1. Cover Letter

2. Specific Aims: 1 page

3. A 12-page application covering:

• Significance
• Innovation
• Approach
• Mentoring and Career Development plan

4. Letter of support from department chair

• This signed letter must include a commitment from the applicant’s department chair that the scholar will have at least 50% protected time for five years following the start of K12 funding. This protected time must consist of a full 2.5 days during the Monday through Friday workweek and must continue even if there is a gap in funding after the 2nd year of K12 funding, as long as the NRCDP scholar is committed to pursuing his/her research program. The applicant’s non-research responsibilities should be explicitly specified (e.g. 1 day = 20% of weekly effort, 1 month = 8% of yearly effort). Protected time for research must be free of significant on-call responsibilities, so on-call responsibilities should be explicitly stated in the letter of support.
• This signed letter must also include a commitment from the applicant’s department chair that the scholar will have the necessary resources (e.g. lab space and equipment) to carry out the proposed work. Note that the applicant must have access to dedicated space, but this space can be in the mentor’s laboratory when appropriate.
• This signed letter should also indicate any startup package or any other financial resources for research provided to the applicant.

5. Letter from the candidate’s research mentor(s) to include the following:

• The candidate’s qualifications to conduct the proposed research.
• The mentor’s qualifications to guide the research, including, if relevant, any research resources that will be provided by the mentor.
• The mentorship plan. This should include a description of how the mentor will guide the candidate with regard to both research progress and research career development. In addition, the mentor should comment on who will provide guidance for career development with regard to navigating a dual career as clinician and research scientist, and how this guidance will be provided.

6. NIH biosketch from the applicant and mentor

7. References (at least two letters)

8. Budget justification

• The candidate should explain, in very broad terms, the anticipated cost of the project. If costs are anticipated to exceed the $50,000 per year provided by the K12 award, the candidate should state where the additional funding will come from. The individual providing the additional funding should confirm in the relevant part of the application (e.g chair letter if coming from the chair, mentor letter if coming from the mentor, etc.) that the funding needed to do the proposed work will be provided.