Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct 1;274(4):549-555.
doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000005066.

National Institutes of Health Career Development (K) Awards to Young Surgeons: An Academic Milestone or One-hit Wonder?

Jose Wilson Mesquita-Neto  1 , William Dailey  1 , Donald Weaver  1 , Jashodeep Datta  2 , Francis I Macedo  3 , Nipun B Merchant  2
Affiliations

National Institutes of Health Career Development (K) Awards to Young Surgeons: An Academic Milestone or One-hit Wonder?

Jose Wilson Mesquita-Neto et al. Ann Surg. .

Abstract

Objective: To assess contemporary trends in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Career Development (K) Awards within the Departments of Surgery and its impact on the likelihood of achieving independent R01 grants.

Background: The NIH provides K-type Career Development Awards to nurture young clinicians toward a productive academic career, thereby maintaining a pipeline of physician-scientists. However, the impact of K awards on career trajectory of surgeons remains unclear.

Methods: The NIH grant data was queried for all new K08/K23 grants awarded to Departments of Surgery (1999-2019). Principal Investigators' data and grant-related information was obtained.

Results: The NIH awarded 298 K08/23 surgical grants ($41,893,170) over the last 2 decades. Median budget increased from $116,370 to $167,508 (P<0.001). Of grantees, 83.2% were MDs, 15.1% MD/PhD, and 1.7% PhDs, with 25.2% being women. Principal Investigators' were mostly practicing surgeons (91.1%) with fellowship training (82.4%) and young in their careers {4 [interquartile ranges (IQR) 4] years of experience}. Vascular surgery (15.9%), Complex General Surgical Oncology (15.1%), and Trauma/Critical Care (14.6%) were the most frequent specialties. Awards were associated with 3,336 publications [median 8/project (IQR 13)]. The majority of K grantees (77.2%) currently hold an academic faculty position. Only 32.2% of awardees received independent R01 grant funding, at a median of 5.5 years (IQR 5) after their K awards. Sex (P = 0.71), previous fellowship training (P = 0.63), type of surgical specialty (P = 0.72), or MD/PhD degree (P = 0.75) were not associated with increased likelihood of achieving a subsequent R01 award.

Conclusion: Although the majority of K awardees maintain an academic career, only a limited number of grantees progress to obtain NIH R01 funding. Increased mentorship, financial support, and infrastructure are needed to facilitate career development awardees opportunities to enhance their ability to achieve independent funding.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Fleming L, Greene H, Li G, et al. Government-funded research increasingly fuels innovation. Science 2019; 364:1139–1141.
    1. Hromas R, Abkowitz JL, Keating A. Facing the NIH funding crisis. JAMA 2012; 308:2343–2344.
    1. Hu Y, Edwards BL, Hu K, et al. Surgery investigators funded through the National Institutes of Health: a rebirth. Surgery 2017; 161:1482–1488.
    1. Fang D, Meyer RE. PhD faculty in clinical departments of U.S. medical schools, 1981-1999: their widening presence and roles in research. Acad Med 2003; 78:167–176.
    1. Rosenberg L. Physician-scientists—endangered and essential. Science 1999; 283:331–332.