Path to K Mentored Career Development Grant RFA

Funding Opportunity Purpose

The Ohio State University Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), the Office of Research, and the College of Medicine are seeking applicants to apply for the Path to K Career Development grant, whose purpose is to train clinical and/or translational investigators and prepare them for a successful K grant application. The CTSI, Office of Research, and College of Medicine Path to K Program supports the career development of investigators who have made a commitment to conduct either patient-oriented or translational research. The Path to K Grant is available for a period of up to two years (contingent on satisfactory progress).

Early career junior faculty on the tenure or clinical track from the following health sciences colleges at the Ohio State University are eligible to apply: College of Dentistry, College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Optometry, College of Pharmacy, College of Public Health and College of Veterinary Medicine.

The CTSI seeks proposals that address scientific questions consistent with the CTSI mission to transform and advance the discipline of clinical and translational research at The Ohio State University. Proposals may come from any stage of research along the path from the biological basis of health and disease to interventions that improve the health of individuals and the public

Table of Contents

• Section I.     Funding Opportunity Description
• Section II.    Eligibility Information
• Section III.   Application & Submission Information
• Section IV.   Application Review Information 
• Section V.    Grant Administration Information
• Section VI.    CTSI Contacts

Section I. Funding Opportunity Description

Purpose

The Path to K grant is designed to benefit a wide spectrum of clinical and/or translational researchers across Ohio State. The grant provides salary support to ensure protected time for mentored research and didactic training in clinical/ translational research across a wide variety of project topics and academic areas. The overall goal of the program is to equip early career investigators to advance on the path to be competitive for NIH K Career Development Grants (or equivalent).

The CTSI supports the full spectrum of clinical and translational research intended to have human applications. (see NIH NCATS’ Translational Science Spectrum for more information.)

T1: Preclinical Research. Preclinical research connects the basic science of disease with human medicine. During this stage, scientists develop model interventions to further understand the basis of a disease or disorder and find ways to treat it. Testing is carried out using cell or animal models of disease; samples of human or animal tissues; or computer-assisted simulations of drug, device or diagnostic interactions within living systems.

T2: Clinical Research. Clinical research includes studies to better understand a disease in humans and relate this knowledge to findings in cell or animal models; testing and refinement of new technologies in people; testing of interventions for safety and effectiveness in those with or without disease; behavioral and observational studies; and outcomes and health services research. The goal of many clinical trials is to obtain data to support regulatory approval for an intervention.

T3: Clinical Implementation. Clinical implementation involves the adoption of interventions that have been demonstrated to be useful in a research environment into routine clinical care for the general population. This stage also includes implementation research to evaluate the results of clinical trials and to identify new clinical questions and gaps in care.

T4: Public Health. Public health includes studying health outcomes at the population level to determine the effects of diseases and efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat them. Findings help guide scientists working to assess the effects of current interventions and to develop new ones.

Program preference will be given to junior faculty members on the tenure or clinical track with three or fewer years since their appointment, but junior faculty with three or more years since their appointment are eligible to apply.

It is anticipated that up to four grants will be made:

• Up to three grants will be awarded to applicants from the Colleges of Dentistry, Nursing, Optometry, Pharmacy, Public Health and Veterinary Medicine. The funds for these awards are courtesy of the Ohio State Office of Research.
• Up to three grants will be awarded to physician-scientists from the College of Medicine. These grants are funded by the College of Medicine Office of Research and the Richard P. and Marie R. Bremer Medical Research Fund and the William H. Davis Endowment for Basic Medical Research.

Applicants will be selected based on a competitive application process in which the following will be key review considerations that determine funding:

• The transdisciplinary/translational science and quality of the research project
• The qualification of the applicant
• The experience of the mentorship team
• The quality of the training plan
• The probability of the proposed project developing into a competitive K grant application

A Study Section will make recommendations to the CTSI K12 Career Development External Advisory Board for the funding of up to two scholars. All applicants will receive reviewer comments on their applications.

Please note the following requirements:

• To be considered, all applicants must submit the required Letter of Intent form by 11:59 PM on the date noted above using the online form indicated above.
• Applicants must complete all sections of the entire application. Applications are due by 11:59 PM on the date noted above using the online form indicated above.
• No late LOI or applications will be accepted.

