Contact PD/PI: Bernard, Gordon R Inst-Career-Dev-001 (640)
Vanderbilt-Meharry Edge for Scholars Career Development Core (KL2)
ABSTRACT
The goal of the Vanderbilt-Meharry Edge for Scholars Career Development Core is to inspire careers
dedicated to interdisciplinary translational science and to produce leaders in the field who are optimally
prepared to guide and participate in ground-breaking transdisciplinary teams. We have a record of excellence
preparing early career scholars. Overall 93% remain in academics, 96% in research, and 81% are federally
funded as PIs; 55% are site PIs or co-investigators with 50% or more of effort for research. Their careers are
thriving. Current and prior awardees represent more than 20 disciplines and many clinical backgrounds
including anesthesiology, chemistry, emergency medicine, hearing and speech, medicine, nursing, pediatrics,
and thoracic surgery, with nearly even numbers of clinically trained and PhD-prepared scientists. We serve ten
trainees (5 grant; 5 internally funded), and request an increase to 12. Program elements are purposefully
designed for connecting, enlarging, and sustaining our community of translational scientists. Edge Scholars are
grounded in the fundamentals of translational research, prepared to lead independent research programs,
trained to effectively deploy innovative interdisciplinary approaches to attack and solve problems, and are
committed to pursuing research that taps into the power of teams for driving breakthroughs. Scholars are
selected by competitive review of applications from a demographically diverse pool of early career faculty.
Training is individually tailored to the investigator in the context of structured interdisciplinary mentorship and is
overseen by the PI (Hartmann) and Co-Director (Bastarache). The environment is further enriched by myriad
institutional resources that ensure our researchers flourish. In this proposal we add a science communications
initiative and extend Pathways to all Scholars. Pathways combine didactic, intensive, and experiential learning
to consolidate competencies in eight areas: Biostatistics & Epidemiology, Data Sciences, Clinical Context (for
non-clinical scholars), Learning Healthcare System, Measurement Methods, Sex & Gender Biology,
Technology Transfer & Innovation, and Race, Ethnicity, Disadvantage & Health. Scholars form a mentor panel,
participate in frequent work-in-progress groups and activities, receive formal evaluation each year, attend
twice-monthly career development seminars with other K scholars, and are regularly exposed to case studies
on responsible conduct of research, and rigor and reproducibility. Scholars access: 1) an array of cores; 2)
biostatistics consultations; 3) manuscript groups; 4) technical editing; 5) studios with experts to vet scientific
ideas, research designs, and aims; 6) robust intramural pilot and feasibility funding; and 7) grant writing
resources including grant workshops, a library of funded grants, and mock study sections. Tools are in place to
evaluate both scholars and mentors over time and to continuously enhance our program. Further oversight is
provided by the Advisory Committee and external site reviewers and we extensively share with other CTSAs.
Combined, these efforts assure we carefully foster excellence in the next generation of translational scientists.
Project Summary/Abstract Page 1792
Contact PD/PI: Bernard, Gordon R Inst-Career-Dev-001 (640)
REFERENCES
1. Ranking Tables of National Institutes of Health (NIH) Award Data 2019.
http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/2019/NIH_Awards_2019.htm. Accessed October 6, 2020.
2. Roden DM, Pulley JM, Basford MA, Bernard GR, Clayton EW, Balser JR, Masys DR. Development of a
large-scale de-identified DNA biobank to enable personalized medicine. Clin Pharmacol Ther.
2008;84(3):362-69. PMID: 18500243. PMC3763939.
3. Bowton EA, Collier SP, Wang X, Sutcliffe CB, Van Driest SL, Couch LJ, Herrera M, Jerome RN, Slebos
RJ, Alborn WE, Liebler DC, McNaughton CD, Mernaugh RL, Wells QS, Brown NJ, Roden DM, Pulley JM.
Phenotype-driven plasma biobanking strategies and methods. J Pers Med. 2015 May 14;5(2):140-52.
