# Professional Development

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR · 2024 · $501,137

## Abstract

The OSCTR Professional Development (ProfDev) Core is essential to addressing the Oklahoma Shared
Clinical and Translational Resources (OSCTR) goals of mentoring new and early-stage investigators across
the clinical and translational research (CTR) pipeline to independence, providing training and mentoring of
CTR scientists to focus on the health issues of our populations, and building capacity for CTR research within
our community partners. During the first funding cycle, the ProfDev Core supported programs that provided
mentored training opportunities spanning summer research experiences for undergraduate and
graduate/professional students to a master’s degree in clinical and translational science (CTS). In addition, we
developed the Translating Practice into Research program, providing intensive CTR training to rural, academic,
and tribal clinicians from Oklahoma and other IDeA states to increase their ability to be valuable members of
productive, multi-disciplinary research teams. In the current cycle, we added an online Certificate in CTS
program, benefiting those who cannot travel to Oklahoma City for courses regularly. Throughout these two
cycles, the mission of the Core has evolved to prioritize increasing mentoring capacity and effectiveness in the
state. We recently established the Oklahoma Center for Mentoring Excellence (OCME), allowing the OSCTR to
enhance the development of CTR researchers and provide a formal mentor training program to support the
capacity-building missions of the IDeA programs in the region. OCME activities have included workshops
tailored to broad audiences of individuals interested in developing their mentoring skills, which have been
attended by more than 200 faculty members and provided the training and experience needed to effectively
guide the professional development of CTR investigators. The OCME has provided a validated mentoring
framework for junior investigators supported by the OSCTR. With this renewal, we will utilize this pool of
certified mentors to provide targeted, one-on-one research and career development support to OSCTR
Scholars. The ProfDev Core will continue to build on institutional efforts to increase the competitiveness of our
clinical investigators for NIH career development awards and provide additional mentoring to active K-award
recipients. The ProfDev Core will continue to support successful educational efforts of the OSCTR that
increase the ability of our rural and community members to access training resources, including the Certificate
program. This includes new support for the development of a CTR education and training online toolkit within
the Gateway to Research in Oklahoma portal that will provide a consolidated site for dissemination of content
produced across the OSCTR Cores, including training videos, presentations, and tip sheets focused on
clinicians, research staff, and community stakeholders. Together, these activities will assist our supported
Scholars, Mentors, Invest...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10908688
- **Project number:** 5U54GM104938-12
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Valerie Williams
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $501,137
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-09-01 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10908688

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10908688, Professional Development (5U54GM104938-12). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10908688. Licensed CC0.

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