The CTSA mentored career development program: Supporting the careers of child health investigators

Training translational scientists is a priority of the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium. Objectives: 1) Describe the landscape of CTSA Mentored Research Career Development Awards (CDA) and 2) evaluate participation and outcomes of child health investigators in these programs. Design: Survey of the CTSA Child Health Oversight Committee (CC-CHOC) and review of nonresponders' CTSA Websites. Results: Thirty-two of 53 CC-CHOC members (60%) responded and all nonresponder Websites were reviewed. Institutions supported 1,166 CDA positions from 2006 to 2011, with 134 awarded to child health investigators (11.5%). Respondents reported a mean of 29.8 KL2 positions (95% CI 17.5-42.2) during their award period, with a mean of 2.8 (95% CI 1.8-3.8) awarded to child health investigators. The proportion of child health awardees varied from 0% to 50% across institutions. We identified 45 subsequent National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards to the 134 child health investigators (34%). Conclusions: The CTSA program contributes substantially to training the next generation of translational investigators. One-third of child health investigators obtained subsequent NIH awards in the short follow-up period demonstrating success of the CTSA CDA programs. Child health investigators are represented variably across the consortium. Pediatric institutions can partner with the CTSA program to further support training child health investigators.