(Note: The CTSI funds two career development programs for junior faculty: the Path to K and the K12 Awards. See Appendix 1 of this document for a comparison of the two programs.)

Please direct all questions to the Program Manager, Katie O’Shea at Katie.O’Shea@osumc.edu

Benefits of the Path to K Grant

• Funds up to $33,000 per year to cover:
  Salary support for up to a 10% FTE appointment to this grant (up to salary cap of $15,000 maximum) for the applicant plus relevant fringe.
• A 10% match of salary and fringe from the applicant’s home department/division/college to create a total of 20% release time from clinical and other duties to devote to research and training
• Research funds of $14,000 to pay for supplies, core services, research staff, research related travel and publication expenses, etc.
• Individualized career development and mentorship from the trainee’s own appointed scientific committee.
• Automatic participation in the CTSI Launch to K Grant Writing workshop. https://CTSI.osu.edu/content/launch-k-grant-writing-workshop?highlight=launch%20to%20k
• The CTSI will be providing other project resources. These include, but are not limited to:
  • Infrastructure services
  • Problem-solving
  • Financial tracking
  • Opportunities to disseminate research (posters and presentations)

Expectations of Path to K Grantees

• Commit 20% of your effort to the Path to K Grant.
• Your participation in various CTSI/Path to K activities will be required:
• A monthly Lunch and Learn program—currently held the third Tuesday of each month
• Attendance at The Business of Science, a three-day workshop held during Fall Semester
• Attendance at least one annual meeting of the Association for Clinical & Translational Science (ACTS, typically held in April in Washington, DC)
• Participation in the Annual CTSI Scientific Meeting
• Mentor training for your Lead Mentor, if your mentor has not already participated in the CTSI training
• Grantees will have the opportunity to attend CTSI Tools of the Trade workshops relevant to their career development needs and will be strongly encouraged to attend one of the College of Medicine-supported Office of Research grant writing workshops or K workshops. 
• Interim progress reports and a final project closure report must be submitted to the CTSI. These will include:
• Responses to reviewer criticisms stated in your award letter must be addressed in these reports.
• Your progress in meeting the milestones described in your application must also be addressed in these reports.
• An Individual Development Plan will be developed in collaboration with Path to K leadership and project mentor and monitored every six months 
• Short yearly progress reports will be required each year after the grant for tracking data for the CTSI success metrics for three years following the end of the grant. This is required for our NIH metrics of success and reports.

Other Requirements

• No Path to K scholar or mentor will be permitted to work on any project involving live vertebrate animals or human subjects that has not been approved by the IACUC and/or IRB, as appropriate.
• IRB or IACUC approval (if required) must be obtained prior to release of funds. If IRB/IACUC is not in place, regulatory approval must be obtained within 60 days of grant start date noted at the top of this RFA. 
• Ohio State CITI training in Human Subjects Protection and Responsible Conduct of Research as well as Good Clinical Practice certification must be completed by all research personnel who have access to personally identifiable data collected as part of this study. This requirement includes the Path to K Scholar, as well as research staff funded by the award, if any. These modules are available at https://ohiostateresearch.knowledgebase.co/article/citi-rcr-access-instructions-10.html 
• Grant recipients must promote objectivity in research by establishing standards that provide a reasonable expectation that the design, conduct and reporting of research funded by the grant will be free from bias resulting from an Investigator’s Financial Conflict of Interest. 
• All scholars appointed to this grant who are involved with human subjects must have completed education on the protection of human subjects and Good Clinical Practice (GCP) in accordance with NIH policy.
• Any individual involved in the design and conduct of a study not included in any certification must satisfy this requirement prior to participating in the project.

