Child Neurologist Career Development Program

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Project Summary / Abstract Disorders of the developing nervous system are common, affecting roughly 15% of the population. To improve the lives of children (and adults) with such disorders, we are in critical need of an enhanced pipeline of child neurology physician-scientists who will drive the innovative research necessary to lead to improvements in prevention, diagnosis and intervention. We propose, in this renewal application for the Child Neurologist Career Development Program (CNCDP-K12), to build upon our extant program, providing intensive, mentored career development for pediatric neurologists committed to being independently funded physician-scientists. This NINDS funded program is the nationalized version of the Neuroscience Academic Development Award (NSADA), a program granted to individual institutions. While the NSADA supported the research career development of numerous child neurologists, the program has under-delivered at the national level, as measured by the number of funded scholars to receive individual K awards, arguably due to its yoking to up to 10 specific institutions. By contrast, the CNCDP has a single Program Director with an Executive Leadership comprising 8 highly collaborative physician-scientist pediatric neurologists who are national leaders in the discipline. The CNCDP has 2 faculty committees: a 15 member Scientific Advisory & Review Committee (SARC) and a 4 member National Advisory Committee (NAC). The faculty members comprising these committees, all accomplished physician- scientists with over 25% from non-pediatric neurology disciplines, have diverse sets of expertise. The SARC reviews scholar applicants/applications and serves as extra-institutional advisors. The NAC provides to the leadership ongoing critical evaluation of the program. Under the CNCDP, individual pediatric neurologists (within 3 years of completion of clinical training) from any academic institution in the US can apply. The applicant must demonstrate a high quality and feasible research project, a robust career development plan, and institutional environment supportive of physician scientist career development, and an institutional letter of support committing appropriate protected time to research and career development. The Annual Meeting, a 2.5 day retreat attended by all faculty, funded scholars, applicants, NIH staff, and others, constitutes a mechanism for intensive mentoring and career development through small group sessions, one-on-one meetings, scholar presentations of their work (with intensive focus on quality presentations and articulating specific aims), and other career-enhancing curriculum. Program curriculum is also provided year-round through webinars/video conference. At the Annual Meeting, the SARC reviews the applications and recommends typically 6 of the most meritorious for 3 years of funding. A total of 30 scholars (90 scholar-years) are to be funded. The CNCDP provides highly structured oversight of the scholars' progress as well as institutional and scholar commitment to the program's requirements. Success of the program will be measured by a high rate of both scholars and non-funded applicants achieving individual K level funding or the equivalent.