Identifying the most effective ways to support career development of early stage investigators in clinical and translational science should yield benefits for the biomedical research community. Institutions with Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) offer KL2 programs to facilitate career development; however, the sustained impact has not been widely assessed.

A survey comprised of quantitative and qualitative questions was sent to 2144 individuals that had previously received support through CTSA KL2 mechanisms. The 547 responses were analyzed with identifying information redacted.

Respondents held MD (47%), PhD (36%), and MD/PhD (13%) degrees. After KL2 support was completed, physicians’ time was divided 50% to research and 30% to patient care, whereas PhD respondents devoted 70% time to research. Funded research effort averaged 60% for the cohort. Respondents were satisfied with their career progression. More than 95% thought their current job was meaningful. Two-thirds felt confident or very confident in their ability to sustain a career in clinical and translational research. Factors cited as contributing to career success included protected time, mentoring, and collaborations.

This first large systematic survey of KL2 alumni provides valuable insight into the group’s perceptions of the program and outcome information. Former scholars are largely satisfied with their career choice and direction, national recognition of their expertise, and impact of their work. Importantly, they identified training activities that contributed to success. Our results and future analysis of the survey data should inform the framework for developing platforms to launch sustaining careers of translational scientists.

In order to conduct translational science, scientists must combine domain-specific expertise with knowledge on how to identify and cross translational hurdles, and insights on positioning discoveries for the next translational stage. Expert educators from the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Consortium identified 97 knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) important to include in training programs for translational scientists. To assist educators and trainees to use these KSAs, a conceptual model called “Personalized Pathways” was developed that prioritizes KSAs based on trainee background, research area, or phenotype, and expertise on the research team.

To understand how CTSA educators prioritize specific KSAs when developing personalized training plans for different translational phenotypes and to identify areas of similarity and difference across phenotypes.

A web-based, cross-sectional survey of CTSA educators was done. For a selected phenotype, respondents recommended one of four levels of mastery for each of the 97 KSAs. Results were tabulated by frequency, weighted by importance, and divided into tertiles representing high, middle, and lower priority KSAs. Agreement across phenotypes was compared using Krippendorff’s alpha.

Ten KSAs were high training priority for Preclinical, Clinical, and Community-Engaged phenotypes. These address research methods, responsible conduct of research, team building, and communicating research results. Nine KSAs were in the next tertile for priority reflecting KSAs in biostatistics, bioinformatics, regulatory precepts, and translating implications of research findings.

A smaller set of KSAs can be prioritized for training Preclinical-, Clinical-, and Community-Engaged researchers. Future work should explore this approach for other phenotypes.