Reissuance of the Short-Term Mentored Career Enhancement Award in Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research for Mid-Career and Senior Investigators (K18)

Research Training and Career Development Branch
Division of Extramural Activities

Goal

The goal of the NIDCR Short-term Mentored Career Enhancement Award in Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research for Mid-Career and Senior Investigators (K18) is to facilitate the continued research career development of established investigators and build multidisciplinary and collaborative teams dedicated to improving dental, oral and craniofacial (DOC) health. The program provides investigators with an opportunity (1) to acquire new research capabilities in the theories, tools, methods, or approaches of a scientific field different from their own, to enrich and expand an existing DOC research program, or (2) to bring DOC research to existing research in other scientific fields. The goal of renewing this program is to continue research enhancement opportunities for established investigators that will build new multidisciplinary research teams and bring novel and innovative approaches and diverse perspectives to improving DOC health.

Background

The overall goal of this initiative is to build new collaborative partnerships among scientists that expand multidisciplinary approaches by incorporating new scientific areas or disciplines to improve DOC health. The NIDCR K18 program was inspired by the success of the trans-NIH Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet), which offered a short-term mentored award twice with great success in FY2010 (RFA-OD-10-003) and FY2011 (RFA-DE-11-003). The OppNet program provided mentoring in new research directions and resulted in ongoing research collaborations. Twenty-five percent of the first group of OppNet awardees submitted a new grant application along with their mentor within the first year after completing the award. By targeting established investigators, the NIDCR short-term mentored award is anticipated to attract investigators new to DOC research, to establish new collaborations, and to increase the pool of qualified investigators and multidisciplinary and diverse teams conducting rigorous oral health research.

The NIDCR short-term research enhancement program provides a short-term research experience for established investigators at the mid-career (tenured, associate professor or equivalent) to senior (full professor) career levels who have research accomplishments including publications and records of independent, peer-reviewed Federal or private research support, who can demonstrate the proposed career enhancement program will represent a novel extension of their current research program, will broaden the DOC research community, and will have a positive impact on DOC research.

Gaps and Opportunities

The NIDCR Research Training and Career Development Branch currently participates in two funding opportunities to support the career development of established investigators: the National Research Service Awards for Senior Fellows (F33), and the Mentored Quantitative Research Development Award (K25). The F33 Senior Fellowship award may be up to two years duration and requires full time professional effort. Typically, these awards are used to enable experienced scientists to broaden or make major changes in their research programs and career trajectories under the guidance of a qualified mentor during a sabbatical. The goal of the K25 is to attract to NIH-relevant research those investigators whose quantitative science and engineering research has thus far not been focused primarily on questions of health and disease. The K25 supports postdoctoral fellows to senior faculty investigators with quantitative (e.g., statistics, economics, computer science, physics, chemistry) and engineering backgrounds to integrate their expertise with NIH-relevant research. The award requires a minimum of 75% of full-time professional effort devoted to conducting health-related research over a project period from three to five years.

The NIDCR short-term research enhancement program fills a gap in research training opportunities available for established investigators that is flexible in the amount of professional effort required and in the duration of the training experience and can be uniquely tailored to the candidate. The award provides salary support and research expenses for a minimum of 2.5 months to a maximum of 12 months in duration. Candidates must devote a minimum of 2.4 person months (e.g., 100% effort for 2.5 months) up to a maximum of 6 persons months (e.g., 50% effort for 12 months) to the project. The mentor must be an active investigator in the area of the proposed research training and must be committed to the career development of the candidate and to supervising the candidate’s research. In addition, the mentor must document the availability of sufficient research funding and facilities to support high-quality research.

Since the initial concept approved in 2012, the NIDCR Short-term Mentored Career Enhancement Award in Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research for Mid-Career and Senior Investigators (K18) funding opportunity announcement (FOA) has been issued three times (PAR-14-039, PAR-16-179 and PAR-19-238). The active FOA PAR-19-238 focuses on research enhancement and building multidisciplinary collaborations in three areas: (1) behavioral and social sciences research, (2) translational genetics and genomics, and (3) data science, computational biology, and bioinformatics. Priority areas of interest for these programs are provided in the K18 PAR-19-238.

Outcomes

To date, NIDCR has received applications from eight investigators in response to the three funding opportunity announcements (Table 1). Two awards have been made (25% of the applicants) to established NIDCR investigators seeking research training in bioinformatic analysis of the human microbiome to enhance their existing DOC research program. The awards are currently active.

Table 1. NIDCR K18 Funding Opportunity Announcements, Applicants and Awards

FOA N. Applicants % awarded
PAR-14-039 3 0
PAR-16-179 2 0
PAR-19-238 3 2 (67%)

By comparison, between 1980-2020, of 68 applicants for the NIDCR F33 fellowship, 42 individuals (62%) were awarded F33 fellowships. Subsequent to their F33 fellowship award, 15 of the 42 investigators (36%) were awarded a subsequent NIH grant (any type), and 12 (28%) were awarded subsequent R01s. Although these are promising outcomes, recent interest in the F33 fellowship program appears to be modest. Since 2010, only four individuals submitted F33 applications, and two awards were made. The NIDCR Short-term Mentored Career Enhancement Award in Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research for Mid-Career and Senior Investigators may be a more favorable funding opportunity for investigators seeking to incorporate new or innovative research approaches and collaborations to expand and advance their research program.

For the Mentored Quantitative Research Development Awards (K25), between 2001-2020 (dates of the earliest and most recent NIDCR K25 applications), 10 investigators among 20 applicants (50%) were awarded K25s. The awardees were all junior investigators at the time of award. Among these 10 individuals, 4 (40%) were awarded subsequent grants (all R-type), and 2 (20%) of the individuals had subsequent R01 or equivalent awards. Compared with the F33, since 2010, 10 individuals submitted K25 applications, and 4 awards have been made.

The outcome(s) of the NIDCR K18 short-term research training program will be evaluated using similar metrics including subsequent multidisciplinary research grant applications and awards, and publications incorporating the new research areas and/or multi-disciplinary teams. It may be anticipated that K18 established investigators would have similar success as the F33 awardees in obtaining subsequent R01 and other NIH grants, and possibly greater success in competing for subsequent NIH grants than the more junior K25 applicants since the time of initial K18 or K25 award.

Reissuing the NIDCR Short-term Mentored Career Enhancement Award in Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research for Mid-Career and Senior Investigators funding opportunity will provide continued support for a mentored research experience that is flexible in the amount of professional effort devoted to the activities and in duration of the experience and can be uniquely tailored to build collaborative and diverse teams to advance DOC research.

Specific Areas of Interest

  • Provide continuity in the program by continuing to support research training in: (1) behavioral and social sciences research, (2) translational genetics and genomics, and (3) data science, computational biology, and bioinformatics.
  • Expand data science to include artificial intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML).
  • Encourage diverse research teams, broadly defined.
  • Broaden opportunities for research experiences and collaborations. Support career enhancement in:
    • Preclinical research for basic scientists or clinical applications of basic research.
    • Clinical and translational research, patient-oriented research, and experiences developing or incorporating new or innovative approaches at any stage in the spectrum of translational science.
    • Technology development, experiences in industry.
    • Other new, novel, or emerging/cutting edge technology, multidisciplinary or diverse team approach with high potential to advance any field of DOC research.