Grant writing

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Conquering the K99 (Part 2)

Jennifer Kong, PhD

Greetings postdocs! Are you thinking about applying for a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award?  Here are ten tips to help you get started.

  1. Make a submission timeline and apply sooner rather than later

To apply for a K99, an applicant must not have more than four years of postdoctoral research experience. Surprisingly, determining your postdoctoral start date is not trivial. Generally speaking, the clock begins when your degree was conferred (a date documented by your university). Recently, the NIH released two notices indicating that an applicant can apply for a one-year extension on their eligibility window due to childbirth (NOT-OD-20-011) or a two-receipt cycle extension due to disruptions caused by COVID-19 (NOT-OD-20-158). In deciding when to apply, you need to do the submission math to ensure that you provide yourself enough time to resubmit your application if required. There are three times a year (or cycles) in which you can apply. The review process is long, and you must account for a gap cycle between the initial submission and resubmission. For example, if you apply for a K99 in the first cycle, you will not get your score and comments back in time to resubmit in the second cycle. The earliest you will be able to resubmit your application is in the third cycle.

  1. Make a checklist

The K99 is a beast of a proposal. In the end, my K99 application was 87 pages long. But, fear not. The trick is to divide and conquer. First, go to the NIH Grants and Funding website and download the application guide. Then, to stay organized and motivated, make a checklist of all the items you need to prepare. Here is the checklist I made below.

*Items that you will need to gather from others.

  1. Create and adhere to a writing routine

Establish a writing routine to avoid panic writing and sleepless nights. Specifically, create a list of writing rules for yourself. Determine when you will write, where you will write, and the conditions under which you will write. To build accountability, share your writing plan with others and establish artificial deadlines to ensure you stay on track to complete your application on time. For more writing routine ideas, check out the article “Ten simple rules for scientists: Improving your writing productivity” (Peterson et al., 2018) for inspiration.

  1. Sketch out your research plan before you write your specific aims

In writing a K99, one of the most intimidating tasks is to develop a research plan that is that the magic combination of significant, innovative, and feasible. In coming up with a plan, start early, create rough outlines, discuss your unrefined ideas with other scientists (i.e., friends, lab members, and mentors), and then edit as needed until you have a solid plan. Once you have a solid plan, then begin writing your specific aims. In preparing your research plan, avoid nested aims, where one aim’s success depends on another aim’s success. Also, focus on hypothesis-driven science where any outcome (positive or negative) is informative. Avoid writing yourself into experimental corners and dead ends.

  1. Identify the NIH institute that is right for you

The NIH consists of 27 different institutes and centers. To determine which institute to apply to, use the NIH RePORTER Matchmaker tool to find the institute that is the best match for your research. If there are multiple options available, look up the published success rate of an institute’s K99s and consider picking the institute with the higher success rate. Alternatively, choose the institute where your mentor has already successfully applied to and received an NIH grant.

  1. Contact your institute’s program officer

After you write a solid draft of your specific aims, contact your institute’s program officer. What is a program officer? Each NIH institute has program officers responsible for a set of grants (Ks, Fs, or Rs). Throughout the application process, the program officer is your primary NIH contact with whom you discuss materials regarding your grant’s content. The program officer makes significant funding decisions, including if your grant fits within the scope of the institute you are applying to. Thus, it is important to contact them sooner rather than later. Before you write the rest of your proposal, check in with your program officer to ensure that your grant matches the institute. You don’t want your grant to get rejected because of a poor fit.

  1. Gather an excellent scientific mentoring team

One of the joys of the K99 writing process is that you have the opportunity to submit six letters of support. Use this opportunity to initiate collaborations and build an incredible scientific mentoring team that will help you execute experiments and provide mentorship for the long uphill climb that is obtaining a faculty position.

  1. Don’t forget that the K99 is a transition grant, so let your training potential shine through

A common mistake is that people overstate their early postdoctoral accomplishments, elaborating on all that they have already learned and executed. Singing your praises is excellent, don’t take it out! However, don’t forget to include plans that beautifully elaborate on all the learning the K99 will fund and how this additional knowledge will elevate your science. Remember, the K99/R00 is a transition award. The K99 is supposed to be the training period that prepares you for the R00 independent phase.

  1. Plan ahead and carve out the time to prepare a solid application

My mentor told me that time is your most precious resource. The K99 requires a lot of time and planning to execute well. If possible, put your experiments on hold and commit focused time to prepare your application. In addition to communicating with your program officer at the NIH, initiate early communications with the individuals at your university/institute that will help you prepare your budget and potentially other components of your grant.

  1. Talk to others

Regardless of how much you read and how thoroughly you go through the application materials, you will have questions as you prepare your application. For these questions, your most powerful asset is your mentor and your postdoc peers that have already applied, so seek their advice. The process is long and hard, but regardless of the outcome, the exercise of writing the grant will help you think more deeply about your science and facilitate new collaborations.

Good luck and happy writing!

