The University of Wisconsin (UW) Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) Mentored Clinical Scholars Program (KL2) began in 2007 against a rich university background of superb,graduate-level education and training programs relevant to clinical and translational research. Now entering its tenth year, the KL2 program has an enviable record of achievement by its scholars; of 64 individuals trained, 91% remain in academic positions, 63 extramural grants have been received, and 665 papers have been published. This success is built around the dual institutional and ICTR commitment to provide scholars with the training, mentorship, and protected time necessary to develop an independent research career. The challenge of the coming grant cycle is to maintain this record of success and continue to train future leaders in clinical and translational science in the era of interdisciplinary team science. New NIH requirements and the increased complexity of the program led to the appointment of Manish Shah, MD, MPH, and Anna Huttenlocher, MD, as program Co-Directors, over the past year, and multiple PIs for the KL2 grant. With a highly developed and effective strategy in place for scholar selection, KL2 career development programs will focus on provision of competency-based training that is based upon Individualized Career Development Plans (ICDP). Scholars will be offered both didactic and experiential learning experiences with an emphasis on value-added training. Beyond obligatory components, any needed additional training in research skills will be detailed in the ICDP and various scholars can take advantage of elective courses, MS or Certificate programs in Clinical Investigation, as appropriate. The KL2 Career Development Seminar series exposes scholars to topics in leadership, professional development, interpersonal and professional communication skills, and strategies for engaging community stakeholders in research. In addition, the K2R Seminar Series engages scholars in R-series grant writing, including revisions after actual and mock study section critiques. Woven throughout will be a simultaneous commitment to facilitate productive team science and communicate the value of mentor and mentee training as reflected by the introduction to scholars of self-guided learning modules from the Northwestern University COALESCE project and a comprehensive KL2 Mentoring Program based on the National Research Mentoring Network, respectively. Completely novel in the new grant cycle, Research Externships and Field Experiences will be available relevant to clinical and translational research. Finally, ICTR will continue to work with the UW School of Medicine and Public Health to enhance the recruitment pool for diverse scholars at UW by supporting long-range ?pipeline? programs, targeting diverse faculty recruitment, and creating a diversity friendly research environment.
| Bishop-Fitzpatrick, Lauren; Movaghar, Arezoo; Greenberg, Jan S et al. (2018) Using machine learning to identify patterns of lifetime health problems in decedents with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 11:1120-1128 |
| Plafkin, Callie; Singh, Tripti; Astor, Brad C et al. (2018) Kidney transplant recipients with polycystic kidney disease have a lower risk of post-transplant BK infection than those with end-stage renal disease due to other causes. Transpl Infect Dis 20:e12974 |
