The Young Clinicians & Investigators Committee of the Council on Clinical Cardiology provides this information:

• Early Career Development Resources
  • How to Become a Cardiovascular Investigator 
  • Early Career Development Symposium
  • Mentoring Handbook
  • Research Training Resources
  • How To Write a Grant
  • How to Give Scientific Presentation 
  • Funding Resources
  • Negotiating Your First Job
  • Pregnancy In Training
  • Conversations with…

Resources

How To Be a Cardiovascular Investigator
The council co-sponsors this popular two-day course with the American College of Cardiology and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The course is held each fall at the ACC Heart House in Bethesda, Md. 

Early Career Development Symposium at AHA Scientific Sessions
Provides information and guidance for those early in their careers in clinical and basic cardiovascular sciences who are interested in clinical work, clinical investigation, or basic or population science.

Mentoring Handbook  – American Heart Association, 2003
Perhaps the most important early task facing a trainee in cardiovascular medicine is choosing a mentor to guide career development. An established mentoring relationship is generally considered a must for trainees wishing to pursue a career in basic science.  But a solid mentoring relationship is also critical for those wishing to follow a clinician-scientist or an administrative career pathway. For the young trainee, judging a mentor's effectiveness is daunting but, to a great extent, a mentor's effectiveness can be judged by the career trajectories of former trainees.

Despite the importance of the mentor-trainee relationship, very little information exists for trainees and potential mentors to assist in establishing and developing these vital relationships; intuition and improvisation between the parties are the rule. Furthermore, in the present era, where clinical demands on trainees are expanding and opportunities for research funding are shrinking, a palpable element of frustration is interjected into the mentor-trainee interaction.

The Mentoring Handbook, compiled by the American Heart Association, addresses these issues regarding mentoring and was compiled based on input by opinion leaders during a series of workshops convened by the Early Career Investigator/Clinician Task Force of the American Heart Association.

The Handbook opens by examining the basics of the mentor-trainee relationship and provides useful insight for trainees on identifying and appropriate mentor.

The Handbook also reveals how the process begins with introspection regarding the mentee's best estimate of his own aspirations for a career in CV medical research. Other ingredients of success discussed include creations of an honest and open relationship.

The Handbook also includes concerns regarding the mentoring relationship in basic cardiovascular science, clinical cardiovascular science, and population health sciences because each poses different challenges. For those interested in the careers in basic investigation, the Handbook provides insight into how to choose the appropriate laboratory for the trainee's interests as well as how to establish a reasonable timetable for productivity. Given the need for securing grants, the Handbook focuses on the art of grant writing and avoidance of common errors committed by the novice applicant. Of particular interest is the collection of observations from leaders in research that have been compiled.

The Handbook devotes a chapter to mentoring relationships of women and minorities. The ethnic and gender imbalances in academic medicine are cited (e.g., only 10 percent of CV trainees are women and only 6 percent practitioners are African American or Hispanic). Advice to underrepresented groups seeking careers in CV medicine is a feature of this chapter.

In summary, the Handbook is a major resource for trainees in CV medicine. Given the prestige and experience of its contributors, it will provide welcome and reliable guidance to clinician scientists embarking on a career in CV medicine.

Research Training Resources
In developing a successful career in research, we strongly suggest for the young clinical investigator to consider a didactic training course in statistics, epidemiology, outcomes, and/or trial methods.

Some available research training opportunities are listed below:

How to Write a Grant
An important first step in developing a career in research is learning to write a successful grant. Successful grant writers know the strategies in getting a grant and know the important components to having a strong grant application. The most difficult part of the application is developing a research plan and the research plan is typically the most important component in the success of the application. Web sites focused on writing successful grants are listed below:

The transition to a junior faculty position for fellows in cardiovascular training programs who want careers in academic cardiology and cardiovascular investigation can be challenging. Constructive mentoring and institutional support are but a few critical aspects that contribute to successful career development.

The application and awarding of independent funding is also a fundamental step in this progress. Unfortunately, there is a general perception among fellows that the grant process is too confusing and that are precious few resources available for trainees to provide guidance.

With this deficit in mind, the American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF), the Clinical Council of the American Heart Association, and the National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH invited a select group of accomplished investigators and clinicians to Bethesda, Md. to participate in a two-day symposium in June 2005. Dr. Valentin Fuster supervised the program, co-directed by Dr. Robert Bonow. Fellows in training from the across the United States were invited (limit of two per training program), with no fee for registration. Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2005 (Vol 46(7), supplement A) the document from this meeting entitled How to Become a Cardiovascular Investigator is well constructed and subdivided into section headings that each address a specific career path. Transcripts of interviews and question-answer sessions with the invited faculty are written in a conversational format where each affords his or her unique insight.

The document begins with "Choosing a Research Project/Mentor" and proceeds to "Funding Opportunities for Investigators in the Early Stages of their Career Development" and to "Bridging Funding Opportunities for Young Investigators." The text is concise and programs reviewed extensive, thoroughly detailing the funding mechanisms available to senior fellows and junior faculty including the traditional NIH National Research Service Award (NRSA) and K-award mechanisms, the AHA Scientist Development Grant and Fellow-to-Faculty Transition Grant, and also the ACCF Career Development transition awards.  The document also outlines some focused grant mechanisms including the ACCF/GE Healthcare Career Award in Cardiovascular Imaging and the ACCF/Pfizer Career Development Award in Clinical or Preventative Cardiovascular Medicine, funding opportunities of which trainees may not be aware. Tables provide bulleted points that underscore the most pertinent aspects of the grant discussed. Finally, the faculty assembled for this part of the document, including Drs. Fuster and Bonow, Michael Mendelsohn, Augustus Grant, and C. William Balke, provide insight through reflection upon their career development. Downloadable PowerPoint presentations from these experts can be found at the ACC Fellows-in-Training Web site.

Fellows can access several Web sites that provide guidance in funding selection and career development. Some of the most notable include: the NIH grant portal, AHA portal, ACCF award portal.  Fellows can also broaden their search for funding opportunities through registration at Web sites such as The Community of Science, and can search NIH-funded awards (to identify potential mentors) through the CRISP database. The AHA has created the Mentoring Handbook, which can be downloaded from the AHA web site, to guide trainees in mentor selection and to optimize the mentor-mentee relationship.

Fellow trainees and junior faculty may also qualify for the NIH Loan Repayment Program (www.lrp.nih.gov), a competitive process (similar to a grant submission) through which the NIH repays outstanding student loan debt of up to $35,000 per year. In FY 2005, there were 1,200 applications to the clinical research LRP, with a funding rate of 37 percent. The application cycle begins on Sept. 1, 2006, with applications due by December 2006.

Fellows may also consider applying for career development support from their institutions or not-for-profit independent foundations, and should contact the grants office of their respective institutions for more information. While there are numerous foundations that support research in cardiovascular disease, fellows are often not aware of these programs. Notable programs include the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In summary, there are numerous sources of career guidance information available to the fellow pursuing a career in academic cardiology. The AHA, ACC and NIH recognize the urgent need to not only foster interest in research careers, but also provide the necessary support to permit the first career steps. These online and print resources are a strong step in this direction.

How I Started My Career in Cardiology

A Conversation with Dr. Gary Francis — February 2007