Education & Training

1. Doctoral students must be US citizens, non-citizen nationals, or permanent residents per NIH policy (see below), and entering their second or third year of doctoral graduate study in 2009-10.

2. Doctoral students from partner graduate programs in the following colleges are eligible to apply:

Agricultural & Life Science ~ Dentistry ~ Engineering ~ Fine Arts

Health & Human Performance ~ Liberal Arts & Sciences ~ Medicine ~ Nursing

Pharmacy ~ Public Health & Health Professions ~ Veterinary Medicine

3. Strong academic credentials and good communication skills.

4. Ability to commit to all requirements of the training program, including the intensive Summer B course, GMS 7093, Introduction to Clinical & Translational Research, which begins on July 15.

5. Proposed research project must be relevant to human health, and should include at least one component of clinical and/or translational research as defined by the NIH.

6. Interest in developing a career in multidisciplinary, translational biomedical research.

7. Identification of two faculty mentors (basic and clinician scientists) and strong mentor support.

Clinical/Translational Mentor: A clinician scientist who holds a health-related professional degree, and conducts clinical and/or translational research as defined by the NIH. Must have or apply for UF Graduate Faculty status and serve as a chair or co-chair of the TL1 trainee’s supervisory committee.

Basic Science Mentor: A basic scientist who holds a PhD or other doctorate degree, and conducts health-related basic, clinical and/or translational research. Must have or apply for UF Graduate Faculty status and serve as a chair or co-chair of the TL1 trainee’s supervisory committee.

Students will be selected for support based on a competitive application process in which academic qualifications, career goals, and the quality of the training environment will be important considerations for funding. Finalists will be interviewed by members of the TL1 Advisory Committee. Applicants must identify basic and clinical faculty mentors, and develop a proposed research plan in consultation with those mentors to be submitted with the application. Award recipients are required to make a full year commitment to all components of the training program, which includes the proposed research, didactic instruction and clinical experiences, while simultaneously meeting the requirements of their respective graduate programs.

The following eligibility requirements are copied from the CTSA RFA (Section III.1.B.3.)

Research Education Component

Clinical research is multidisciplinary so participants in this program should represent diverse academic backgrounds with the potential for benefit from a core curriculum for clinical research. Interactions during the early years of career development may serve to enhance the team approach necessary to meet the multidisciplinary challenges of clinical research. Individuals supported by other NIH training and career development mechanisms (K, T, or F awards) may receive, and indeed are encouraged to receive, educational experiences supported by the research education component, as participants, but may not receive salary or stipend supplementation from the CTSA research education component.

Research Training Component (TL1) Eligibility

At the time of appointment to the training program, individuals selected to participate in the training program must be citizens or non-citizen nationals of the United States, or have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence and have in their possession an Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151 or I-551) or other legal verification of admission for permanent residence. Non-citizen nationals are persons born in lands that are not States but are under U.S. sovereignty, jurisdiction, or administration (e.g., American Samoa). Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible for NRSA support. In addition, trainees must be able to commit full-time effort in the program at the time of appointment.

Predoctoral trainees

Predoctoral trainees must have received a baccalaureate degree by the beginning date of their NRSA trainee appointment, and must be training at a post-baccalaureate level and enrolled in a program leading to a PhD in a clinical research-related doctoral degree program, or a combined doctoral level professional degree plus a clinical research-related advanced degree, such as a MD, DDS, DO, DNP, PharmD/MS or MD, DDS, DO, DNP, PharmD/PhD. NRSA traineeships are not provided for study leading to a MD, DO, DDS, DNP, PharmD or other similar professional clinical degrees, or a master's degree that is not pursued in a combined program with a professional level doctorate. Individuals currently supported by other Federal funds are not eligible for trainee support from the TL1 program at the same time. Trainees are customarily appointed for full-time, 12-month continuous periods. An individual trainee may receive no more than five years of NRSA support in aggregate at the predoctoral level, including any combination of support from institutional training grants and individual fellowship awards.