2024 YCCI Scholar Awards and YPSD Awards Applicant Information Webinar

December 04, 2023

Information

This webinar is for prospective applicants to learn more about the awards, eligibility, application process, and program requirements. Recorded on December 4, 2023.

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00:00This program in
00:06is Doctor Lloyd Cantley,
00:08who's a professor of medicine,
00:11a nephrologist, and he's also a professor
00:14of cellular and molecular Physiology.
00:16Jen Edelman, who's a professor
00:19of medicine and general medicine and
00:22associate professor of public health,
00:24social and behavioral sciences.
00:27She's an expert in addiction medicine
00:32and in implementation science. And me.
00:37And I'm a professor of Pediatrics,
00:43ID and of epidemiology and deputy director
00:46of the Investigative Medicine program.
00:49And then Christine,
00:51who's a project manager for
00:54education and training and helps us,
00:57helps everything run properly.
01:07And so my name is Nicholas Licht.
01:08I work in the Office of Physician
01:10Science and Scientist Development.
01:12We are made-up of a small team,
01:14which includes our Associate Dean
01:16for Physician Scientist Development,
01:17Keith Choate. Nii Addy,
01:19who's the Director of Scientist
01:20Diversity and Inclusion, Valerie Reinke,
01:22who's the Director of PhD Scientists
01:24Development and Gene Shapiro,
01:26who's the Director of Grant
01:28Writing and Evaluation.
01:30Next slide.
01:35So these are grants for junior faculty
01:38who are strongly committed to research
01:41careers across the full span of basic,
01:43clinical, translational, and community-based
01:46research focused on human health provides
01:50up to 75% salary up to 120 K per year.
01:55That includes fringe.
01:57So it's you know more like 90,000 of of
02:01salary plus 25,000 per year for research
02:06related expenses for for two years.
02:12The app I thought I'd change
02:16this maybe I did change it but
02:18maybe you didn't get it anyway.
02:20The exception is surgeons.
02:24It it's only have to commit 50%
02:30applicants who are not eligible for
02:32salary support because they're have
02:34they have their own K or start up funds
02:36may apply for research support of 25K
02:39per year for two years separately.
02:44The awards are funded by the National
02:49Center for Advancing Translational
02:51Sciences as and it's linked to the CTSA,
02:55the clinical and
02:57translational science awards.
02:59It's it's it's designated a KL2
03:03for the because it's linked to
03:06the CTSA but it's really a K12.
03:08And then the next round of during our
03:11competitive renewal they're changing the
03:13name back to a K12 or was never a K12,
03:16they're changing it to a K12.
03:18But it's also substantially supported
03:20by institutional funds from the
03:23Dean and administered through YCCI.
03:28Scholars will participate in year
03:31round educational activities,
03:32events including an orientation,
03:35Bi-weekly research and progress
03:37seminars except over the summer.
03:39Robert Sherwin All Scholars
03:42Day we have we we have other events.
03:47We jointly meet with Rockefeller
03:50University every other year,
03:52every year,
03:52either alternating between their place
03:55and our place for a day of research,
04:01presentations and interaction.
04:05And we have some other kind of
04:08internal programs that we do next.
04:14So the Yale Position
04:16Scientist Development Awards
04:17are very similar to the YCCI Scholar
04:19Awards from a support perspective where
04:21in fact 'cause you're getting $120,000
04:23for salary support including fringe,
04:26they get research support for
04:27individuals who already have a
04:29career award or large start-up funds.
04:31They can apply just for the research support.
04:34I think the biggest difference is that
04:36our funding goes to physician-scientists.
04:39So our awards are all limited to MDs
04:41and MD or MD/PhDs that are practicing.
04:44But I mean it is open,
04:46you know from their perspective they
04:48are awards can go to individuals
04:50that are doing basic translational,
04:51clinical or community-based research.
04:54The funding for us is provided
04:56by the School of Medicine and is
04:58administered by the Office of Physician
05:00Scientist and Scientist Development.
05:02You know the eligibility requirements
05:04and application process and salaries
05:05all the same as the YCCI stellar award.
