The purpose of the NIH Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) is to support the career development of individuals with a clinical doctoral degree who have made a commitment to focus their research endeavors on patient-oriented research. The overall goal of the NIH Research Career Development program is to help ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained scientists is available in appropriate scientific disciplines to address the Nation's biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs. NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) support a variety of mentored and non-mentored career development award programs designed to foster the transition of new investigators to research independence and to support established investigators in achieving specific objectives. Candidates should review the different career development (K) award programs to determine the best program to support their goals. More information about Career programs may be found at the NIH Extramural Training Mechanisms website.

The objective of the NIH Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) program is to provide salary and research support for a sustained period of "protected time" (3-5 years) to ensure a future cadre of well-trained scientists conducting Patient-Oriented Research (POR).

The specific objectives of the Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award are to:

o Encourage research-oriented clinicians to develop research skills and gain experience in advanced methods and experimental approaches needed to become independent investigators conducting patient-oriented research;

o Increase the pool of clinical researchers who can conduct patient-oriented studies, capitalizing on the discoveries of biomedical research and translating them to clinical settings; and

o Support the career development of investigators who have made a commitment to focus their research endeavors on patient-oriented research.

For the purposes of the K23 award, Patient-Oriented Research is defined as research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator (or colleague) directly interacts with human subjects. This area of research includes: 1) mechanisms of human disease; 2) therapeutic interventions; 3) clinical trials; and 4) the development of new technologies. Excluded from this definition are in vitro studies that utilize human tissues but do not deal directly with patients. In other words, patient-oriented research is research in which it is necessary to know the identity of the patients from whom the cells or tissues under study are derived. Studies falling under Exemption 4 for human subjects research are not included in this definition. See also the NIH Director's Panel on Clinical Research Report.

Note: This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for applicants proposing research that does not involve leading an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or an ancillary clinical trial. Applicants to this FOA are permitted to propose research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor. Applicants proposing a clinical trial or an ancillary clinical trial as lead investigator, should apply to the companion FOA. Applicants to this FOA are permitted to propose research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor. The number of awards is contingent upon NIH appropriations and the submission of a sufficient number of meritorious applications.