CDA Information for Applicants

In 2024/2025 academic year, Duke will select up to two CTSI scholars for a January 2025 start.

• Application opens: June 10, 2024
• Strongly Recommended Letter of Intent due: August 1, 2024
• Application deadline:   September 9, 2024
• Funding begins: January 2025

1. CTSI scholars must have a research or health-professional doctoral degree or its equivalent, i.e., a Doctor of Medicine (MD), MD/PhD, or PhD degree. An appointment as a Duke Faculty member is required.  An applicant may be in the final year of (postdoc) fellowship, but must have a faculty appointment by the start of the CTSI award.  (please see #5). 
2. All candidates must be U.S. citizens, naturalized citizens, or permanent residents. Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible.
3. Candidates must be able to commit a minimum of nine calendar months of total professional effort (75%) for career development and research activities associated with the program. For surgeons or others in procedural based specialties, effort requirements may be reduced to at least 50%. 
4. Commitment to up to 2 years of research training.
5. If you are a senior Research Fellow, Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Scientist, Research Scholar, or Senior Research Associate, you are eligible for the CTSI only if your division chief and department chair affirm that, if funded, you will be appointed to faculty as of the CTSI start date. Department Chair recommendation letters must include assurance that you will have received a faculty appointment prior to or by the start of the CTSI appointment.
6. Individuals are NOT eligible for an award if they:
   • Have been or are a current principal investigator on any NIH research project grant (this does not include NIH Small Grants (R03) or Exploratory/ Developmental (R21) grants or their equivalents) or equivalent non-PHS peer reviewed research grants that are over $100,000 direct costs per year.
   • Have been or are project leaders on sub-projects of program project (P01) or center grants (P50). 
   • Have been or are currently principal investigators on an NIH individual mentored career development award, e.g. K01, K07, K08, K22, K23 or K99 award.
7. Institutional KL2 recipients may be eligible for the Duke CTSI CDA. The applicant would need to justify additional mentored research training or training in a team context. 

Please note that the CTSI CDA program is particularly committed to increasing diversity of the research workforce.  Members of underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

Please note: All research projects must be based in the United States.

Individuals considering applying to the Duke CTSI CDA are strongly encouraged to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) via Duke’s MyResearchProposal.  A completed LOI includes a tentative project name, brief project summary (no more than one paragraph) and your anticipated primary mentor. Letters of Intent are strongly encouraged, but not required. Letters of intent are due August 1, 2024 via myRESEARCHproposal.

Letters of Intent for the program at Duke are completed using forms on myRESEARCHproposal. Please follow the directions below to submit a LOI.

Application Submission Process and Forms:

CTSI CDA Proposals are submitted via Duke’s MyResearchProposal online application software.

• To apply visit http://bit.ly/myresearchproposal, click on “Create New User” (or log in if you already have an account).
• Download a step-by-step user’s guide for applying via the MyResearchProposal software.
• Enter Access Code ‘CTSI’ then select the Duke CTSI CDA 2024 opportunity and follow the instructions.  For the LOI, please select CTSI CDA LOI 2024.
• For any questions concerning MyResearchProposal passwords or system issues, please contact myresearchproposal@duke.ed

Submit the completed online application form and provide all supporting documents.  

A complete CTSI CDA application includes:

1. Completed application form.
2. Your primary mentor’s NIH biosketch.
3. Duke CTSI CDA Primary Mentor Expectations.  This document defines the roles and responsibilities of the CTSI scholar’s primary mentor.  Applicants are encouraged to review this document with his/her primary mentor.  Please upload a signed document. Download the document.
4. Letters of Support
   • Letter from your proposed primary mentor indicating his/her willingness to devote sufficient time and energy to serve in this capacity. This letter should include a specific and detailed mentoring plan, including how frequently the mentor will meet with you.
   • Letter from your Division Chief/Center Director indicating that he/she has approved a plan for protecting 75% of your total professional effort for two years of funding (50% for proceduralists). If you do not have a Division Chief/Center Director, then please submit letters of support from two individuals (other than your primary mentor).
   • Letter of support from one individual (other than your primary mentor) who is knowledgeable about your prior accomplishments and suitability for this program.  If you do not have a Division Chief/Center Director, then please submit letters of support from two individuals (other than your primary mentor). 
   • Letter from your Department Chair indicating that he/she has approved a plan for protecting 75% of your total professional effort for two years of funding (50% for proceduralists). If you are a senior research fellow, your Department Chair must provide assurance that you will have received a faculty appointment prior to or by the start of the CTSI CDA. 
5. Research and Career Development Plan:  Please submit a description of no more than 5 pages of your two year proposed research and career development program, including:
   • Research Project Title and description of the specific research project you propose to pursue (prepared in collaboration with your proposed mentor), including specific aims, background and significance, research design, and methods.
   • Career Development Plan, including career goals, didactic course work that will prepare you for your research project and/or your future research career (classes, seminars, workshops, etc.), how the award will contribute to career goals, and a mentoring plan (prepared in collaboration with proposed mentor--frequency of meetings, other activities, and support from mentor).  Upon selection, awardees will meet with program leadership to review the proposed didactic training and develop an individualized curriculum.
   • A detailed timeline of research and didactic activities.
   • Commitment to complete core curriculum elements: 
     • Tailored Didactic Course Work
     • Health Disparities Research Curriculum
     • Team Science Curriculum
     • School of Medicine and external Career Development Training
       Please note that the five page limit does not include references.
6. Your NIH Biosketch. For this application, you may include papers that have been submitted and are currently in review as long as they are clearly marked as such.
7. If you have published papers, provide citations of up to three that you consider most representative of your research goals and potential.
8. Completed NIH budget form (for two years) and budget justification.  Please complete the NIH Entire Budget form. 

Access the Budget form template.

When completing your budget forms, please keep the following in mind:

• Protected time for research.  Scholars are expected to devote 75% (9 calendar months) of total professional effort (50% for proceduralists [6 calendar months]) to research and career development activities.   
• Total award of $135,000 per year to cover salary, research expenses up to $20,000 per year and travel up to $2,500 per year

IMPORTANT:  Please note that all amounts are dependent on availability of funds and are subject to change.

When completing the online application, please have all supporting documents available to submit online. All supporting documents must be submitted as pdfs.  

Additional supplemental documents will not be accepted.

Application Submission Process and Forms:

CTSI CDA Proposals are submitted via Duke’s MyResearchProposal online application software.

To apply visit http://bit.ly/myresearchproposal, click on “Create New User” (or log in if you already have an account).

Download a step-by-step user’s guide for applying via the MyResearchProposal software.

Enter Access Code ‘CTSI’ then select the Duke CTSI CDA 2024 opportunity and follow the instructions.  For the LOI, please select CTSI CDA LOI 2024.

For any questions concerning MyResearchProposal passwords or system issues, please contact myresearchproposal@duke.ed

Submit the completed online application form and provide all supporting documents. 

Applications are reviewed by a Review Committee (RC). The RC will rank the applicants. The final selection will be made by CTSI Leadership.

 Review criteria include:

• Candidate’s prior accomplishments and stated commitment to pursue a career in clinical and/or translational research;
• Quality, relevance, and likelihood of success of the proposed research project;
• Quality and appropriateness of didactic training plans, career development activities, and commitment and expertise of mentors;
• Commitment of the scholar to two years of research training; and
• Commitment of the home department and availability of research and laboratory infrastructure.