05:08Individuals who are interested in a Yale
05:10Physician Scientist Development Award,
05:13you know apply through the same
05:15funding mechanism And then during
05:16the review process at the end you
05:19know the program between YCCI and
05:22OPSSD we review and then decide
05:25who each program is going to fund.
05:27You know physician science development
05:30awardees are still also considered
05:32YCCI scholars and also participate in
05:34all of the YCCI scholar activities.
05:37The real difference is where the
05:39funding is coming from and then our
05:41awards are limited to physician-scientists.
05:43Next slide.
05:46So eligibility
05:51you have to have at the time of the award,
05:54not necessarily while you're applying.
05:57You have to have a full
05:59time faculty appointment.
05:59Being Assistant Professor, Instructor,
06:02Associate Research Scientist,
06:04or Research Scientist,
06:05You could not have been a you.
06:07You can't have been a faculty
06:09member for five years or more at the
06:13earliest anticipated start date,
06:15which would be July 1, 2024.
06:19That includes time on faculty elsewhere.
06:21Somebody was at Harvard for
06:23three years and then came here.
06:24That time counts.
06:27You have not previously
06:30received YCCI Scholar Award,
06:34YPSD Award,
06:35a K12 or a K99/R00,
06:38at at least if you're
06:42if you're applying for
06:45the full package,
06:47not just the research component.
06:51And you have not been a PI on any
06:54research grant that provides $200K
06:57plus or more per year in direct costs.
07:01Except for an NIH
07:03Career Development Awards.
07:04I nobody it says NIH R03 grants
07:08but I meant to take that off
07:11because you can't they those grants
07:13by definition are for less money
07:15than that applicants who already
07:17have a career development award
07:19or or PI on a grant of more than
07:23$200K a year or or the same.
07:27As I said you're not eligible for
07:30salary but and and those who have
07:32substantial start-up funds also may
07:34not be eligible for salary support.
07:37This will be determined at
07:38the time of the award.
07:39These those folks can still
07:41apply for research support only,
07:43provided they have two more years
07:45at least of that kind of coverage.
07:48And just to be clear,
07:52the YCCI Scholars Awards are for
07:55MDs or PhDs, the YPSD Awards,
08:00you have to be an MD and
08:04it's not just MD you have to be
08:06able to practice
08:09medicine in the US
08:17or for the YPSD award where there are
08:21some areas that we're particularly want
08:24to promote and encourage people to apply
08:27diversity in translational research
08:30both the in the applicant particularly
08:33and in the research you're doing.
08:37So that's Health Equity research and we're
08:42very interested in community-engaged
08:45research and in implementation science.
08:48But that doesn't mean we're not
08:49interested in the other things,
08:51but we're we particularly want
08:55people that are doing good work
08:58in these areas to apply
09:02next, OK. So now we're going to
09:07talk about the application process.
09:08So as you know, we released the
09:11RFA an application last month.
09:14This month we're holding this
09:16webinar to give you additional
09:18information and answer your questions.
09:20The letters of intent are due Friday,
09:23January 5th and we'll talk
09:26about that a little bit more.
09:29I'll also be doing the
09:31internal review in January,
09:34February or when our applications
09:36are due that's February 9th 5.
09:39PM. I also do the internal review of
09:42those so that in March we can have our
09:46expert faculty review applications.
09:49We have our review meeting in April.
09:52They will do our just-in-time requests,
09:56our JIT requests so that we can
10:00send out notifications in June.
10:02And then as we mentioned earlier, July,
10:07July 1 is the earliest start date.
10:10And we say that because we may have
10:14other later start dates depending
10:15on when we have slots available.
10:18But July is also when our programming
10:20starts for all of our scholars.
10:27All right, so let's talk about the
10:29letter of intent, which is due as due.
10:32As I mentioned on January 5th.
10:35It is required, but it's not binding.
10:38So if you submit your letter of
10:41intent and decide after January 5th
10:44you don't want to move forward with
10:47a full application, that is fine.
10:51It is not considered as
10:54part of the review process.
10:56So again, that's part of the
10:59reason why it's not binding.
11:01Once you submit your full application,
11:03that's all we look at.
11:05As far as the review process goes,
11:09two of the reasons why we do the
11:12letter of intent is it gives us the
11:14opportunity to review your basic materials
11:17and confirm that you're eligible.
