Transitioning from National Institutes of Health Career Development Awards to R01-Equivalent Awards in Clinical...

There are 15 research career development awards from the NIH, but 70% of funding is allocated to just four awards: K01, K08, K23, and K99. We analyzed K01, K08, K23, and K25 mentored career development awardees and quantified if they received subsequent independent research project grants such as an R01 or an R01-equivalent award (R01⁺) within 5 years of the K award end date. All data were from NIH RePORTER and limited to clinical departments. All K01, K08, K23, and K25 researchers (n = 7711) were identified through a search from NIH Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 to FY 2021. NIH datafiles for FY 2007 to FY 2021 were aggregated to generate a master datafile of all R01⁺ awards (n= 552,396). Each R01⁺ award was then linked to the corresponding K awardee previously identified through the K awards search. There was a gradual increase in R01⁺ success rates as time from the end of the K award increased; however, 5 years after the K award end date, less than half of the awardees had an R01⁺ as contact PI. Therefore, should a K awardee remain in academia, a substantial percentage may require institutional support and/or pursue funding in roles other than contact PI on an NIH grant in order to support their research programs. These findings may be useful to junior investigators as they plan their K grant applications and to clinical departments as they evaluate K awardees for independent research positions.