Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) is submitting an application for the competitive renewal of its Child Health Research Career Development Award (CHRCDA/K12). This highly successful program at CCHMC has completed 31 years of successful mentoring of physician scientists who leave our program well positioned to catalyze transformational changes in pediatric research. In this, our sixth renewal application, we celebrate the 59 CHCRDA Scholars who have achieved $629M in cumulative NIH grant funding and published more than 4000 research papers. Our Scholars have advanced to become top leaders in pediatric research, many holding major academic positions, with 21 of our Scholars serving as division directors or department chairs in pediatrics. Since our last submission in 2017, the capacity of our research infrastructure at CCHMC has continued to expand, with additions of outstanding new faculty engaged in basic research in genetics, immunology, gene regulation, bioinformatics, rare diseases, and other areas. This expanded faculty base provides outstanding mentor choices for young pediatric physician-scientists. In this renewal, we are proposing 33 accomplished faculty members with mature and well-funded research programs, with a particular focus on strengths in the basic sciences and technological innovation, to serve as primary mentors or co-mentors for the CHRCDA Scholars. We propose four Specific Aims that have been successful for this program through multiple cycles: Identifying top new Scholar candidates (Aim 1); Providing an outstanding mentoring environment and curriculum (Aim 2); Supporting Scholar development through exposure to relevant cutting-edge technologies (Aim 3); and Enhancing the diversity of new faculty entering research-intensive careers (Aim 4). Our program is introducing three new Targeted Innovations this cycle: Formation of a united institutionally-supported career development program (Proctor pre-K Scholar) and CHRCDA Scholar program for physician-scientist early career development; a Technology Innovation Program for our Scholars; and a series of enhancements to our diversity efforts including the appointment of a new CHRCDA Director of Diversity and Inclusion. The CHRCDA program at CCHMC has matured during its 31 years history into a highly interactive, collaborative, functional community, including the renewed Executive Committee, External Advisors, Internal Advisors, and the CHRCDA Faculty Mentors, all of whom are fully committed to the success of future generations of independent physician-scientists who are leaders in pediatric medicine.

The Child Health Research Career Development Award at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has been in continuous operation for 31 years, fulfilling its mission of training young physician-scientists who are seeking careers in pediatric research. The goal of the program is to provide a strong, well- structured experience that will develop successful and independent investigators in child health who are poised to become leaders in their chosen field.