11:19As Gene mentioned,
11:21we have some eligibility requirements,
11:23so we want to make sure that everyone's
11:27eligible before you go through
11:29and do the complete application.
11:31And then it also gives us an idea
11:34of the scope of the application so
11:37that we can plan the review so that
11:39we can make sure we have reviewers
11:41with the appropriate expertise
11:43to review the applications.
11:47Now the letter of intent you submit
11:50through an online submission form which
11:53is listed on our web page consists
11:56of completing the form questions,
11:59uploading a half-page abstract so it's
12:02just a half page, and then uploading
12:06your NIH non-fellowship biosketch.
12:09And I put in the revision because I want you
12:12to make sure that you use the right revision,
12:16so it's the October 2021 version and
12:20then the other support document again,
12:22which is the revision for October 2021.
12:27And those documents you'll
12:30upload in a PDF format.
12:34And I say we have a question in the chat,
12:36will we receive feedback of the
12:39LOI regarding eligibility before
12:41the full application is due?
12:43Yes, that is the goal.
12:45However,
12:45you don't need to wait to hear back
12:49about the LOI to complete or start
12:52working on your full application.
12:56All right. And another question we
12:58have Will excuse me. Sorry, go ahead.
13:01You know, I think probably the person who's
13:03more worried about wasting time doing
13:05the application if they're not eligible.
13:07So there aren't. There aren't.
13:10The eligibility rules are pretty
13:12clear and they're spelled out.
13:13It's just double-checking that.
13:15So. So if you're one thing
13:18that would speed it up is,
13:20you know, if there's a question,
13:22oh, I was, you know, I was,
13:23I had this position at University
13:25of North Carolina for two
13:26years and they call it faculty.
13:28But I was really a more or less a fellow.
13:31Can I still be eligible,
13:33contact us in advance and talk to
13:35us and we can probably sort it out.
13:38Otherwise,
13:38there there aren't any hidden
13:41eligibility issues that that
13:42you're not seeing here.
13:45Correct. And I will mention that I've
13:48made some edits to our letter of intent
13:52this year to hopefully pull out that
13:55information so that it's more obvious
13:58as you're going through that if you do
14:01have more than five years of faculty,
14:03you'll realize that as you're
14:05filling out the letter of intent.
14:08OK. So yes, I
14:11was gonna say one thing.
14:12I mean with the the, the abstract,
14:14right, the abstract's not
14:16reviewed for eligibility, right.
14:17Nobody, we're not checking to see if
14:19correct project is technically eligible.
14:21You know as long as it
14:23falls up in our categories,
14:24it's really about is the applicant
14:26eligible from a timing perspective
14:27and a faculty appointment perspective
14:30and the and you know if you have
14:33$1,000,000 RO1, we're going to
14:35tell you you're not eligible. But
14:43so there's another question about
14:46those who are applying for a faculty
14:49position at Yale, a current postdoc.
14:52How will this be impacted timeline of
14:55hearing back regarding funding, if at all?
14:57Well, as we said,
14:59you have to have a faculty appointment
15:02if you're going to get funded,
15:03but usually they'll be able to.
15:05For example,
15:05they can make you an instructor if,
15:08but if you're if you get funded
15:15but which is which is fine.
15:20The problem is that a lot of you
15:23also need a letter of commitment
15:26from the chair of the department
15:29stating that they're going to make
15:31you a faculty member and you know
15:34it's strongest it it's a little.
15:37I always thought it was stupid but
15:39a lot of the reviewers want to see
15:42see somebody say well this person's
15:44so great that we're gonna commit
15:47to making them a ladder faculty
15:49whether or not they get the grant.
15:51Even though we all know that getting
15:55funding is crucial as some or somebody
15:58very early on but you should
16:01be able to be it it it shouldn't
16:04affect your ability to get the grant.
16:10Yes an instructor an instructor
16:13is a faculty position.
16:15You can be an instructor.
16:17You can even be an associate
16:19research scientist.
16:19But an instructor is a faculty position.
16:23Assistant professor is ladder faculty.
16:27That's there was a question in the Yep,
16:33if you are, if you'll be faculty
16:36for exactly five years on,
16:39well, you're not eligible.
16:42If if it's if, if five.
