Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career
Development Program (MCRCDP)
An Overview
Eugene P. Orringer, MD,
Professor of Medicine
&
Executive Associate Dean for
Faculty Affairs and Faculty
Development
UNC School of Medicine
UNC Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
Leadership of the UNC Program
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Eugene Orringer, MD
Principal Investigator
Morris Weinberger, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
Susan Pusek, MPH
Education Champion
Bill Miller, MD-PhD
Curriculum Director
Rosalie Dominik, DrPh
Director, Biostatistics Core
Tricia Byrns, MD
Program Evaluation
Alison Regan
Financial Manager
Lowell Goldsmith, MD
Program Ombudsman
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
An NIH Roadmap Initiative
NIH Roadmap
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Dr. Elias Zerhouni initiated the NIH Roadmap Program
soon after he assumed the NIH Directorship in 2002
The Roadmap was designed to identify opportunities
and gaps in biomedical research that no single
institute at NIH could tackle alone, but that the agency
as a whole needed to address.
Dr. Zerhouni argued that NIH is uniquely positioned to
catalyze the changes that must be made if we are to
transform new scientific knowledge into tangible
benefits for people.
NIH Roadmap
UNC has been a major beneficiary of the Roadmap.
Through the end of FY 2006, UNC had received more
Roadmap awards than any other single institution.
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6 Roadmap Awards in 2004
8 Roadmap Awards in 2005
11 Roadmap Awards in 2006
NIH Roadmap Data
YEAR
Total # of
Roadmap
Awards
#
Institutions
Receiving
Roadmap
Awards
# of States
Receiving
Roadmap
Awards
# of Roadmap
Awards
Received by
UNC
% of Roadmap
Awards Made
to UNC
2004
193
96
29
6
3.1
2005
186
91
30
8
4.3
2006
178
109
38
11
6.2
Data for
2004-2006
557
177
40
25
4.5
The NIH Roadmap
New Pathways to Discovery
Research Teams
of the Future
Re-engineering the
Clinical Research
Enterprise
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career
Development Program
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The MCRCDP was created as a key component of the NIH
Roadmap. It was specifically designed to help
Re-engineer the Clinical Research Enterprise
Research Teams of the Future
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The MCRCDP has been funded using the
K12 mechanism
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
What is a K12 Award?
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A K12 Award is a grant to an institution that is designed to
provide protected time to a group of scientists committed
to academic research careers.
A K12 Award is very much like a training grant (i.e., a T32),
but one that is designed for more senior level postdoctoral fellows and especially for junior faculty
Number of Training Awards
University
T32s
K12s
Michigan
70
3
UNC-Chapel Hill
53
61/2
UCSF
50
5
Wisconsin
43
4
Duke
40
51/2
Wash U
33
5
UAB
27
3
Virginia
24
1
UNC BIRCWH Program
Building
Interdisciplinary
Research
Careers in
Women’s
Health
UNC BIRCWH Program
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UNC BIRCWH K12 Award began in September 2000
This Grant brought us 5 years of NIH funding at
$500,000/year
The vast majority of these $’s have been used to
provide salary support to junior faculty members in
exchange for 75% protected research time
Based on the success of our program, we were able
to compete successfully for a renewal of the
BIRCWH Award in September 2005
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career
Development Program
When was the MCRCDP first established?
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The original RFA for this program was announced in late
2003 & a second RFA was published by the NIH in late 2004
The initial group of awards was made in the summer of
2004 & the second group of awards was made in the
summer of 2005
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career
Development Programs
What institutions were able to compete
successfully for MCRCDPs?
Programs funded in 2004
• UCSF
• Mayo Clinic
• Case WR - Cleveland Clinic
• Johns Hopkins
• University of Washington
• University of Wisconsin
• University of Pittsburgh
Programs funded in 2005
• University of Minnesota
• Washington University
• UT - Southwestern
• University of Maryland
• UNC - Chapel Hill
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career
Development Programs
What has happened since the creation of the MCRCDPs?
Establishment of the
Clinical & Translational Science Awards
(CTSA)
Primary Objective of the CTSA Program:
Speed Discoveries that will Improve Patient Care
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Develop a distinct discipline for clinical & translational
science at institutions across the country
Provide opportunities and resources for original
research on novel methods
Develop translational technologies & a knowledge base
for the full spectrum of clinical and translational science
Synergize partnerships with industry, foundations, and
community physicians
Train the multidisciplinary teams that will conduct
the clinical and translational research of the future
Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs)
 Lower barriers between
disciplines
 Encourage creative,
innovative approaches in
solving complex medical
problems
 Catalyze change: break silos,
barriers, and conventions
NIH CTSA Awards
A Home for Clinical and Translational Science
Clinical
Research
Ethics
Biomedical
Informatics
Clinical
Resources
Biostatistics
Trial Design
NIH
Advanced
Degree-Granting
Programs
CTSA
HOME
Participant
& Community
Involvement
Regulatory
Support
Industry
Other
Institutions
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Programs
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One of the key features of competing successfully for
a CTSA award is the establishment of an Education,
Training, & Career Development Program
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A K12 Program like the one described here is essential
if a CTSA is to be successful
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career
Development Program
How is the MCRCDP structured?
