Forecast to Publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity for Paul Calabresi Career Development Award in Clinical Oncology (K12 Clinical Trial Optional)

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) intends to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the Paul Calabresi Career Development Award for Clinical Oncology (K12). The NOFO will invite applications for institutional research career development programs to support the training of clinical scientists in cancer research. The purpose of the Paul Calabresi Career Development Award for Clinical Oncology, is to increase the number of clinician-scientists trained in clinical and translational cancer research, promote their career development, and prepare them to be effective scientific partners with basic research scientists. NCI Calabresi K12 programs are required to have at least two oncology specialties represented among the included faculty and the pool of K12 appointees (Scholars). The programs are expected to leverage the institution’s unique strengths in these oncology specialties and to incorporate the latest research and technology advancements in designing cutting-edge career development curricula. And the programs must establish individualized career development plans to accommodate Scholars with different levels of prior research training/experience and assign two mentors, a clinician conducting patient-oriented research and a basic science cancer researcher, to each Scholar. The award budgets may include salary support for the PD(s)/PI(s) and Scholars, research and development support, and administrative support costs. The application must clearly indicate the number of Scholar appointments proposed for each year. Candidates must have a full-time appointment at the applicant institution or a partnering institution. Scholar support is provided for a minimum of two years and a maximum of three years of consecutive funding for each scholar, consisting of 12-month appointments, provided their progress towards an independent academic career is on track and satisfactory. The program will allow the appointment of Scholars proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial; or proposing a separate ancillary study to an existing trial; or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial led by another investigator as part of their research and career development.

The major elements in evaluating proposals include the assessment of: (1) The scientific merit and general significance of the proposed study and its objectives; (2) the technical adequacy of the experimental design and approach; (3) the competency of the proposed investigator or group to successfully pursue the project; (4) the adequacy of the available and proposed facilities and resources; (5) the necessity of the budget components requested in relation to the proposed project; and (6) the relevance and importance to announced program objectives.