C. KENNETH AND DIANNE WRIGHT CENTER
FOR CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

Office of Research and Innovation

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Eligibility Requirements

For general inquiries about eligibility requirements, please contact:

We aim to have representation of candidates across the clinical and translational spectrum and from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. KL2 Scholars come from a robust and diverse pool of junior faculty within the translational workforce at VCU. The pipeline includes a number of feeder programs, such as T32 programs, the Department of Internal Medicine’s Rising Scholars program and the Wright Center’s Emerging Scholars program, among others.

To be eligible to apply for Wright Center’s KL2 Mentored Career Development Program, applicants must:

  • Have a full-time faculty position (current or offered) in one of the schools or colleges at VCU, or partnering institutions, at the assistant professor rank. Post-docs are not eligible.
  • Have a terminal degree in a discipline applicable to clinical and translational research. These degrees include but are not limited to:
    • M.D., Ph.D., Pharm.D., D.O., D.D.S., O.D., Psy.D., D.M.D.
  • Be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. Permanent residents must have a U.S. Permanent Resident Card or other verification of their legal status as a permanent resident at the time of application. Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible.
  • Have an ongoing program of research – that is, be pursuing a clinical and translational research project.
  • Have a current and established primary mentor relationship.
  • Commit to two years in the program. During this time, at least 75 percent of the scholar’s full-time professional effort must be devoted to the KL2 Program. The remainder of the scholar's time may be devoted to other clinical or academic pursuits that are consistent with the objective of developing a career as an independent clinical researcher.
  • NOT have pending an application for any other Public Health Service (PHS) agency’s mentored career development award (K07, K08, K22, K23, etc.) that duplicates any of the provisions of the K component, at the time of their appointment.
  • NOT be a former or current PD/PI on any NIH research project grant (this does not include NIH small grants (R03)) or equivalent non-PHS, peer-reviewed grants that are over $100,000 direct costs per year, or project leaders on sub-projects of program project (P01) or center grants (P50).
  • NOT be the recipient of an R01, P or U54 award. The applicant cannot have been a principal investigator on an NIH R01 award or on a sub-project of a program project (P01), center (P50, P60 or U54) or other equivalent research award. Applicants may have had support on a National Research Service Award grant (F or T series), NIH small grant (R03), exploratory developmental (R21) or SBIR, STTR (R43, R44 grants).

Additional Considerations

In keeping with the type of mentoring and career development being provided by the Wright Center, someone who is already in the process of applying for an independent mentored career development grant, such as a P01 grant or R01 grant, is likely too senior for the KL2 award.