Outcome Evaluation of NCI Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (K08) Program

Clinical Scientists are an integral part of advancements in biomedicine as they leverage their expertise in the clinical aspects of disease when conducting scientific research. These investigators face several factors that can impact their advancement to independent research careers such as having sufficient protected time to devote to academic work outside of clinical duties and the funds to support their research efforts. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (K08) is designed for this career path, and provides the necessary protected time for an intensive, supervised research career development experience, salary, as well as mentored guidance to help clinical scientists advance to independence. We analyzed former K08 awardees, as well as unfunded applicants to determine how receiving an NCI K08 award impacted research careers in terms of attaining substantive R01 or R01-equivalent (R01eq) awards, timing of R01eq awards, and institutional support. This information was additionally supported by surveys and interviews with K08 awardees with one or more R01eq awards, K08 awardees with no subsequent R01eq awards, and early-stage investigators that did not apply for the NCI K08 award. Results show that programmatic changes in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 allowing for increased salary and research development support resulted in a more than threefold increase of K08 applications by FY 2024. This corresponds with an increase in NCI investment in the K08 program that exceeded $50 million in FY 2024. Awardees also hold more active grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and are located at more resource-rich institutions than those without an NCI K08 award. These results also show a slight delay in transition to independence as measured by time to first R01 award by K08 awardees. Survey respondents highlighted protected time as one of the most impactful factors towards establishing research independence while noting low salaries and insufficient research budgets remain as barriers. The NCI K08 program is important in the development and retention of clinical scientists and aiding them in achieving research independence. Potential program changes such as increased resource funds, decreased time of award duration, and post-award career development support for transition to independence may further improve K08 outcomes.