16:47So somebody asked if if they're eligible if
16:53they're exactly five years on 712124. If.
16:57If 7/1/24 is your fifth year, that's OK.
17:02If it's if it's your 6th year,
17:05you know, usually the the
17:06appointment ends on June 30th.
17:08So if if you complete four years on June
17:1230th and your fifth year is 7/1/24,
17:15you're OK, you're not more than five years.
17:18Hopefully that answers your question.
17:28So then we have another question.
17:29When are nominations due?
17:33Are they due at the same time as
17:35the letter of intent deadline?
17:37So for the letter of intent,
17:39you're just going to list
17:41who your nominator is.
17:43You're not gonna submit
17:44the nomination letter.
17:48So hopefully that answers your
17:50question. OK, great. All right,
17:54All right, I'm gonna move on.
17:59So then regarding the full
18:01application which is going to be due
18:04on Friday February 9th at 5:00 PM,
18:07the 2024 application Word
18:09document is posted online.
18:11You will use that as your.
18:18Make sure you follow the instructions
18:20listed in the application.
18:22So a couple of things I want to point out.
18:24If you are resubmitting your
18:27application that you submitted last
18:29year or maybe the year before,
18:32you need to make sure to submit a one-page
18:35introduction addressing the feedback
18:37from your previous application.
18:40There's also a note and a link
18:44regarding page limits and using
18:47NIH format for fonts and margins.
18:50I should say the link is related
18:53to the NIH format.
18:56Also, be mindful of which sections need
18:58to be completed by your business office.
19:01And you're going to want to work
19:03with your business office soon to
19:06get your other support document
19:09up to date because you're going
19:11to submit that with your LOI.
19:13But they're also going to work
19:15on your current support document
19:17and your budget forms.
19:19And as I as I mentioned previously,
19:23make sure you use the correct
19:25version of the bio
19:26sketch and other support documents,
19:31OK? And then again, once you
19:35have filled out your application
19:37document and your other forms,
19:39you're gonna submit it online,
19:41There are some form questions to submit,
19:44and then you're gonna upload
19:46your application package,
19:49preferably using your last name,
19:52your first name,
19:53and the application as a full PDF,
19:56and then separately,
19:58your initial faculty appointment letter.
20:01Obviously, if you're currently a
20:02post-doc and you don't have your
20:05initial faculty appointment letter,
20:06you won't upload that 'cause
20:08you don't have it yet.
20:10And then at the end of the online
20:15submission form, there are some
20:18CTSA-related reporting questions.
20:20They're mostly demographic,
20:22so nothing to worry about there.
20:25I did want to talk about a couple
20:27of recently asked questions that
20:29I've gotten regarding nominations.
20:31So it doesn't have to be
20:33your department chief.
20:35It can most certainly be your mentor.
20:38It just cannot be yourself.
20:41We've had a couple of people in the past
20:44nominate themselves and you wouldn't
20:46write a letter of support for yourself.
20:48Your whole application is you're
20:52basically your nomination,
20:53so it can be your mentor,
20:56your department chair or
20:57section chief as appropriate.
21:00So then regarding start-up funds,
21:02we've had a couple of questions about this.
21:06So because start substantial,
21:08start-up funds may make you ineligible
21:11for salary support and we will not
21:15determine that until the time of award
21:17apply for both salary and research
21:21support because we don't know what
21:23that number is going to be yet.
21:26And then for anyone who's a non-
21:28citizen or non-permanent resident
21:31you may use any start-up funds you
21:34have towards the 50% matching funds.
21:41OK what do you. I'm sorry,
21:43what did you say about
21:45the, we didn't know what the amount.
21:51So I've gotten a couple of questions
21:53regarding what does substantial
21:54start at bounds mean if it's so
22:02well we talked about
22:08more than $200,000 per year.
22:12It's a little, this is still something we're
22:16trying to knockout very clearly but if you
22:19you know I I would say if you have less,
22:23less than 400,000 you're probably OK.
22:30If it's more than that then you should apply.
22:34But, but we do have a pretty clear rule of
22:38$200,000 per year or two years on a grant
22:42more than that would make you ineligible.
22:45And so if you have more than
22:49substantially more than that it could
22:51be a problem in terms of eligibility.
