For training grant directors, you are welcome to personalize these descriptions by substituting the name of your program for our resource names (e.g., “[Program Name] Seminars” instead of “Edge Seminars”).
At the end is a list of commonly requested percentages and numbers relating to career development at Vanderbilt.
Edge for Scholars at Vanderbilt provides an integrated career development program for all clinician-scientists, regardless of their scope of research, and for PhD scientists engaged in translational or clinical research. We are the home of training programs such as those proposed in this application to support CTSA KL2 scholars and TL1 trainees and overall serve the needs of more than 110 career development awardees and 190 pre- and postdoctoral trainees working in translational science. We coordinate most of the educational and career development activities described in the grant that are outside traditional graduate programs. They include Edge Scholars, Edge Seminars, The Newman Society, Annual Translational Research Forum, Grant Pacing Workshops, Funded Grants Library, Mock Study Section, and Flight Tracker. We constantly collect and respond to feedback from trainees, early career faculty, and mentors. We compile data about our outcomes, examine them in the context of national outcomes data, and strategize, based on our local needs and national best practices, about how to implement a continuously evolving panel of exceptional resources to promote the careers of all our scientists across the arc of their careers.
Edge for Scholars Funded Grants Repository. This protected grants library provides exemplars of successful grantsmanship. The repository includes summary statements and resubmissions from over 440 grants that span the range of translational research from drug targeting to community interventions and from epidemiologic investigations to qualitative studies. We host 154 R01s, along with 41 R21s and R03s, 6 VA Merit awards, 4 R34s, 3 R35s, 3 R36s, 2 R18s, an R61, and two DP1s. Our 135 K awards include various K01s, K08s, K23s, and 5 K24 mid-career mentoring grants, as well as 4 VA CDAs, and foundation awards such as AHA career development and Doris Duke Foundation Clinical Scientist Development awards. As well, we host 24 F30s, 20 F31s or equivalent foundation predoc fellowships, 11 F32s, and 1 F99. The library includes 12 examples of successful NIH loan repayment applications and 12 examples of large institutional grants such as U01s, as well as 3 PCORI grants.
Grant Pacing Workshops. This program weds introduction to project management skills to the steps required to produce the varied components required for successful grant application. Groups of no more than 18 investigators convene for two half-day workshops 16 and 14 weeks in advance of the coming federal grant deadline. In the first session they learn and apply skills in creating project timelines, identifying dependent components, and mapping “swim lanes” for major grant sections (budget and justification, scientific text, letters of support, human subjects, etc.) to indicate process flow and contingencies. Participants are strongly encouraged to build resources such as Studios and Edge Reviews into their timelines. The second workshop is also a half-day and includes individualized experience with tools for developing activity-based project budgets as well as strategies for enhancing grants with key types of tables and figures, and refining grant components from the reviewer’s perspective with examples from actual grants.
Internal Study Section (Edge Review). For over a decade our CTSA-supported internal grant review process has followed NIH study section format. Researchers submit their applications for review six weeks prior to NIH due dates. Following review, investigators receive summary statements in the NIH format as well as a video file of the session. Reviews include 1) all three major NIH standing submission deadlines as well as the three HIV/AIDS dates, 2) all K and R awards for all faculty who wish to use the service, as well as F awards for graduate students and postdocs, and 3) assignment of reviewers through use of a database that catalogues content and methods expertise of 427 federally funded investigators. Applicants for Edge Reviews complete a checklist of content and methods related to their grant for review, and we use optimization software to obtain an ideal match for first, second, and third reviewers. Between May 2011 and January 2024 (most recent Edge Review date for which grant would have known award), 59.4% of the 593 submissions reviewed have been funded.
Workshop and Other Opportunities. We provide:
COMMONLY REQUESTED NUMBERS
Current number of K/CDA awardees at Vanderbilt: Fluctuates as grants begin and end, but generally around 130
K-to-R conversion percentage for Vanderbilt: Also fluctuates as grants are awarded, but typically sits at 70%. Current n=301. Excludes those still on a K or similar award, as well as those who have left Vanderbilt without converting.
Conversion from internal K awards (VFRS) to extramural awards:
Extramural Awards since 2000 (n=170)* | |
Award Type | Number of Scholars (%) |
Extramural K/equivalent | 116 (68.2%) |
R01/equivalent only (no extramural K) | 29 (17.1%) |
Total receiving extramural funding | 148 (87.1%) |
* Excludes those currently on internal K or KL2.
For those who have reached the end of their extramural K or who went straight to R01, the percentage who have received an R01 or equivalent is 62.8% (n=145).
Edge Review success rates:
Between May 2011 and January 2024 (most recent Edge Review date for which grant would have known award), 59.3% of the 593 submissions reviewed have been funded.
Of those who submitted a K-type grant for review during this time, 68.9% (n=264) received grant support thereafter. (Grant support includes an individual K or VA CDA, a foundation career development award, a place on a K12, or other type of grant such as R01.)
Email the Rebecca Helton at rebecca.helton@vumc.org
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