 

References

Peterson TC, Kleppner SR, Botham CM (2018) Ten simple rules for scientists: Improving your writing productivity. PLoS Comput Biol 14(10): e1006379. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006379

 

“The views, opinions and positions expressed within this blog are those of the author(s) alone and do not represent those of the American Heart Association. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them. The Early Career Voice blog is not intended to provide medical advice or treatment. Only your healthcare provider can provide that. The American Heart Association recommends that you consult your healthcare provider regarding your personal health matters. If you think you are having a heart attack, stroke or another emergency, please call 911 immediately.”

 
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Facing the Fear of Writing

Sasha Prisco, MD, PhD

Writing is an essential skill in academics. Metrics of productivity are often quantified by number of publications and funded grants. Very few people are naturally talented scientific writers. One of the most daunting tasks for early career trainees is writing and then receiving the subsequent deluge of feedback and critiques from mentors, co-authors, and reviewers.

Like any other technique, refining one’s scientific writing skills takes time and practice. Scientific writing can be challenging, especially early in your training. Here are some tips that may help you develop this important scientific skill:

 

  • Try to write as much as possible. Writing scientific papers is different than preparing grant proposals. Try to gain experience in both by either submitting papers and grant applications and/or attending mock grant writing courses during your training.

 

  • Set aside time to write and minimize detractions. This can be challenging when we have smartphones, email inboxes, and social media accounts. Try to write in chunks. When preparing manuscripts, I like to start with putting together the figures and figure legends; then writing the results and methods, introduction, discussion and finally the abstract.

 

  • Do not worry about putting together a perfect draft. It is better to try to overcome the writing inertia by free writing and then later revising.

 

  • Keep multiple versions of your drafts. You may like how you previously described something or organized the document.

 

  • Do not be horrified about the amount of edits that you will receive. I remember how dejected I was when one of my drafts was littered with red tracking changes and comments. However, receiving drafts back with a plethora of feedback and revisions is a sign that your mentor/co-authors care about what you wrote and want to further your professional development. I am extremely fortunate that my mentors take the time to provide detailed and specific feedback on how to improve my writing. Also, do not take the critiques personally. If needed, look at the comments, put them aside, and come back to them another time when you are less emotional – this is especially relevant after you receive critical negative reviews on your manuscript and/or grant submissions.

 

  • Read the literature and other people’s grant applications. There is no correct way to write a good manuscript or successful grant application. However, you can learn many stylistic approaches by examining others’ writing.

 

I also recommend checking out some of the great blogs on scientific writing that my fellow AHA Early Career Bloggers wrote:

 

Good luck!

 

“The views, opinions and positions expressed within this blog are those of the author(s) alone and do not represent those of the American Heart Association. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them. The Early Career Voice blog is not intended to provide medical advice or treatment. Only your healthcare provider can provide that. The American Heart Association recommends that you consult your healthcare provider regarding your personal health matters. If you think you are having a heart attack, stroke or another emergency, please call 911 immediately.”

 
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Greatness in Grant Writing

Jennifer Kong, PhD

As a first time AHA Scientific Session attendee, I was thrilled with the diversity of topics covered in today’s program. As I learned about topics ranging from structural racism in science and healthcare to the difficulty associated with diagnosing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, I had the opportunity to see some of the major challenges that prevail in cardiovascular health and was in awe of the advances being made to address them.

As a researcher constantly striving to write better grants and fellowships, I would highly recommend checking out the recording of “My first grant writing breakthrough — tips and tricks for early career researchers” by Lifestyle Council’s Early Career Committee. In this Zoom hosted chat, Dr. Alain Bertoni (Wake Forest School of Medicine), Dr. Norrina Allen (Northwestern University), and Dr. Kara Whitaker (University of Iowa) shared their secrets for grant writing success. Below are a few points that I took away with me.

Give yourself time to write
I was surprised to learn that some of the panelists had spent years working on a research idea and crafting it into a successful R01 grant. While most of us don’t have the luxury of years to write a grant, the panelists made it clear that writing a solid specific aims page (the backbone of any NIH grant) is a long process that requires many drafts and critical feedback from close colleagues. Thus, a theme repeated throughout the panel was time. Give yourself a lot of time to write and start your grant writing process as early as possible.

Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you are

Don’t be shy, reach out to others for help. A constant theme of this session was the sense that our peers are our strongest asset. As the grant will be read by experts in the field, the panelists emphasized that it is likewise important to get feedback from knowledgeable peers to ensure that the science is exciting, the approach is solid, and that the ideas you are presenting are fundable.

Read other grants and try to gain the first-hand experience with the NIH peer review process

In a final tips takeaway, the panelists noted that one of the best ways new faculty members can learn how to write excellent grants is to expose themselves to excellent grants. This can be achieved through reading successful grants written by peers. Alternatively, the NIH has an Early Career Reviewer Program that allows early-career scientists to participate in the NIH peer review process to help them understand how grants are evaluated.

 

“The views, opinions and positions expressed within this blog are those of the author(s) alone and do not represent those of the American Heart Association. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them. The Early Career Voice blog is not intended to provide medical advice or treatment. Only your healthcare provider can provide that. The American Heart Association recommends that you consult your healthcare provider regarding your personal health matters. If you think you are having a heart attack, stroke or another emergency, please call 911 immediately.”