22:55But you know it it gets complicated because
22:59sometimes the the chairs will include
23:06salary a lot, a substantial salary support.
23:08That's the only we'll give you $1,000,000.
23:11But but half of that is you know 2/3 of
23:14that is paying for your salary already which
23:17is really not exactly a start-up package.
23:20So that's why there's some gray areas or
23:23part of one of the reasons why because
23:26because it's not money that you can use,
23:32right. So what I'm basically saying is,
23:36if in doubt, apply for salary
23:38and research support and we'll
23:39figure it out on the back end.
23:46OK, so I put together kind of some do's and
23:51don'ts based on what I've seen in the past.
23:55Do make sure your mentor or
23:58mentors review your application.
24:00You want to put your best foot forward
24:02or your best application forward.
24:04In this case, also make sure your application
24:06is free of spelling and grammar errors.
24:09Again, having your mentor review
24:12your application will help
24:15identify those things for you.
24:16It's really difficult to
24:19proofread your own work.
24:21Make sure you write out acronyms,
24:23especially the first time you use them.
24:26Or better yet, as Gene would say,
24:28don't use them at all.
24:30Right Gene?
24:31Absolutely
24:33better. They're they're not
24:34your friend, They're your enemy.
24:39For your budget forms, make sure your budget
24:44OK. I should have added that to the to
24:48the list regarding your budget forms,
24:51make sure your budgets add up correctly.
24:55This makes my job easier when I'm
24:57reviewing applications during
24:59the internal review process.
25:03And then make sure you review
25:05the RFA and instructions before
25:06you submit your application.
25:08Just do one final pass, all right,
25:12and then don't don't forget to
25:15include a letter of support for
25:17each mentor and collaborator.
25:20So as part of my internal review,
25:22when I get the full applications,
25:25I check to make sure that there
25:27is a letter of support from
25:29every mentor and collaborator.
25:30So make sure you give me all of
25:34those so I'm not going back to you
25:37and and looking for these things.
25:39The same is true for bio sketches.
25:42So for every mentor, every collaborator,
25:44you have a letter of support
25:46and a bio sketch.
25:47Make sure you
25:48like bio sketch, not the not
25:50the fellowship bio sketch.
25:52Right the non-fellowship biosketch.
25:57And then finally,
25:58you don't include any extra letters
26:00of support or bio sketches from others.
26:03It just makes your application
26:06overly large and it's not needed.
26:10And I'd rather not have to
26:13strip them out. OK,
26:17so let's. We've got the
26:20application. Yeah, go ahead. You
26:23want me to go through
26:24this or do you want to do
26:25it? No, you can do it.
26:28So the review process is there's
26:31a pretty large study section
26:33and by the way the YPSD and the
26:37YCCI awards are reviewed together.
26:41There's not a separate review process.
26:43And the review process is basically
26:48similar to the NIH review process.
26:51There's a large study section.
26:53Your grant will be reviewed by three people,
26:57but everybody on the study section will vote.
26:59Usually once in a while two,
27:01but usually three.
27:02Everybody will vote on it.
27:04It'll get you know the
27:08and the criteria are gonna be the applicants,
27:16training and productivity.
27:20So far, the career development plan
27:24that you propose in Mentoring plan,
27:27it's a career development award.
27:29So although it's easy sometimes easier
27:33to talk about the research component,
27:36in theory the research component is
27:381/4 or 1/3 of the score you get.
27:43Because the idea is it's mentored research
27:46that's going to help develop your career,
27:48the quality of your mentors,
27:50the research plan including innovation,
27:52significance and approach,
27:54the environment and departmental commitment.
27:58And then, of course, areas of special
28:01emphasis which won't go into the I I
28:05doesn't go directly into the scoring.
28:08But if somebody if two people are
28:11the the proposals are ranked very close
28:14to each other and and they're on the
28:18cusp and somebody is meets the
28:21criteria for some of these areas that
28:24we're particularly interested in funding
28:26it may boost you up a little higher.
28:30You will be notified by your decisions in
28:32June the earliest start date is July 1.
28:35However
28:38some of it's going to depend
28:40on what slots are available.
