Internal Limited Submission Deadline: NCI Predoctoral Transition Award (F99/K00)

The NCI plans to reissue the F99/K00 transitional training award for graduate students in the field of cancer research (see the attached flyer from FY20 as well as the Notice of Intent to republish the RFA linked here.). Last year’s RFA can also be found here.  Please consider nominating your students if they fit the eligibility criteria.  Only one proposal per institution is allowed so there will be an internal selection process to identify the best candidate.

The purpose of the award is to facilitate the transition of talented graduate students into successful cancer research postdoctoral appointments, and provide opportunities for career development activities relevant to their long-term career goals of becoming independent cancer researchers.

The F99/K00 award is meant to provide up to 6 years of support in two phases and is intended for individuals who require 1-2 years to complete their Ph.D. dissertation research training (F99 phase) before transitioning to mentored postdoctoral research training (K00 phase). Consequently, applicants are expected to propose an individualized research training plan for the next 1-2 years of dissertation research training and a plan for 3-4 years of mentored postdoctoral research and career development activities that will prepare them for independent cancer-focused research careers.

The applicant must have a baccalaureate degree and be currently enrolled as a graduate student in the third or fourth year of a mentored PhD or equivalent research degree program in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences. The applicant must be at the dissertation research stage of training at the time of award, and must show evidence of high academic performance in the sciences and commitment to a career as an independent cancer research scientist

Since this is a limited submission, the OoR will conduct the SOM review and coordinate the final review and selection with other schools that have nominated applicants.

Faculty mentors with primary appointments in the School of Dentistry, School of Pharmacy, or School of Public Health should direct their nominations to their School.

For faculty mentors in the SOM, the items below should be emailed to the Office of Research (oor_submissions@med.unc.edu) by Thursday, September 1, 2022.

• Title Page including:

-Nominee name, department, PhD program, current year in the graduate program

-Mentor name, department

-Citizenship status or current Visa

• Nomination letter from the primary mentor. This letter should confirm that the nominee will be at the dissertation research stage of training at the time of award, and must provide “evidence of high academic performance in the sciences and commitment to a career as an independent cancer research scientist” .  The primary mentor must confirm his/her “successful track record of mentoring predoctoral students”.

• Dissertation Aims / Summary (1 page) prepared by the nominee
• NIH biosketch for the candidate (please address future plans and relevance to cancer in your personal statement)
• NIH biosketch for the faculty mentor

UNC has had three students that have been selected for this program previously:  Sarah Shelton / BME (2016) and Ning Cheng / Oral biology (2017) and Megan Agajanian / Pharmacology (2019).

More information including slides and recording of webinars from last year can be found here under the Resources tab at the end of the page.