K12 Scholars Career Development Program
Be competitive for NIH independent K- or R01 awards with support from this three-year program for early-stage investigators at the University of Minnesota.
How we support Scholars
Funding and salary support
- 75% salary support on salaries (up to $120,000 inclusive of fringe)
- $30,000 in scholar research and development support
This award is funded by the NIH CTSA grant for 24 months and the Medical School Dean’s Office for 12 months.
Mentorship
K12 Scholars have a multidisciplinary mentor team representing different areas of expertise:
- Primary senior accomplished mentor
- Secondary mentor
- Biostatistician
- Community mentor (paired by CTSI-Ed for 1 year)
Training and networking
- Weekly K Scholar Multidisciplinary Seminar Series with CTSI K Accelerator Scholars, BIRCWH (Women's Health K12), MN-LHS (Minnesota Learning Health System Mentored Career Development Program), and individual K awardees
- Bi-annual Translational Research Retreats
- Annual CTSI Poster Session
Our goal for Scholars
Develop a successful clinical and translational science research career with extramural funding and scholarly publications
How we evaluate program success
Current K12 scholars
Former KL2 scholars
Terrence Adam, MD, PhD
Primary mentor: Wendy St. Peter
Additional mentors: Vipin Kumar, James Neaton, and Connie Delaney
Project title: The Clinical Significance of Clopidogrel Drug-Drug Interactions: Data Science Applied to Drug Safety
Cristina ‘Sophia’ Albott, MD, MA
Department of Psychiatry
Primary mentor: Kelvin Lim
Additional mentors: Shmuel Lissek, Kathryn Cullen, Paul Thuras
Project title: Characterization of Comorbid Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder Utilizing Ketamine as an Experimental Medicine Prob
Joshua Aman, PhD (UMN CTSI Collaborative K Scholar)
Department of Neurology
Primary Mentor: Jerrold Vitek
Project title: Characterizing the pathophysiological role of the pallido-thalamocortical motor pathway in Parkinson's disease
Katherine Arlinghaus, PhD, MS, RD
School of Public Health
Mentors: Marla Eisenberg, Melissa Laska, Rona Carter, Daheia Barr-Anderson, Darin Erickson
Project title: Puberty and adolescent health behaviors at the intersection of race, gender, and sex
Veronika Bachanova, MD, PhD
Primary mentor: Jeffrey Miller
Additional mentors: Daniel Weisdorf, Linda Burns, and Jaime Modiano
Project title: Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapy for Lymphoma
Arianne Baldomero, MD, MS (K Prime Scholar)
Department of Medicine/ VA Health Care Systems
Mentors: Adams Dudley, Chris Wendt, Ken Kunisaki, David Nelson
Project title: Rural‐Urban Disparities in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) among Veterans
Anne Bantle, MD
Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Medical School
Mentors: Lisa Chow, Elizabeth Seaquist, Dan Knights, Lynn Eberly
Project title: A weight neutral, high protein, low biologically available glucose diet for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus
Andrew Barnes, MD, MPH
Primary mentor: Gerald August
Additional mentors: Ann Masten, Megan Gunnar, and John Connett
Project title: Self-Regulation and Health in High-Risk Young Children
Maneesh Bhargava, MD
Primary mentor: Christine Wendt
Additional mentors: David Ingbar, Peter Bitterman, Baolin Wu
Project title: Biosignature of Survival in Acute Lung Injury and ARDS
Carolyn Bramante, MD, MPH
Medical School, Department of Pediatrics
Mentors: Anne Joseph, Nancy Sherwood, Kyle Rudser
Project title: Assessing daily self-weighing for weight management in adolescents with obesity
Jazmin Camchong, PhD
Department of Psychiatry
Primary mentor: Matt Kushner, MD
Additional mentors: Kelvin Lim, Angus W. MacDonald III, Kyle Rudser
Project title: Brian Functional Connectivity During Early Recovery in Alcohol Use Disorder as a Marker for Relapse
Cari Clark, PhD
Primary mentor: Michael Resnick
Additional mentors: Iris Borowsky and John Connett
Project title: Health Disparities in Obesity: Partner Violence and its Psychosocial and Behavioral Pathways
Curtis Corum, PhD
Primary mentor: Michael Garwood
Additional mentors: Michael Nelson and Lynn Eberly
Project title: Improved Breast MRI Utilizing SWIFT: Detection of Breast Calcifications with MRI and Correlation with Mammography
Dori Cross, PhD
School of Public Health
Primary Mentor: Genevieve Melton-Meaux
Additional Mentors: Joseph E. Gaugler, Haitao Chu
Project title: Use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) Data to Optimize Team-based Care
