UT Southwestern Center for Translational Medicine

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The UT Southwestern Center for Translational Medicine's (CTM) KL2 Scholars Program already has a proven track record for growing a new generation of Scholars who have become leaders in clinical and translational research (CTR). Our KL2 program, with an ethos of continuous improvement based on metrics and changing needs, has been a model of unique and centralized CTR training in our Hub. Our training curriculum has been streamlined and modernized, and the diversity of our Scholars across all important domains has greatly increased. In the new grant cycle, we will elevate our KL2 program to the next level through innovative programming and cost sharing of CTSA, institutional and hub resources. We will appoint three new KL2 Scholars per year for a two-year term (ongoing total of six/year). KL2 Scholars will engage in mentored research training, take formal coursework and short nanocourses on emerging CTR topics, and submit manuscripts and grant proposals to secure individual career development and/or research grants (K2K and K2R conversion, respectively) in a timely manner, to minimize the career-disrupting “K-cliff.” Careful program evaluation will guide us to restructure elements further to increase the diversity of those we train and broaden the disciplines and institutions from which the Scholars are recruited. The new KL2 plan proposed here is significant and innovative. We will strategically leverage CTSA core and institutional resources to broaden the KL2 program's impact and provide CTR training to an expanding pool of biomedical workforce. The four Aims are integrated through our unique culturally-aware Tiered Mentorship Model, which includes mentorship by primary and secondary research mentors, program directors, near-peer mentors, and Scholar self-mentoring. We propose: Aim 1. Ensure personalized research career development, with customization by a faculty-level Curriculum Navigator and a longitudinal training roadmap; Aim 2. Catalyze collaboration and innovation by launching team science, community engagement, innovator studios and women in technology programs; Aim 3. Promote K2R conversion to independent investigators by strengthening longitudinal K2R progression along the K2R roadmap, creating an Interdiscipinary Sandwich Junior Mentor-in- Training Program and a CTR-Scientific Management program to address unique needs of junior CTR PIs; Aim 4. Expand and strengthen the diverse CTR investigator pipeline by providing CTR training to existing underrepresented trainee career development programs. Impact: Institutional resources will be leveraged to expand the KL2's footprint and enlarge the CTR Scholar community. Rigorous evaluation metrics will be used to enable us to improve our program iteratively. Our forward-thinking and integrated training paradigm will greatly expand the number of Scholars armed with the tools for success and empowered to anticipate and adapt effectively to become CTR leaders of the future.