PMID: 26110578. PMC4493492.
4. Harris PA, Taylor R, Thielke R, Payne J, Gonzalez N, Conde JG. Research electronic data capture
(REDCap)--a metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research
informatics support. J Biomed Inform. 2009;42(2):377-81 PMID: 18929686. PMC2700030.
5. Harris PA, Scott KW, Lebo L, Hassan N, Lightner C, Pulley J. ResearchMatch: a national registry to recruit
volunteers for clinical research. Acad Med. 2012;87(1):66-73. PMID: 22104055. PMC3688834.
6. Pulley JM, Jerome RN, Bernard GR, Olson EJ, Tan J, Wilkins CH, Harris PA. Connecting the public with
clinical trial options: The ResearchMatch Trials Today tool. J Clin Trans Sci. 2018 Aug;2(4):253–57. PMID:
30820361 PMC6382290.
7. Harris PA, Swafford JA, Edwards TL, Zhang M, Nigavekar SS, Yarbrough TR, Lane LD, Helmer T, Lebo
LA, Mayo G, Masys DR, Bernard GR, Pulley JM. StarBRITE: the Vanderbilt University Biomedical
Research Integration, Translation and Education portal. J Biomed Inform. 2011 Aug;44(4):655-62. PMID:
21310264. PMC3118397.
8. Bhagia J, Tinsley JA. The mentoring partnership. Mayo Clin Proc. 2000 May;75:535-7. PMID: 10807085.
9. Carey EC, Weissman DE. Understanding and finding mentorship: a review for junior faculty. J Palliat Med
2010 Nov;13:1373-9. PMID: 21091022. PMC3000901.
10. Flores G, Mendoza FS, DeBaun MR, Fuentes-Afflick E, Jones VF, Mendoza JA, Raphael JL, Wang CJ.
Keys to academic success for under-represented minority young investigators: recommendations from the
Research in Academic Pediatrics Initiative on Diversity (RAPID) National Advisory Committee. Int J Equity
Health. 2019 Jun;18;18(1):93. PMID: 31215424. PMC6582500.
11. Geraci SA, Thigpen SC. A review of mentoring in academic medicine. Am J Med Sci. 2017
Feb;353(2):151-7. PMID: 28183416.
12. Sambunjak D, Straus SE, Marusic A. A systematic review of qualitative research on the meaning and
characteristics of mentoring in academic medicine. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Jan;25(1):72-8. PMID:
19924490. PMC2811592.
13. Jackson VA, Palepu A, Szalacha L, Caswell C, Carr PL, Inui T. "Having the right chemistry": a qualitative
study of mentoring in academic medicine. Acad Med. 2003 Mar;78(3):328-34. PMID: 12634219.
14 Manson SM, Martinez DF, Buchwald DS, Rubio DM, Moss M. Vision, identity, and career in the clinical
and translational sciences: building upon the formative years. Clin Transl Sci. 2015;8(5):568-72. PMID:
26271774. PMC4626326.
15. Robinson GFWB, Schwartz LS, DiMeglio LA, Ahluwalia JS, Gabrilove JL. Understanding career success
and its contributing factors for clinical and translational investigators. Acad Med. 2016 Apr;91(4):570-82.
PMID: 26509600. PMC4811729.
16 Nearing KA, Hunt C, Presley JH, Nuechterlein BM, Moss M, Manson SM. Solving the puzzle of
recruitment and retention-strategies for building a robust clinical and translational research workforce. Clin
Transl Sci. 2015 Oct;8(5):563-67. PMID: 26009882. PMC4626410.
17. Yin HL, Gabrilove J, Jackson R, Sweeney C, Fair AM, Toto R, Clinical and Translational Science Award
Mentored to Independent Investigator Working Group Committee. Sustaining the clinical and translational
research workforce: training and empowering the next generation of investigators. Acad Med. 2015
Jul;90(7):861-5. PMID: 26414054. PMC4587496.
References Cited Page 1793