Sarah Cusick, PhD
Primary mentor: Chandy John
Additional mentors: James Hodges and Michael Georgieff
Project title: Immediate vs. Delayed Iron Therapy: Effect on Red Cell Iron Incorporation During Severe Malaria
Christen Ebens, MD, MPH, AB (K Prime Scholar)
Medical School, Department of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant
Mentors: Jakub Tolar, Bryce Binstadt, Xianghua Luo
Project title: Epidermolysis Bullosa: Characterizing and targeting immune dysfunction
Ida Fonkoue, MD, PhD (ECRA Scholar)
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
Primary Mentor: John Osborn
Project title: Autonomic and Vascular Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Risk in Women with Post- traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Steven Friedenberg, DVM, PhD
Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine
Mentors: Marc Jenkins, Jaime Modiano, Kristin Hogquist, Aaron Rendahl
Project title: Immunological Basis of Autoimmune Addison's Disease in a Novel Canine Model System
Anne Frosch, MD, MPH
Medical School, Department of Medicine
Mentors: Marc Jenkins, Katherine Huppler Hullsiek, Paul Bohjanen, Kristin Hogquist, David Boulware
Project title: Memory T follicular helper cell kinetics and localization during recall immune responses to tetanus vaccination
Bernadette Gillick, PhD
Primary mentor: Bin He
Additional mentors: Kelvin Lim and Kyle Rudser
Project title: Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation and Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy in Pediatric Hemiparesis
Andrew Grande, MD
Department of Neurosurgery, Medical School
Primary mentor: Jakub Tolar
Additional mentors: Walter Low, Yasushi Nakagawa, James Hodges
Project title: Repairing the brain after stroke - Neuroregenerative therapy in canine model of stroke
Allyson Hart, MD, MS
Department of Medicine
Primary mentor: Ajay Israni
Additional mentors: Melissa Partin and John Connett
Project title: Creating a Decision Aid to Improve Informed Treatment Decisions for Kidney Transplant Candidates
Samir S. Khariwala, MD
Primary mentor: Stephen Hecht
Additional mentors: Dorothy Hatsukami and Chap Le
Project title: The study of tobacco metabolism to determine the risk of developing head and neck cancer
Hee Yun Lee, PhD
School of Social Work, College of Education and Human Development
Primary mentor: Jasjit S. Ahluwalia
Additional mentors: Douglas Yee, Dipankar Bandyopadhyay
Project title: Mobile Phone Multimedia Messaging Intervention for Breast Cancer
Jiwoo Lee, PhD, RN
School of Nursing
Mentors: Jayne Fulkerson, Lisa Harnack, Weihua Guan
Project title: Reducing the summer health gap: Evaluation and enhancement of a community‐based child nutrition assistance program
Xiufeng Li, PhD
Primary mentor: Gregory Metzger
Additional mentors: Lynn Eberly and Ibrahim Hassan
Project title: Advanced Multi-Parametric MR Imaging for Renal Transplantation
Eric Lock, PhD
Division of Biostatistics
Primary mentor: Wei Pan
Additional mentors: Peter Bitterman and Michael Georgieff
Project title: Biomarkers from Multi-source, Multi-way Data
Emil Lou, MD, PhD
Primary mentor: Melissa Geller
Additional mentors: Greg Vercellotti, Richard King, and Chap Le
Project title: Novel Biomarkers of Chemoresistant Ovarian Cancers
Silvia Mangia, PhD
Primary Mentor: Elizabeth Seaquist
Additional mentors: Kamil Ugurbil and Lynn Eberly
Project title: Characterizing Brain Structure and Function in Diabetes by Novel MRI/MRS Approaches
Corey McGee, PhD, MS, OTR/L, CHT
Program in Occupational Therapy
Primary Mentors: Erin Krebs and Paula Ludewig
Additional Mentors: Ann Van Heest, Ann Brearley
Project title: Mechanisms of a dynamic stability protocol for persons with thumb osteoarthritis
Siobhan McMahon, PhD
Primary mentor: Alexander J. Rothman
Additional mentors: Jean Wyman, Michael Oakes, and Weihua Guan
Project title: Enhancing Motivation for Physical Activity to Reduce the Risk of Falls among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Wellness Intervention
Stephanie Misono, MD, MPH
Primary mentor: Kelvin Lim
Additional mentors: Patricia Frazier and Kyle Rudser
Project title: Dysphonia, Distress, and Control: Technology-based Assessment and Intervention
Amir Moheet, MBBS
Primary mentor: Elizabeth Seaquist
Additional mentors: Gulin Oz, Lynn Eberly, and Jeffrey Wozniak
Project title: Hippocampal Metabolism and Function in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes and Hypoglycemia Unawareness
Hai Dang Nguyen, PhD
