Eligibility of Scholars
  1. Applicants must be a licensed physical or occupational therapist with a doctoral degree (i.e., PhD, EdD, ScD, DPT, OTD). Just as individuals with an MD would be considered for a KO1 or K12 award, we believe that individuals with a DPT or OTD should be considered for this PT/OT CDP. However, because applicants with a DPT or OTD degree will be competing with applicants with PhD degrees or even DPT, PhD; OTD, PhD degrees, an individual with a DPT or OTD will require exceptional previous experiences or training in research to be selected into this program.
  2. In general, candidates should be no more than three years beyond their postdoctoral (therapists and engineers) or fellowship (clinicians) training when they enter this program. An individual who has previously served as PD/PI on an NIH research grant (e.g., R01, R21, R03), subproject of program project (P01), contract (N01), or individual mentored career development award (e.g., K01, K08, K22, K23, K25, or K99) may not be considered for further mentoring through this program.
  3. Scholars must be citizens or noncitizen nationals of the United States or have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence at the time of appointment. Additional details on citizenship requirements are available in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
  4. Applicants must make a commitment to the program for 4-5 years with a yearly minimal 75% effort directed toward research. As part of this commitment, the applicant must have a sponsoring institution that supports them in the first 2 years, and perhaps evenly more importantly, supports the applicant as they transition to an independent faculty position during years 3-5 at their parent institution.
  5. Applicants must be willing to train for at least 2 years (Phase I) at one of the three core or five participating institutions.
  6. Applicants must have a research plan that is supported by at least 2 mentors approved by the program. One of the mentors should be a PT or OT. Applicants who are otherwise qualified for the program but do not have identified mentors are encouraged to contact appropriate members of the PT/OT CDP Advisory Committee to seek guidance in developing a research plan and finding suitable mentors.