28:41For example, we've had people that
28:44start in January or even in March and
28:47so those slots aren't going to be aren't
28:49going to open up until January or March
28:52whereas others will be available in July.
28:54I think, Nick, yours are all July are
28:58all gonna start in July, is that correct?
29:02Yes. Ours all start in July. Yeah.
29:04So the but, so, so and we juggle around
29:08to try to optimize everything for people.
29:12You know, we would talk to you and say and
29:14if somebody really needs to start in July,
29:17we'll do our best to do that. Occasionally,
29:19we can't.
29:20Some people have funding that's good
29:23that's pretty secure until January or
29:25March and those people we may ask.
29:29It still goes for the full two
29:31years whenever you start.
29:32Just to be clear,
29:33it doesn't shorten the duration of award.
29:35It's just when you start
29:41and I think that's it.
29:43We have other questions.
29:45The last piece is that all
29:47applicants will receive anonymized
29:49review and feedback. Sorry
29:50about that. Yeah, yeah, eventually.
29:55OK, so we have a couple of questions here.
29:58Do all mentors need to be in Yale faculty?
30:01No, they don't all need to be Yale faculty.
30:04But if they're not at Yale,
30:06you need to justify why.
30:08And you know, in general, it's a good idea
30:11to have a primary mentor at least at Yale
30:18people people are likely to
30:19question how close you're going
30:21to be able to work with that
30:22person if they're farther away.
30:24But you know, on the other
30:26hand, if there's somebody who's a
30:29particular expert or can provide
30:31something that you really need,
30:33having that person as a co-mentor is fine.
30:36But then spell out I'm going to
30:38meet with this person twice a
30:41month on Zoom and all the
30:43mentors are going to meet every
30:46three months together or whatever.
30:47It's going to be
30:51OK. I have another
30:54chat that was come that came directly to me,
30:59but I think it will be helpful
31:01for everyone to hear the answer.
31:03The question says so Chair chief nominations
31:08are due in February, not January.
31:11Everything for the LOI in January.
31:13It can be done by the applicant.
31:15So I'm just gonna go back to the LOI.
31:20So you will need the name of
31:24your nominator and your endorse
31:27whoever is gonna endorse your
31:29nomination for the letter of intent.
31:31Just the names, not the letters of support.
31:35However, you will need to work
31:38with your business office for
31:40the other support document.
31:42So that piece you do need
31:43to work with somebody.
31:45It used to be that you would submit
31:47your own other support document.
31:49One of the problems we sometimes got
31:51into is people would submit their
31:54other support and that they wrote up
31:56themselves and it would be incorrect.
31:58Now the NIH requires, and Yale.
32:01The Yale policy is that the
32:03other support documents are all
32:05done by the business office.
32:07So contact your business office
32:09early and have them prepare your
32:11other support document and they
32:13have to sign off on it as well.
32:16Yes.
32:19OK. Another question,
32:20if we conduct our study off-site
32:23that is in a clinic in the community,
32:26would we need a letter of support
32:28from them? Yes, sounds
32:32like they'd be a collaborator. Yeah.
32:34I mean you just, I mean it's not,
32:36it's not complicated.
32:37You just say yes we're you
32:40know but yeah we need to it.
32:43It's a simple reason.
32:44You know I I could say oh I'm gonna
32:47you know McDonald's is gonna let me
32:49set up shop and there McDonald's there
32:52and I could write that in my grant
32:55but they might not let me really.
32:57So we just need to see documentation
33:00from an appropriate administrative
33:03source that you're that
33:06what you say is, is accurate.
33:11Now why don't you people who
33:13have questions address it to
33:15everybody in the chat if you can,
33:17so we all can see it and it's OK
33:21Can they can they speak up or not
33:23or not really? Yeah, sure.
33:25Yeah, just just unmute yourself and talk.
33:27We actually sometimes communicate that way.
33:38No other questions.
33:42OK And you can always shoot,
33:44shoot us questions directly by e-mail.
33:50Yep. And I listed my e-mail here
33:54YCCI funding opportunities at Yale.
33:57Do we have another question in the chat?
33:59No. Just to thank you.
34:00Well, thank you all for attending.
34:04Take care. I'll also post this
34:08recording on our web page for
34:11anyone who couldn't make it.