USBJI Young Investigator Initiative Career Mentoring Program

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Abstract This proposal seeks funding to support the Young Investigator Initiative (YII). The YII is one of the flagship programs of the United States Bone and Joint Initiative and was established to train the next generation of musculoskeletal investigators in the art of preparing high quality grant proposals. The program/conference occurs over two weekends separated by 12-18 months. In the first phase of the YII, early stage clinical and basic science investigators learn the principles of proposing hypothesis-driven research and preparing significant and innovative grant proposals. They are assigned 2-4 experienced mentors who work with them in developing their research question. The young investigators then write and submit a grant proposal. After receiving a critique of their proposal from the awarding agency’s review group, they return for the second phase of the YII program (usually after 12-18 months). In this phase, the participants learn how to respond to the critique and refine and improve the application. The application is then resubmitted. This iterative process continues until the investigator receives funding. The success of the YII mentoring program has been remarkable. Since its establishment in 2005, over 950 scientists have applied for training. 484 have been accepted. These individuals have received 1,918 grants totaling over $572 million dollars. The success rate for funding is 59.9%. The YII strongly supports diversity in recruiting young basic and clinical scientists into the program. 48% of the participants are female. We ensure that arrangements for child and family care and handicap access are available at the conference sites. Moreover, recruitment of under-represented minority candidates is a major feature of YII. In this regard, the YII partners with a number of U.S. medical schools to identify potential minority candidates. Also, if necessary the YII will waive any fees for these individuals. The scientists that comprise the mentoring faculty are all former NIH and CIHR study section members with many years of experience. Their involvement in this program is voluntary. They participate because of their commitment to keep full the pipeline of new musculoskeletal investigators. Most of the budget requested in this proposal will be used to defray the expenses of the faculty and procure the conference venue. The team responsible for managing the YII program is Nancy Lane, M.D., UC Davis, Howard Hilstrom, Ph.D. Hospital for Special Surgery and Edward Puzas, Ph.D. University of Rochester.