Frequently Asked Questions

Education and Training Team

Raed Dweik, MD, KL2 Program Director 
Beth Spyke, MPA, KL2 Research Education & Training Program Manager

Clifford Harding, MD, TL1 Program Director
Diane Dowd, PhD, TL1 Training Program Administrative Director 

*2023 K12 Awards are contingent upon the CTSC’s NIH grant renewal. The CTSC will be notified of its renewal funding towards the end of May 2023. If funded, K12 Scholars would be able to begin on or around July 1, 2023.

Q: For whom is this training program designed?
A: Physicians, dentists, nurses, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, engineers, social scientists or other health professionals with M.D., Ph.D., DDS, PsyD, Pharm MD or equivalent degrees who aspire to focus on clinical research in their careers. 

Q: What is the purpose of the program? 
A: The purpose of this NIH-funded program is to train the next generation of clinical research leaders to be capable of leading multidisciplinary, team based research & to "produce" clinical/translational investigators who will succeed in competing for competitive research funding. This program emphasizes team based, multidisciplinary, clinical research.

Q: How is clinical research defined in this multidisciplinary training program? 
A: The program's intent is to support the early career development of clinical researchers from a variety of disciplines engaged in all types of clinical research.
NIH defines Clinical Research as:

  1. Patient-oriented research. Research conducted with human subjects (or on material of human origin such as tissues, specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator (or colleague) directly interacts with human subjects.
    • This area of research includes:
      • Mechanisms of human disease
      • Therapeutic interventions
      • Clinical trials
      • Development of new technologies
  2. Epidemiologic and behavioral studies. 
  3. Outcomes research and health services research.
    • Excluded from this definition are in vitro studies that utilize human tissues but do not deal directly with patients. In other words, clinical or patient-oriented research is research in which it is necessary to know the identity of the patients from whom the cells or tissues under study are derived. 
  4. This grant stands apart from others because of its focus on the multidisciplinary aspect of the clinical researchers whose research may include patient-oriented research, translational research, small- and large-scale clinical investigation and trials, and epidemiologic and natural history studies.

Q: Who are the participating institutions? 
A: The schools and colleges of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), in close collaboration with CWRU-affiliated academic medical centers -- Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals of Cleveland, MetroHealth Medical Center and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.

Q: What is the duration of the training period? 
A: Depending upon the CR Scholar, this period will last between 2 and 3 years.

Q: What are the benefits of the program? 
A: Successful candidates will receive salary and benefits commensurate with prior experience and qualifications, a research stipend, and tuition benefits for two to four years.

Q: Will advanced degree(s) be awarded? 
A: On a case-by-case basis.

Q: When is the Letter of Intent (LOI) deadline? 
A: January 16, 2023.

Q: Will I be assigned an adviser when I arrive? 
A: Yes, after acceptance into the program, CR Scholars are assigned two mentors by the program's Steering Committee, and over 100 highly accomplished clinical research mentors are participating in this program (KL2 Mentor Roster).

Q: How do I select mentors? 
A: After you arrive, an advisory committee will assist you in selecting appropriate mentors, taking into consideration your goals and the clinical investigators affiliated with this program. CR Scholars will interview with potential mentors during their first few weeks on campus, prior to making their selection.