One Path to a Research Career
The mentored career-development award (K23, K12, K08) sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is probably the best modality for helping psychiatrists become researchers. This can be obtained by applying to one of the institutes that are part of the NIH. Most psychiatrists apply to either the National Institute on Drug Abuse or National Institute for Mental Health.
The research career development award provides 75 percent of your salary, with your home institution putting up the rest. This funding formula ensures that your time is protected and can be devoted to research rather than a second job to supplement your income. In addition, it provides adequate funds for the researcher to employ a research assistant. This article will address the preparation, writing, and submission of material to obtain a career-development award.
The first step in preparation for the K award is to choose a research fellowship with a strong track record in developing researchers. This should be as close as possible to your area of interest. Next, you need a mentor and a niche. It is important to realize that you may have one key mentor who is an expert in the topic or field on which you have chosen to focus but several others in various aspects of your career development.
The next step is to learn about effective grant writing, either at conferences, your institution, or both. Our psychiatry department has annual K award training sessions. In addition, our division of addiction psychiatry has an unofficial grant-review body. No grant application leaves the division without the express approval of several members of this group. Ultimately, learning has to be by doing. Writing a grant proposal forces you to think through your ideas critically and becomes a central learning experience in terms of mastering the scientific field on which you are focusing.
Research fellowships generally last two years. During the first year, you should write a protocol and a review paper related to your area of concentration and start gathering data for your pilot study. Then analyze the data, present the data at a scientific meeting, and start plans to publish in a peer-reviewed journal. At the end of your first year as a fellow, establish with your mentor a timeline for your K award application. You will need at least three months to write an application that has a good chance of being successful. Generally, multiple drafts and revisions are needed to develop an excellent proposal.
Probably the most time-consuming part of your K award application will be the “Specific Aims and Background” section. A thorough review of the literature is necessary. The aims section ideally should fit on one page. The background section is a more-detailed expansion of the aims section. Both sections combined should be no more than six or seven pages.
The next area of great significance in this race against time is the design and methodology section. This is the scientific heart of the proposal and is necessary for writing the budget. You will need help from your departmental administrator or business office in preparing the budget and justification. Most require a month’s lead time.
Finally you can address areas pertaining to your professional background. Here, there is a need to demonstrate commitment and interest in research. You need to demonstrate that you have access to experts both within and outside the institution who would help develop your skills as a researcher. It is very helpful to have pilot data and some publications to demonstrate your skills and potential as a researcher.
The bulk of your work needs to be completed about three weeks before the deadline for submission. This gives you time to collect necessary administrative signatures, make revisions, and submit the proposal on time.
Grant-application reviewers make their decision based on five criteria: significance of the project, approach, innovation, investigator (the primary concerns here are related to the commitment and perceived potential), and the environment (considerations related to your current training institution and department).
Scores ranging from 100 (excellent) to 500 (poor) are awarded. In addition you get a percentile score that shows how your score compares with that of other similar grant applications submitted in recent rounds. Generally a score of 150 or lower has a good chance of being funded. Successful grants take approximately one year from submission to receipt of funds.
The importance of mentorship in developing a research career cannot be overemphasized. With adequate training, strong commitment, and an excellent proposal, the chances of winning one of the K awards are high. And persistence and desire certainly pay off as well. ▪
Evaristo Akerele, M.D., is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry and co-director of the Addiction Psychiatry Research Fellowship at Columbia University.