Section II. Eligibility Information

Eligible Applicants

• Applicants must be from one of the following colleges: College of Dentistry, College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Optometry, College of Pharmacy, College of Public Health or College of Veterinary Medicine
• College of Medicine applicants, as required by the two endowments funding the College of Medicine arm of this program, must have an MD degree with a record of engagement in active clinical practice and be physicians credentialed by the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. Individuals with dual degrees are eligible as long as one is an MD (acceptable examples: MD, PhD; and MD, MPH; MD, MS; etc.). Candidates must have faculty appointments and PI status at The Ohio State University. Residents, clinical fellows and post-doctoral fellows are not eligible to apply.
• Applicants must be Tenure Track or Clinical Track faculty with 3 years of less in their appointment.
• Applicants must be considered a principal investigator. Eligibility information can be found at the Ohio State Office of Research website. 
• Applicants may not have previously been a PI on a NIH individual or institutional K Grant. 
• Applicants may not have previously been a PI on an R01 or an equivalent non-PHS grant with more than $100,000 in direct costs
• Applicants must commit to spending 20% effort engaged in conducting the research supported through this grant. The Path to K Grant will compensate 10% of the committed time (up to salary cap of $150,000), with the remained cost-shared by the college/department/division (as appropriate to the pattern of administration of the grantee’s home unit). The dean or department/division chair must sign the signature page agreeing to the release time and cost sharing should the applicant be funded.
• Applicants and mentors must become CTSI members. Go to: Membership | Clinical and Translational Science Institute

Section III. Application and Submission Information

This grant program involves a two-phased application process: a Letter of Intent to Apply (LOI) and a Full Application.
This funding announcement will serve as the instructions and guidelines for both the LOI and the Full Application submissions.

Phase One: Letter of Intent

To be eligible, it is required that you indicate your intention to apply via the Letter of Intent through an online REDCap form, which can be found at the text and hyperlinked web address.

The purpose of the Letter of Intent is threefold:

1. To let program staff know of your intent to apply for the Path to K Grant in order that they may organize the Study Section.
2. To make certain that your department chair or division chief will support your release time and financial obligations required of the grant.
3. So Applicants can fill-out the eligibility checklist to know that they are eligible.

All Letters of Intent must be submitted through the online process by 11:59 PM EST on the date at the top of this RFA. No late Letters of Intent will be accepted.

The process of completing the eligibility checklist will clearly tell you if you are eligible to go on to apply for the Path to K. You should review carefully the eligibility criteria found at the top of this page before applying.

Staff will use the information you submit about your project to organize the Path to K Study section. The information about your project that you submit in the Letter of Intent will not undergo scientific review. If you answered the eligibility questions accurately, you should be eligible to apply. In any case, you will be notified in three business days.

The Path K Grant is a partnership with your tenure and promotion unit. If you are funded, that unit will have to support you through staffing and funding. The CTSI does not want to award a Path to K Grant to a scholar who turns out not to have support. Thus, we require a supporting signature. The university is organized in various ways. The person who needs to sign for you will likely be Department or Division Chair, but could also be your College Dean. If you need help trying to figure this out, contact the grant program manager.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact the Program Manager, Katie O’Shea at Katie.O’Shea@osumc.edu

Phase Two: Full Application

This funding announcement will serve as the instructions and guidelines for Full Application submissions

Applications and supporting materials are to be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EST on the date noted at the top of this RFA. No late applications will be accepted.

Please read these instructions carefully before going online to apply. 

Upon receipt of your application, the CTSI will send you an email confirmation. Please inquire within 24 hours if you do not receive this email. The program will not be responsible for late submissions if not notified.

Investigators are strongly encouraged to visit the CTSI website at  https://CTSI.osu.edu/ to search for and make use of other CTSI resources relevant to your project.

Path to K Application Components

The Path to K Application is in a Redcap survey. The link is at the top of this page. Part of the application is a response to questions in the Redcap survey. The other part is the application document that you upload to the survey.

KL2 Application Survey Responses.

1. This section includes personal information such as Employee ID Number, Ohio State name.#, ERA Commons username, ORCID number (see orcid.org), campus address, email address.

2. In this section you will identify your current academic title and how many years in that position. 

3. Project Title and Abstract (250 words)

4. Regulatory Status: IRB, IACUC, IBC. Protocol numbers or plans for protocol approval.

5. List of Mentors

K12 Application Document. The following eight components are combined into one PDF document.