Department of Pharmacology
Primary Mentor: David Largaespada
Additional Mentors: Gregory Vercellotti, Lin Zhang
Project title: Establishing a genetic-driven discovery platform for targeted cancer therapies
Mark Osborn, PhD
Primary mentor: Bruce Blazar
Additional mentors: Stephen Jameson and Weihua Guan
Project title: Next generation chimeric antigen receptor and engineered nuclease based tumor therapy
Ann Parr, MD, PhD
Primary mentor: Jakub Tolar
Additional mentors: James Hodges and Walter C. Low
Project title: Autologous Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells for Transplantation in Spinal Cord Injury
Rene Pierpont, PhD
Medical School, Department of Pediatrics
Mentors: Jeffrey Wozniak, Chap Le, Michael Georgieff, Paul Orchard
Project title: Early detection of white matter disease in X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy
Alexa Pragman, MD, PhD
Primary mentor: Chris Wendt
Additional mentors: Richard Isaacson and Cavan Reilly
Project title: Evaluation of the Lung Microbiota and Inflammation in the Progression of COPD
Anna Prizment, PhD
Primary mentor: Timothy Church
Additional mentors: Heather Nelson and Srirama Rao
Project title: Eosinophil biomarkers and colorectal cancer
Armin Rashidi, MD, PhD
Department of Medicine
Primary Mentor: Daniel Weisdorf
Additional mentors: Alexander Khoruts, Christopher Staley, Xianghua Luo
Project title: Gut microbiota restoration to reduce infectious complications of intensive chemotherapy in patients with acute myeloid leukemia
Elizabeth Rogers, MD, MS
Department of General Internal Medicine
Primary mentor: Anne Joseph, MD, MPH
Additional mentors: Stuart Speedie, Victor Montori, John Connett
Project title: Factors Affecting Safety-Net Medical Home Care Quality for Patients with Comorbid Diabetes
Zohar Sachs, MD, PhD
Department of Medicine
Primary mentor: David Largaespada, PhD
Additional Mentor: Jeffrey Miller, MD
Project title: Molecular mechanisms of leukemia stem cell persistence in AML relapse
Sandra Safo, PhD, MSc (K Prime Scholar)
Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health
Mentors: James Neaton, Jason Baker, Daniel Duprez, Dr. Cavan Reilly
Project title: Integrative Omics Methods to Assess Genomic and Metabolic Influences on Subclinical CVD in HIV-Infected Men and Women
William Schmalstieg, MD
Department of Neurology
Primary mentor: Stephen Jameson
Additional mentors: Charles Howe and James Hodges
Project title: Mechanisms of CD8+ T Cell-mediated Axon Injury
Craig Schulz, DC, MS
Center for Spirituality and Healing
Primary mentor: Gert Bronfort
Additional mentor: Roni Evans, John Connett
Project title: Behavioral and Contextual Mechanisms of Action in Spinal Manipulative Therapy for Low Back Pain
Sabrina Scroggins, PhD (ECRA Scholar)
Department of Biomedical Sciences, UMD
Mentors: Jean Regal, Stephen Contag, Kris Hogquist, Mary Owen
Project title: Testing the efficacy of regulatory dendritic cell treatment in the prevention of preeclampsia
Chetan Shenoy, MD
Primary mentor: Russell Luepker
Additional mentors: Daniel Duprez and Sue Duval
Project title: Cardiac Fibrosis for Risk Prediction in Cancer Therapy Cardiotoxicity
Tetyana Shippee, PhD
Primary mentor: Robert Kane
Additional mentors: Joseph Gaugler and William Thomas
Project title: Using Facility and Resident-Level Predictors of Quality of Life in Long-Term Care to Design Successful Interventions
Rebecca Shlafer, PhD
Primary mentor: Michael Resnick
Additional mentors: Julie Poehlmann, John Connett, and Grant Duwe
Project title: Incarcerated Parents in Minnesota and their Minor Children
Guisheng Song, PhD
Primary mentor: Clifford Steer
Additional mentors: Jeffrey Albrecht, Do-Hyung Kim, and Wei-Shou Hu
Project title: The combination of miR-24-ASO and miR-30e-ASO as a therapeutic agent for both NAFLD and hyperlipidemia
Elizabeth Swanson, DO
Department of Pediatrics
Primary mentor: Mark Schleiss, MD
Additional mentors: Mark Schleiss, Lou Mansky, Steven Rice, Michael Georgieff, John Connett
Project title: Mechanisms of Perinatal CMV Transmission: Immune Effectors of Protection, Pathogenesis of Functional Disability, and Potential for Therapeutic Intervention
Katherine Vickery, MD, MSc
Department of Medicine, Medical School
Mentors: Andrew Busch, Mark Linzer, John Connett
Project title: Medication support for people with diabetes experiencing homelessness
Leadership
Kelvin Lim, MD
Co-Director, K12 Scholars Career Development Program
Tetyana Shippee, PhD
Co-Director, K12 Scholars Career Development Program