, funds will not be provided for attendance at the workshop during the 5th year of the award.

This additional $5,000 over the duration of the award is being provided specifically to enable attendance at the annual workshop. Consequently, K awardees who have not attended the workshop twice during the first 4 years of their K award will receive a total of $46,000 in the year 5 research cost budget, which will maintain the research cost budget of the K award at an average of $50,000 per year to support research and career development activities.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Stephen Korn, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Training, Career Development and Workforce Diversity
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2153 
Bethesda, Maryland 20892
Phone: 301- 496-4188
Email: korns@ninds.nih.gov
Website: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/funding/areas/training_and_career_development/index.html