Career Enhancement

Prepare fellows to successfully compete for a funded career development award appropriate for their career stage (foundation-funded, institutional, K12, K23/K08, or similar award). Selected fellows will work with their mentors to create a comprehensive training plan tailored to their career stage and will be responsible for carrying out the following activities:

1. Attend periodic meetings with their advisors
2. Participate in translational research journal club meetings and webinars
3. Present at least once at the BDSRA Foundation’s annual Family Conference – attended by families, clinicians, researchers, foundations, and the pharmaceutical industry.
4. Prepare at least one manuscript for publication related to the NCLs
5. Attend the RDCRN annual meeting
6. Submit at least one application for research funding within 12 months of fellowship completion

Eligible candidates must be actively affiliated with a US-based academic health care institution; they must be within five years of completing their terminal clinically oriented training; and they must have a doctoral degree in medicine, psychology, nursing, genetics/genetic counseling, occupational or physical therapy, or speech language pathology; others licensed to practice clinically may also be eligible. Candidates from non-clinical disciplines will only be considered if proposing a career development plan integrated with their institution’s clinical team focused on the NCLs. In addition to faculty, strong post-doctoral or clinical fellows may be considered as long as at least 3 calendar months are dedicated to the activities of the program. Candidates who propose animal studies will not be considered. Applicants are required to have a local primary mentor and are encouraged to establish a mentoring team.

Candidates should submit:

• Abstract (structure: long-term objectives and specific aims of the proposal, relevance to improving care for the NCLs, research design and methods for achieving the stated goals, and outline of the career development plan, max. 4000 characters)

• Funding proposal as a single PDF attachment (formatting requirements: Arial, 11pt font, margins at least one-half inch):

  • Research plan (max 5 pages, including a specific aims page, approach, and a timeline outlining research and career development milestones)
  • Career development plan (max 2 pages, including personal statement, career development activities, and future funding goals)
  • References
  • Candidate NIH biosketch
  • Primary mentor NIH biosketch
  • Budget and budget justification
  • Primary mentor letter of support

The Oversight Committee will review and provide a written critique of each application. Applications will be judged on innovation and scientific rigor using NIH criteria, and potential for impact and future funding. We will place high priority on candidates proposing projects that align with Batten community research priorities, those leveraging existing work or data of the BDCRC, individuals with career development activities that reflect ECIG training priorities, and those with clinical experience in the NCLs. We will prioritize candidates from institutions without a previously funded ECIG.

Reviews typically occur over 4-8 weeks.

The budget for direct costs, including salary and fringe, cannot exceed $65,000 per year. Indirect costs cannot exceed the institutional federally negotiated indirect rate or 78%, whichever is lower. Funding should be requested for 12 months.