Institutional Career Development Core - The KL2 Mentored Clinical Scholars Program attracts a diverse group of highly talented junior faculty across
multiple disciplines from across Yale University (Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, Faculty of Arts
and Sciences, Engineering and Applied Science) who will pursue careers in T1-T4 translational research. This
Program has been extremely successful, attracting 151 Scholars who have authored >5200 publications, have
been PIs on 258 NIH grants, and have received a total of $557 million in grant funding. Remarkably, 99% of
our KL2 Scholars have attained positions in academia, industry or public health conducting, and often with
leadership responsibilities for, clinical and translational research. We aim to build on this success by providing
Scholars with individualized, competency-based training in translational research that prepares them to
contribute to the learning healthcare system, to advance personalized health, and to address health disparities.
This preparation includes training in clinical trials, big data, machine learning, bioinformatics, multidisciplinary
translational research, team science, implementation science and community-based participatory research. It
also introduces them to regulatory issues, bioethics, Good Clinical Practices, and factors that drive rigor,
transparency, and replicability. The KL2 promotes the development of relevant competencies among the
Scholars by providing: 1) opportunities to work successfully in complex and diverse multidisciplinary research
teams, 2) access to mentorship by senior mentors and recent Clinical Scholars, 3) externships in industry,
public health and regulatory agencies, and 4) intensive training in grant-writing and in multidisciplinary team
science. To oversee these diverse, highly motivated junior investigators, we have an educational leadership
team of: 1) three outstanding investigator mentors who work in different areas of translational research, 2) an
experienced Diversity Officer, and 3) an expert in evaluating and dynamically reshaping medical education
programs. This leadership team has used feedback from prior Scholars and their mentors to add new initiatives
to the already successful program. We expanded our logic model to implement social network analyses to
track the activities of the Scholars, and we will expand the curriculum to include a new course. That course will
mix Scholars and TL-1 trainees who will work in teams as they get formal training and peer mentoring in a
variety of areas such as big data/machine learning, diversity and inclusion, and running a research laboratory.
With these additions to an already strong curriculum, we believe that the Yale Mentored Clinical Scholars
Program will be ideally positioned to train the next generation of leaders in T1-T4 translational research who
will transform healthcare in ways that alleviate the burden of disease and improve health in the US and around
the world. The Specific Aims of the KL2 are:
Aim 1: The Yale Mentored Clinical Scholars Program: To provide a program comprised of a mentored
research experience, coursework, and seminars that are intended to promote the emergence of scientific
independence and the career development of talented young T1-T4 translational scientist Scholars.
Aim 2: The Yale Masters in Health Science Program: To provide those M.D. Scholars who do not possess
an advanced research degree with additional coursework and scholarly activities to qualify for a Masters in
Health Science (MHS) to address limitations in their scientific preparation for a research career.
