PROJECT SUMMARY
The Deep South Translational Science Mentored Career Development Program K12 will support the training
and advancement of Scholars to address the growing gap between research and the translation into clinical
practice. Our Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) Partner Network of 11 institutions brings
existing training infrastructure and ongoing partnerships. Integrating diverse and complementary approaches
within our clinical translational science (CTS) teams will accelerate scientific innovations and promote
enhanced prevention, treatment, wellness, and health equity for the individual, the community, and ultimately
the population in our region, which is disproportionately burdened by chronic disease and poor health
outcomes with social inequity being at the root cause We aim to create a career development program that
instills Scholars with mastery of translational research (TR) core competencies through a curriculum that will
nurture “translational thinking” and working with those outside their discipline. To be successful translational
researchers, Scholars will acquire knowledge of translational science (TS). Over the grant period, we will
provide career development for 24 Scholars who will be supported by a collaborative research base (136
mentors) with more than $277 million in extramural funding. Our overall goal for this career development
program is to facilitate new, and expand existing, innovative early career training opportunities across
the translational spectrum in areas such as drug discovery, integrative “omics”, clinical informatics,
community engagement, and dissemination and implementation science with the goal of addressing
disease and health disparities that disproportionately impact residents of the Deep South. We will
mentor early career investigators and facilitate their growth into academic leaders within our Partner
Network and nationally. Our specific aims are to: 1) Identify, recruit, and matriculate a cohort of Scholars
across the CCTS Network diverse by race, ethnicity, gender, scientific discipline and institution.; 2) Provide an
intensive multidisciplinary, continually updated curriculum and collaborative, experiential TS training program
with emphasis on diseases and health disparities prevalent in the US Deep South; 3) Enhance the
individualized career development of translational scientists representing a broad range of clinical and
methodological disciplines through individual-, peer-, and team-based mentoring approaches, with a focus on
future grant development and submission support to assist in successful career transition; 4) Advance
mentoring, foster “team science,” and continue the expansion of cross-institutional training experiences for K12
Scholars and other early career investigators. The Deep South Translational Research K12 will provide
new and expand existing infrastructure across our Partner Network to recruit and train individuals with
significant potential to be highly successful translational scientists and to mentor them toward
becoming leaders nationally with the ultimate goal to improve health outcomes in the Deep South.