UIC K12 Independent Clinical Vision Scientist Development Program

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Abstract: This is a competitive renewal application for the UIC K12/Independent Clinician Vision Scientist (ICVS) Development Program. The success of this program is indicated by its recruitment of high caliber clinician scientists into the program and their progress towards an independent research career as measured by their achievement in securing external funding. From 20 highly-qualified applicants, 8 were accepted into the program and they have had a high success rate for securing NEI external funding. The proposed program takes a needs-assessment approach to identify the barriers to achieving independence that confronts clinicians who have demonstrated the skills needed to become independent clinician scientists and designs a K12 training program to address those needs. The program recognizes that immersion in research under the guidance of excellent mentors is a key ingredient for investigator transition to independence. Therefore, the Department proposes the K-12 curriculum for mentoring scholars who have demonstrated readiness to be immersed in a research project. UIC K12/Independent Clinician Vision Scientist (ICVS) Development Program aims to provide an academically-rich and supportive environment to enable qualified early-stage clinician vision scientists to engage in a structured and mentored learning experience that will facilitate career advancement and enable trainees to become independent scientists. The program has two goals: Goal I is to promote a public university-public health agency partnership to train independent clinician vision scientists (ICVS); Goal II is to provide scientific development, authentic mentorship and professional development of the UIC K12/ICVS scholars and ensure their transition to independence. Achievement of these goals will enable UIC K12/ICVS Development Program scholars to transition to independence become national leaders in vision health research, and to become the educators, mentors, and role models for a new generation of vision health researchers.