Independent Scientist Award (Parent K02)
(Postdoctoral Individuals/New Independent Researchers)

Important Information: The NHLBI will no longer participate in the K02 mechanism (resubmission applications only until March 12, 2013).

The K02 award is a special salary-only grant designed to provide protected time for newly independent scientists who currently have non-research obligations such as heavy teaching loads, clinical work, committee assignments, service, and administrative duties that prevent them from having a period of intensive research focus.  This award is targeted to persons with doctoral degrees who have completed their research training and have independent peer-reviewed research support and who need a period of protected research time in order to foster their research career development.  It is not intended for investigators who already have full time to perform research, or have substantial publication records or considerable research support indicating that they are well established in their fields.   The American Heart Association (AHA) Established Investigator Awardees should contact their AHA official to see if they are eligible to apply for the K02.

Applicants must demonstrate that they have ongoing peer reviewed support for the conduct of the research activities such that the K02 will provide support for at least two or more years concurrently with the independent support.  The K02 Award is a valuable opportunity for newly independent investigators to develop their biomedical research careers in the areas of cardiovascular, pulmonary, blood diseases and resources, transfusion medicine, and sleep disorders.  The scientific focus of applications submitted to NHLBI must be in one or more of those areas.

The K02 application should describe the current amount of time devoted to research and specifics about the non-research duties that successful applicants will be relieved from.  Applicants should describe their current research and what additional work will be done with support from the K02.

Individual Scientist Award (K02) Web links:

NHLBI Will No Longer Participate in the Parent K02 PA (NOT-HL-12-144)

K02 Program Announcement (PA-11-191)

Who is eligible?  Investigators at non-federal public or private U.S. institutions engaged in health-related research.  Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national, or permanent resident.  The applicant must have independent, peer-reviewed research support at the time that the K02 would be awarded.

The opportunities?   Protected time for research

Duration of support?  Full-time for 3 to 5 years, at least 9 person-months (75 percent effort of full-time professional effort) to conduct health-related research.  Not renewable.

Where?  At non-Federal public or private U.S. institutions

Applications due?  NHLBI will no longer receive new applications; March 12, 2013 will be the last date for NHLBI to receive resubmission applications.

Salary:  Up to $75,000 per year plus fringe benefits to permit 75% full-time research effort. This amount replaces any other PHS grant funds, which cannot be used to augment the K02 award or rebudgeted. Thus, the K02 mechanism may not be suitable for well-funded individuals, but their salaries may be supplemented from private or institutional sources.

How to apply:  Applications submitted in response to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for Federal assistance must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov using the SF 424 Research and Related (R&R) forms and the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide.

The SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide for NIH and Other PHS Agencies includes Part 1.7 Supplemental Instructions to the SF 424 (R&R) for Preparing an Individual Research Career Development Award (CDA) Application ("K" series).

Page Limitations: All page limitations described in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the Table of Page Limits must be followed.

Resources for K02 Candidates:

The NHLBI web site also lists training programs under the category Request for Applications/Proposals & Program Announcements with the application receipt date.

NHLBI's Division of Blood Diseases and Resources (DBDR) Program Description

NHLBI's Division of Cardiovascular Sciences (DCVS) Program Description

NHLBI's Division of Lung Diseases (DLD) Program Description

Please contact the following NHLBI staff member if you have questions about this award:

Henry Chang, M.D. (responding for all NHLBI programmatic Divisions)
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institutes of Health
6701 Rockledge Drive, MSC 7950
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7950
(for overnight delivery, insert Room 9030
and use zip code 20817)
Telephone: 301-435-0067
FAX: 301-480-0867
Email: ChangH@nhlbi.nih.gov

Revised: August 2012