Program Outline

Activity: Young Investigator Initiative Grant Mentoring and Career Development Program

Objective: To provide young investigators an opportunity to mentor and work with experienced basic and clinical investigators to assist them in securing funding.

Program: Participants attend two workshops and are assigned two or more mentors to work with them one-on-one on their research proposals until they are funded. At their first workshop participants will review with faculty the proposed research grant application on which they applied to the program, as well as learn techniques to developing well-structured research proposals and grant writing skills. The timing of their participation in the second workshop will depend on their readiness to have a completed/submitted grant application and summary statement reviewed. Some returning participants seek further mentoring in order to submit a completed grant application. Workshops are held in the Spring and Fall. Mentoring with faculty continues between workshops.

Workshop Dates:

Fall Workshop: September 29 - October 1, 2023 

Spring Workshop: April 12 - 14, 2024

Faculty: Coming Soon

First Workshop - Issues in Research

1. Lectures/workshops on Methodological Issues and Statistics
2. Office hours with faculty
3. Evening Talk:  Career issues keynote and networking
4. Mock Study Section and Procedure
5. Assignments 

1. Group session with faculty with emphasis on the most common reviewer critiques
2. Small Workshops to review Study Section comments, Summary Statements
3. Office hours with faculty
4. Lectures on Promotions (Demystifying the promotions process), time management, and employee management
5. Evening Talk: Career issues keynote and selected participant research presentations
6. Mock Study Section
7. Participants should have prepared a grant to submit to NIH/CIHR or other agency/foundation/industry for funding
8. Grants reviewed by referees before the meeting to maximize feedback.   

Application Information and Instructions