Program Requirements

The Scholar is expected to devote 50% effort to the program to match salary support to be provided. The program has four components.

·         Required didactic materials
These include Responsible Conduct of Research; the 2-semester CTR Scholar Leadership seminar series; and any required regulatory training based on the project although most will be expected to complete human subjects training, if they have not already. The Scholar Leadership seminar series uses innovative blended learning activities and strategies, where blended learning is defined as fusing face-to-face and online learning experiences allowing increased control by the learner over content, time, place, pace, and nature of the learning activities.
This approach is a more personal, student-centered, modular, and flexible method of instruction than that provided by a face-to-face classroom-only delivery of courses. All scholars are invited to the scheduled CTR monthly seminars focused on innovative CTR methods, approaches or teams. They will be asked to watch at least 8 seminars per year, in person, by webcast live or from the archived web-based recordings.

·         Scholar-driven mentored research project
Much of the scholar’s time will be focused on conducting a research project developed with and closely monitored by the scholar’s mentor team. The primary mentor will assure that the scholar commits 50% effort to the program. The project should be designed to obtain the strategic data needed for an extramural grant application within 3-4 years submission. 

·         Robust mentoring team, monitored by the PD-KCA Directors
In addition to primary mentors, other mentors will include a biostatistician or epidemiologist and a biomedical informatics expert or an IT programmer, based on the project. Using the Triadic Model of Mentoring, the scholar, their research mentor(s), and the KCA Director and Operational Director will meet every 6 months to assess the scholar’s interactions with their mentor team, and if the relationship is effective. The mentor team will help the scholar’s develop their career development plan, their Pilot project, and their final grant application, and report any problems with the scholar’s progress they identify to the KCA leadership.

·         Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary interactions
Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary interactions are a key component of the IDeA-CTR Scholars Program, between IDeA-CTR scholars, their mentors, and other CTR faculty. Planned activities are built into the training program to reinforce this concept through the CTR Scholar Leadership seminars, CTR lectures, and the Annual Scientific Meeting, where they will also have an opportunity to interact with COBRE scholars. These activities are paramount to the development of a successful CTR investigator by assuring they are comfortable interacting with CTR investigators from many different disciplines important to developing a cohesive CTR team.