The Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center at the University of Michigan is the administrative home for HEAL National K12 Clinical Pain Career Development Award. The HEAL K12 is a mentored career development program to provide protected time for early career clinicians and scientists to focus on training and conducting clinical pain research.
This award is intended for scholars who may not be ready for a traditional K-award or independent research (R) award, come from institutional environments that cannot adequately support the scholar’s career and/or research objectives, and/or who are unable to form a mentoring team that would make them competitive for a training or independent research award in clinical pain.
Additional questions about this training opportunity can be sent to UM-HEALK12@umich.edu.
Register for our informational webinar to be held on September 15, 2023, at 2-3 p.m. EDT, via zoom.
Call for Applications
The Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor is requesting applications for the HEAL* National K12 Clinical Pain Career Development Award (HEAL K12). The HEAL K12 is a mentored career development program designed to provide protected time for clinicians and scientists to focus on training and conducting clinical pain research. Awards provide a minimum of 75% salary support (up to $100,000/year) plus fringe benefits, and $50,000/year in research support costs, for up to 3 years.
This award is intended for scholars who may not be ready for a traditional K-award or independent research (R) award, come from institutional environments that cannot adequately support the scholar’s career and/or research objectives, and/or who are unable to form a mentoring team that would make them competitive for a training or independent research award in clinical pain.
Successful applicants will have at least one home-institution mentor who will serve as their primary mentor. The HEAL K-12 program will then work with the scholar to match them with a senior pain research mentor of national stature as well as a mentor with lived pain experience. Training is split between the scholar’s home-institution and didactic resources available remotely or in-person at the University of Michigan.
Eligibility
- The candidate must aspire to be a clinical pain researcher housed within any educational or health services institution in the U.S. that has resources to conduct clinical research.
- Eligible candidates will hold a doctoral degree (e.g., MD, DO, DDS, PharmD, or PhD) and be within several years of having started their first faculty position.
- Scholars must be citizens or non-citizen nationals of the U.S. or have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time of appointment.
- The department or division Chair of the candidates’ home institution must commit to providing the candidate a minimum of 75% protected time for this training.
HEAL K12 scholars will develop their own tailored training program that includes:
- Remote didactic training in pain science.
- Completion of a clinical research project.
- Didactic course work in regulatory sciences, research ethics, biostatistics, and/or specialty electives relating to topics of interest.
- Attendance at career development seminars, pain conferences, and the 3-day NIH PURPOSE
- Conference on Pain Education (required).
- Presentation of research through local, national, and international events.
- Cross-disciplinary mentoring designed to assist with career development and research.
Application Process
The HEAL K12 award follows a 2-tier application process.
Tier-1: 2-Page Letter of Intent
The candidate submits a Letter of Intent (LOI) that includes:
- A brief description of the proposed research project or the nature of the planned research (250 words).
- A brief description of the nature of training that is needed (e.g., gaps in prior training) to be proposed in the full application. (250 words)
- Home institution mentor(s), if known.
- Eligibility Statement (1 page).
The Eligibility Statement describes an applicant’s need for the HEAL National K12 award and the unique perspectives their candidacy brings to the clinical pain research workforce. The candidate should comment on one or more of the following:
- Why the candidate needs or would benefit from the HEAL National K12 award prior to submitting a traditional K-award or independent research (R) award.
- Why the candidate’s home institution cannot adequately support his/her career and/or research objectives without the HEAL National K12.
- Indicate if the candidate comes from an institution that traditionally receives low levels of NIH funding for clinical pain research, comes from a professional discipline rarely represented in clinical pain research, or is interested in specializing in an understudied area of clinical pain research.
For candidates who qualify as being from an underrepresented population in the U.S. biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences research enterprise, as defined by NOT-OD-20-031 may consider submitting a letter of support from their institution along with the LOI.
- Where they heard about the Heal K12 program (conference, website, colleague, etc.).
- Competitive candidates will be invited to submit a full application following LOI review.
LOIs should be submitted to UM-HEALK12@umich.edu.
Tier- 2: Full Application
o If invited to submit a full proposal, candidates will follow the traditional format of a NIH Research Career Development Award (e.g., K01, K08, K23) which requires the following:
- Specific Aims, Candidate Background, Career Development Plan, and Research Strategy
- Mentor(s) and institutional letters of support
- Budget and budget justification
- Human subjects’ protection plan
Additional instructions will be provided at the time of the invitation.
Applications will be reviewed by the HEAL K12 study section. Finalists along with their primary home mentor(s) will be invited for an interview with the HEAL K12 Program Directors.
Key Dates
- Posted Date: August 15, 2023
- Informational Webinar: September 15, 2023
- Letter of Intent Due Date: October 20, 2023
- Invitation to Apply: November 1, 2023
- Full Application Due Date: February 5, 2024
- Award Announcements: May 1, 2024pa
- Program Start Date: June 1, 2024
Additional questions about this training opportunity can be sent to UM-HEALK12@umich.edu.
*The Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®, is an aggressive, trans-NIH effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis. Launched in April 2018, the initiative is focused on improving prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse and addiction and enhancing pain management. For more information, visit here.