Ctsa K12 program at georgetown howard universities center for clinical and translational science - initially funded as a clinical translational science award program (ctsa) in 2010, the…

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences awarded Georgetown University $752,548 on September 1, 2026, under the CTSA K12 Program (CFDA 93.350) to support clinical and translational science training and career development for early-stage investigators.

Georgetown University operates the K12 program as part of the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science (GHUCCTS), a partnership that includes Howard University, MedStar Health Research Institute, the Washington DC Veterans Administration Medical Center, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The program recruits and trains early-stage investigators across 50 departments throughout GHUCCTS to build careers as independent researchers, national leaders, and mentors in clinical and translational science (CTS). Over the past fifteen years, prior KL2 alumni have authored 1,070 scientific papers, secured 62 successful extramural grants, and launched 30 successful sponsored clinical trials, achieving an 84 percent success rate on extramural grant awards compared to a national CTSA average of approximately 60 percent.

The three primary objectives are to extend training in CTS to scholars across multiple disciplines through expanded recruitment efforts, prime outstanding early-stage investigators for independent research careers, and conduct continuous quality improvement studies of the K12 program. Work is performed in Washington, DC. The period of performance runs from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2031.

Ctsa K12 program at georgetown howard universities center for clinical and translational science - initially funded as a clinical translational science award program (ctsa) in 2010, the georgetown-howard universities center for clinical and translational science (ghuccts) is a unique partnership of georgetown university (GU), howard university (HU), medstar health research institute, the washington DC veterans administration medical center, and OAK ridge national laboratory. The overall vision of ghuccts is to advance the ctsa research and training missions through the unique capacities of our partnering institutions for developing new technologies, promoting ethical clinical and translational research and science (CTR/CTS) and by engaging the populations in our community. The large pool of faculty conducting CTR/CTS throughout ghuccts has facilitated our ability over the past fifteen years to recruit and train an outstanding cohort of early stage investigators (ESI) within ghuccts in the skills they need to launch their independent careers in CTR. Our 21 KL2 alumni have authored 1070 scientific papers, 62 successful extramural grants and 30 successful sponsored clinical trials in CTR. At an 84% success rate, our scholars out-performed the average ctsa scholar success rate on extramural grant awards, which nationally hovers around 60%. Our proposed 3-year K12 program builds upon the strategies that led to our successful track record in scholar CTR and leadership accomplishments and expands upon our training and career development activities in CTR to encompass CTS. Our three primary objectives are to: 1) extend training in CTS to scholars in a range of disciplines by expanded recruitment efforts in 50 departments throughout ghuccts; 2) prime outstanding ESI for careers as independent researchers, national leaders, trailblazers, ambassadors and mentors in the emerging field of CTS; and, 3) evaluate and conduct continuous quality improvement studies of our K12 program to implement and disseminate evidence- based improvements. We propose three key strategies to train scholars in CTS: i) scholars will conduct their research project under the direction of a transdisciplinary mentorship team that promotes boundary crossing collaborations and team science; II) scholars will be trained in mentor-mentee relationship building, CTS competencies, dissemination & implementation, team science, responsible conduct of research, and principles underlying rigorous methodological approaches that are individualized to each scholar's career development plan (CDP); III) leadership development in CTS will be promoted among the scholars by opportunities to serve on the program committee for ghuccts grand rounds and participation in activities including the virtual national ctsa visiting scientist program, the in-person visiting scholar program with the virginia commonwealth ctsa; k-club with invited speakers focusing on topics of career advancement and joint near- peer activities with the ghuccts translational workforce development and T32 trainees. The K12 program requests 3 scholars/year for 3 years of training each, which is the maximum number allowed for a tier g hub.