StARR Application Information

Eligible Candidates

PGY-1 Resident Physicians with MD degree or its equivalent in good standing in the J. Willis Hurst Internal Medicine Residency Program at Emory University School of Medicine.

As per NIH guidelines, candidates must be a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident at the time they submit the application. Individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible.

Also, per NIH rules, StARR applicants may not simultaneously submit or have pending an application for any other PHS mentored career development award that duplicates any of the provisions of the StARR program. Former or current Principal Investigators on any NIH research project grant (e.g. R01, U01) or equivalent non-PHS peer reviewed research grants that are over $100,000 direct costs per year, or project leaders on sub-projects of program project (P01) or center grants (P50) are not eligible to participate as StARR scholars. Trainees are allowed to hold NIH Small Grants (R03) or Exploratory/Developmental (R21) grants or their equivalents and still be eligible for the StARR award.

Requirements

Requirements of the applicants and awardees accepted into the Emory StARR scholars program are as follows. The candidate must:

• Be a PGY-1 Resident Physician with MD degree or its equivalent in good standing in the Internal Medicine Residency Program
• Be interested in clinical/translational research career (regardless of sub-specialty) focused on infectious diseases (host-pathogen interactions, microbiology), inflammation, and immunology
• Have completed postgraduate training normally expected for a medicine residency appointment
• Has never been a PI on an NIH R01 or subproject of a Program Project (P01), Center (P50, P60, U54) grant, mentored career development (K-series) grant, or other equivalent research award
• Be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national, or possess an Alien Registration Receipt Card (1-151 or 1-155) or some other verification of legal admission as a permanent citizen
• Be able to spend at least 80% effort on mentored research training during StARR research blocks

• Tentative Award Announcement: February 1, 2025
  
• RFA Release: September 2024
• Letter of Intent Deadline: October 31, 2024
• Application Deadline: December 15, 2024
• Tentative Start Date: July 1, 2025

Interested applicants should submit a “Letter of Intent”, which should include a CV and a one-page, 500-word description of your interest in the StARR program and how you hope it will support your career goals. If you plan to submit a letter of intent, please connect with your APD advisors for guidance on the process. A selected group of applicants will then be invited to submit a full application, guided by PIs Dr. Igho Ofotokun, Dr. Nadine Rouphael, and the StARR advisory board.  

All application materials should be submitted to the submission portal.

Formatting: All sections of the application should be single spaced with a one-inch margin. The font size should be 11 points or larger and the typeface should be Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia.

Required Documents for Full Application

Submission deadline: TBD

Applications should include the following documents:

1. Cover Letter
2. Research Proposal (use NIH R03 Proposal format) 
3. Letters of Support
   
   1. Letter from Program Director (Dr. Reena Hemrajani)
   2. Letter from Faculty Mentor

Selection criteria will focus on the demonstrated strengths and future potential of the candidate for a multidisciplinary career in research, and including:

• Demonstrated strengths and future potential of the candidate for a multi-disciplinary clinical and translational career in research focused on infectious diseases, microbiology, and immunology.
• Quality of previous training and accomplishments.
• Strength and feasibility of the research training plan/project.
• Potential impact of the research area and question (including innovation).
• Adequacy of support from the candidate’s’ research group and home division/department.
• Quality, feasibility, and potential for success of the research project.
• Likelihood for the research and the training plan to lead to a competitive K-38 application.

The NIH F32 award application process will be used as a model for the Emory StARR application process. Applications will be scored using the new NIH scoring system (1 to 9 point scale). An expert review panel with experience in NIH career development application review will serve as the study section for this selection process, producing a score and ranking that mirrors the NIH process. Given the critical roles of mentoring in the development of the candidate, the appropriateness of the research expertise of the different research mentors, their funding status, and their long-term commitment to the candidate’s development will be important components of the candidate evaluation.

Applications will be scored using criterion scores of the candidate, career development plan/career goals and objectives, research plan, mentors/mentor team, and environment/institutional commitment to the candidate. Environment/institution commitment in this setting will mean the support and environment provided by the department and the research group to the success of the candidate. The results will be passed along to the Emory StARR Executive Committee for final Scholar selection. Decisions of the Emory StARR Executive Committee will be final.

The Emory StARR Program is committed to meeting the NIH goal and that of Emory University to increase the participation of women and individuals from ethnic or racial groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. Such groups include American Indian or Alaska native, Asian, Black or African-American, Hispanic or Latino, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Applications from women and minority candidates are encouraged. In addition, accommodations will be made to assist any individuals with disabilities so those persons who are qualified applicants can complete the program.