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Each program includes: a) a well-designed, didactic,
educational core component; b) a practical, hands-on,
mentored clinical research component; and c) a shared
clinical research support facility
Together, these three components are designed to
provide CR Scholars with a broad experience in all
aspects of the design, conduct, and analysis of clinical
research
What is meant by Clinical Research?
In this K12 Program, clinical research has been
defined to include the following areas:
1. Patient oriented research: Research conducted with human
subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens
and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator directly interacts
with human subjects. This area of research includes:
• Mechanisms of human disease
• Therapeutic interventions
• Clinical trials
• Development of new technologies
• Translational research
2. Epidemiologic and behavioral research
3. Health services and outcomes research
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career
Development Program
What is meant by multidisciplinary?
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Each program is expected to include representatives
from multiple clinical disciplines and other
professions. Examples include:
Clinical doctoral degrees such as M.D., D.O., D.D.S.,
D.M.D., D.V.M., O.D., D.C., Pharm.D., N.D. with various
specialties and subspecialties
Non-clinical doctoral degrees such as DPH, Ph.D.,
Sc.D., EdD from a wide variety of disciplines.
How does multidisciplinary differ
from interdisciplinary ?
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A multidisciplinary approach brings together numerous
experts from diverse disciplines to collectively address a
complex problem, with each expert addressing the issues
from the perspective of his or her own discipline.
An interdisciplinary approach results from the melding of two
or more disciplines to create a new (i.e., interdisciplinary)
science. Biostatistics, bioinformatics, bioengineering, and
psychoneuroimmunology are but a few examples of existing
interdisciplinary sciences.
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
What are the overall objectives of this Program?
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Stimulate multidisciplinary clinical research training and
education
Enhance career development of postdoctoral fellows and
junior faculty from multiple disciplines, specialties and
subspecialties
Establish a critical mass of national programs with a
commitment to the development of a diverse, wellintegrated, multidisciplinary workforce
Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career
Development Program
The UNC Program
Based in all of the Schools on the Health Affairs Campus
(Medicine, Public Health, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy)
Our Goals
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Select as Scholars both senior fellows and junior faculty
Train these Scholars at a relatively early stage of research career
Have a minimum of 3 disciplines represented each year
Do our best to have all 5 schools represented within the program
Recruit both women and underrepresented minorities
Recruit both locally & nationally: Make the program a national resource
UNC Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
Why was UNC selected receive this award?
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Strong, well-established research programs based in each of the five
schools on a single, contiguous Health Affairs campus
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Long history of multidisciplinary collaboration
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Well-established partnerships with public and private sector entities
(e.g., Glaxo, Icagen, NIEHS, Quintiles, RTI)
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Passionate commitment to the career development of junior
investigators
Great success with multidisciplinary Centers, Institutes, Programs
Excellent experience at UNC with the RWJ Clinical Scholars Program
as well as with our K30 & several other NIH-funded K12 Programs
UNC Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
Leadership of the UNC Program
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Eugene Orringer, MD
Principal Investigator
Morris Weinberger, PhD
Co-Principal Investigator
Susan Pusek, MPH
Education Champion
Bill Miller, MD-PhD
Curriculum Director
Rosalie Dominik, DrPh
Director, Biostatistics Core
Tricia Byrns, MD
Program Evaluation
Lowell Goldsmith, MD
Program Ombudsman
UNC Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
Multidisciplinary Advisory Committee (MAC)
Made up of senior investigators from all five of the Schools on
the Health Affairs campus (over 15 disciplines represented)
Regular MAC Meetings - Responsibilities include:
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Scholar selection
Review, monitor and recommend changes in curriculum
Monitoring and evaluation of the progress of each Scholar
Monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of the program
UNC Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
What comes with support from the MCRCDP?
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Support for salary: starting in 2007, this is 75% salary
support up to $75,000 plus fringe benefits
Support for research activities, travel, tuition and fees,
books: up to $25,000/year
Support for Mentors: $5,000/year for as many as two
mentors per scholar
Support from the Shared Biostatistical Core Facility
UNC Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
What are our overall recruitment efforts?
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In July 2006 we recruited our first 6 Scholars
In July 2007 we recruited 5 more Scholars
In July 2008, we anticipate adding 5-6 additional Scholars
Our goal is to recruit both:
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Junior Faculty Members
 Senior Fellows (should be close to getting a faculty position)
We intend to recruit Scholars from UNC & from outside UNC
In all cases, there must be a commitment for a faculty position
from the Chair of the relevant Department
UNC Multidisciplinary Clinical Research
Career Development Program
The website for the MCRCDP is:
www.med.unc.edu/orfd/career-development-1/k12-roadmap
The e-mail address for the MCRCDP is:
Kprograms@med.unc.edu