CTSA K12 Program at the University of Florida and Florida State University

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

The overarching goal of the CTSA K12 Program at the University of Florida (UF) and Florida State University (FSU) is to educate and train early-stage investigators (ESIs) for leadership roles in translational science. Our highly successful KL2 program (founded in 2009), supported a group of emerging scholars who have gone on to scientific success. Specifically, our KL2 scholars had a high rate of achieving research independence, with 71% receiving their own NIH K or R awards within the two-year award period. We have also traditionally funded an additional 1-2 scholars per year from internal funds, comprising nearly one-third of all KL2/CTSA-supported scholars, demonstrating our immense institutional commitment to this program. In 2015, our KL2 was integrated with FSU, and we were able to fund four scholars from FSU. However, further steps were needed to fully integrate with FSU. This new K12 program further establishes the UF-FSU partnership and is further integrated through: (1) addition of an FSU MPI to co-lead the program across institutions and campuses, (2) integration of the K12 Advisory Committee, which is now co-chaired by UF and FSU leaders, (3) addition of representatives from satellite campuses to the K Advisory Committee (KAC), (4) provision of dedicated K12 positions for FSU ESIs, (5) FSU faculty leading approximately 1/3 of Translational Science Academy educational sessions, and (6) an increased number of K scholars with integrated mentoring teams with faculty from both UF and FSU. The new K12 will leverage the experience of MPIs with complementary expertise and oversight from an integrated advisory committee, with a tailored 2-3-year curriculum designed to support the needs of our ESIs and advance them towards independent research careers that will advance Translational Science. This K12 Program encompasses UF Health Sciences campuses and FSU’s main (Tallahassee) and satellite campuses (Panama City and Sarasota). We have also updated and enhanced our overall curriculum to include: (1) a transition from largely educating in translational research to a focus on Translational Science via several new offerings, including the Translational Science Academy, a monthly series that will educate on the 8 principles of Translational Science including an asynchronous option, (2) change in duration of K12 scholar support from two years, to a 2-3 year program, (3) more hands-on, direct education, interaction, and mentorship between K12 MPIs and scholars via the K12 core content curriculum, and (4) required mentorship training for all listed K12 mentors, with a new option for asynchronous mentor training. In addition to scholars directly supported by the NCATS K12, the K12 infrastructure will educate and train many more ESIs via additional institutional funds. Consistent with our previous CTSA efforts, our K12 program will serve as the organizational model for research career development of ESIs across all UF-FSU campuses using best practices of translational science.