Format Specifications

All applications must adhere to the following guidelines: 

• Font 
  • Use Arial 11 points or larger
• Page Margins 
  • Use at least one‐half inch margins (top, bottom, left and right) for all pages
• Application Paging 
  • The application must be single‐spaced. 
• Figures, Graphs, Diagrams, Charts, Tables, Figure Legends and Footnotes 
  • You may use a smaller type size, but it must be in black ink, readily legible 
  • Do not include figures or other materials that are not inserted directly into the body of the application. 
• Documents and file name.  All documents asked for in the application must be submitted online in A single combined PDF document. Name your document using the following guideline: 

< lastname_firstname_path_to_k_Application_2025 >

1. Personal Statement

A one-page personal statement addressing the following points:

• Who are you? Why have you chosen a research career?
• Your previous research experience
• How you believe this training program will change the trajectory of your career or enhance your movement towards your goals

2. Career Development Plan

This section can be up to two pages and should address:

• The role of your mentor(s) in developing your skills
• Your plan for receiving training to develop the additional skills you need to be a clinical and translational scientist.
• How you will meet the NIH requirements for instruction in the responsible conduct of research (see  https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-22-055.html for more information). See also: https://research.osu.edu/research-responsibilities-and-compliance/responsible-conduct-research
• Note the CITI GCP and RCR training is required also but does not fulfill this requirement.
• Your strategy for a K-proposal submission within 12 to 18 months.

3. Mentorship Team

Your Mentorship Team must consist of at least three members. Your team must include among its membership a Lead Mentor, a statistical mentor, and one other mentor (additional mentors are optional).

Lead Mentor. The applicant will identify a faculty member mentor in his or her area of clinical or translational research. Your mentor (or each co-mentor) is responsible for:

• Providing career development and counseling;
• Guiding and encouraging the design and execution of an original, high quality, research project;
• Collaborating with the mentorship team to support the Path to K Scholar.
• Attending CTSI meetings: a mentor training program and an on-boarding session, as well as other meetings with program leaders and administrators as needed.

The letter of support from your lead mentor should acknowledge his or her understanding of these requirements and describe their mentoring plan for your development. The letter should also describe the Mentor’s experience with mentoring, including the number of mentees.

Biostatistician. Your mentorship team must include one statistician who will help you to develop a research plan that meets the highest standards of rigor and reproducibility. The biostatistician will also provide biostatistical analysis of your data and mentor you in biostatistical analysis. If your department or division does not provide access to biostatistical support, you can arrange for a consultation with the Center for Biostatistics. Go to the Center’s project request form at: https://medicine.osu.edu/departments/biostatistics/request-biostatistics-support 

At least one additional member of the mentorship team. The Mentorship Team provides additional expertise in the scientific area of research chosen for the project, complementary to the interests of the lead mentor. It is highly desirable that this other member of your Mentorship Team be drawn from another discipline so that he or she can provide transdisciplinary input into your project. Your mentorship team members may also include a university faculty member who is not a regular member of the graduate faculty (e.g., an adjunct professor), a university staff member or a qualified individual outside the university who can provide expertise in your discipline.

4. Research Plan

This section can be up to six pages and should include: 

• Specific Aims and hypothesis of the project. Preferably no more than two aims
• Significance of the problem and how the proposed project will improve scientific knowledge and/or change the field of study. 
• Innovation – Explain how the proposed project challenges current practice or creates a novel approach to the problem.
• Preliminary Data – Any research findings that help demonstrate the feasibility of your project; figures can be multi-panel if addressing a common theme; fully self-explanatory legends. Preliminary data can be integrated within various sections and does not have to constitute an independent section.
• Approach – Describe the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses to be used to accomplish the specific aims of the project, noting how it is clinical and/or translational. Schematic illustrations desired. Discuss potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success anticipated to achieve the aims. For materials and methods, highlight powerful non-routine approaches, summarize routine approaches, and address statistical approach.
• Milestones – A list of milestones to be met and set dates for meeting.
• References to Scientific Literature – This section is not included in the six-page limit

5. Itemized Project Budget and Justification

Use budget worksheet provided at: https://ctsi.osu.edu/career-development/early-career-faculty/path-k 

The Path to K grant has a budget of up to $33,000. Allowable costs:

• Salary support for the Path to K PI up to a 10% FTE appointment to this grant (capped at $15,000 maximum) for the applicant, plus appropriate fringe. 
• Research funds of up to $14,000
  • Salary and fringe support for research staff, including undergraduate or graduate students, clinical trainees, post-doctoral and clinical fellows, is permitted.
  • Research supplies and other expenses needed for carrying out the project, such as research beds, nursing or bionutrition staff, and routine laboratory measures. 
  • Travel funds needed for study conduct (e.g. participant travel or reimbursement for mileage for the conduct of community-engaged research) are allowable expenses. Funds to travel to the Association for Clinical & Translational Science (ACTS) meeting in Washington, DC, in April should be included in your budget ~$2,500).
  • Equipment that is essential for the study, and is not otherwise available, may be requested, but large equipment expenditures (over $5,000) are not allowed. 

The budget justification should briefly provide explanation for line items within each category, such as roles and responsibilities for personnel, how supplies relate to your aims. If requesting equipment, the justification must explain why the current equipment is insufficient to accomplish the proposed research and how the new equipment's use will be allocated specifically to the proposed research. Finally, describe any overlap with submitted or funded applications, and existing funding including start-up

6. Mentor Letters of Support 

Letters of support are required: (1) from Lead mentor; and (2) from the other members of your mentoring team. Include these letters in your application PDF.

The Mentors should acknowledge awareness and support of the project and address the role and qualifications of the mentor for the project. The statistical mentor should give a rough count of how many projects he or she has supported with statistical issues similar to your project. The other mentor(s) should describe their experience with mentoring, including the number of mentees.

Address the letters to:

K. Luan Phan, MD
The Ohio State University 376 W 10th Ave STE 260 
Columbus, OH 43210

7. NIH Biosketches

You must upload (as part of the packet) NIH formatted biosketches of yourself, your lead mentor and all other mentors.
Biosketch Instructions, samples and format pages can be found here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm

Section IV. Application Review Information

Applicants will be selected based on a competitive application process in which the following will be key review considerations that determine funding:

• The transdisciplinary/translational science and quality of the research project
• The qualification of the applicant
• The experience of the mentorship team
• The quality of the training plan
• The probability of the proposed project developing into a competitive K grant application

A Study Section composed of researchers from Ohio State and Nationwide Children’s Hospital will be convened to review the grant applications. Three reviewers will read each application. Applications will receive an Impact Score (NIH 1-9 scale). Individual components will also be scored 1-9. The overall impact will reflect an evaluation of the trainee, the mentoring team, the training plan and the proposed research. All are equally weighted, and the study section will assess the overall fit of the components together.

The Study Section will make recommendations to the CTSI K12 Career Development External Advisory Board for the funding. All applicants will receive reviewer comments on their applications.

Section V. Grant Administration Information

Grant Notices

Meritorious applications will receive formal notice in the form of a Letter of Offer provided to the applicant. A completed and signed CTSI Letter of Offer is required before the start date. 

Reporting

You will provide brief interim progress reports three times per year and an annual progress report at the end of the year in which you will report on the progress of meeting the project milestones you listed in your application. The annual report will also include a brief presentation about your experience as a Path to K scholar to the CTSI K12 External Advisory Board.

Trainees, Lead Mentors and the Program Directors will meet every six months to review progress on the scholars Training Plan.

Citation Requirements

All investigators must acknowledge the CTSI, the Office of Research and/or the College of Medicine in all publications, posters and presentations resulting from the supported studies. Where applicable, please include one of the following texts:

For awardees from a health science college other than Medicine

The project described was supported by a Path to K award from the Ohio State University Office of Research and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the university, or the Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

For College of Medicine awardees

The project described was supported by a Path to K award from the Ohio State University College of Medicine Office of Research and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science through the Richard P. and Marie R. Bremer Medical Research Fund and William H. Davis Endowment for Basic Medical Research. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Davis/Bremer Research Fund, the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center or the university.

Section VI. CTSI Contacts