KL2 Program

Career development grants for instructors and assistant professors

Directors: Jon Tyson, MD, MPH and Charles C. Miller, PhD
Contact Person: Micquelyn "Micky" Titus Micquelyn.Titus@uth.tmc.edu 713-500-5651

The CCTS KL2 program supports the training and career development of UT instructors and assistant professors (with MD, DO, DDS, DSN, PhD, RPh, or PharmD degrees) conducting clinical or translational research. The program provides salary support up to 75% of the total salary and $10,000 to $15,000 yearly for research and education costs. Funding is for up to 3 years.

All applicants must be engaged in or preparing to conduct clinical or translational research and must be able to complete the entire funding period at UTHealth. Each applicant's department chair must confirm that the applicant will have protected time commensurate with the percent salary support the KL2 program will supply. (In calculating percent protected time, the denominator must be the total institutional activities for which an individual is compensated by his or her institution. This includes time in house for patient care/call at night and on weekends.) Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents.

Each trainee will conduct a research study under the supervision of a senior faculty mentor and complete the core curriculum at UTHealth Clinical Research Curriculum. Trainees will also propose and complete individualized career development plans that include a statement of career goals and any additional training (beyond the core curriculum) that will be undertaken to complete them.

THE KL2 PROGRAM IS CURRENTLY NOT ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION IS May 13, 2019.

Next round of KL2 Scholar Award Applications will be announced Spring 2020.

PLEASE CONTACT MICQUELYLN TITUS FOR MORE INFORMATION AND FOR THE APPLICATION FORM

CCTS KL2 Scholars
Scholar/Affiliation	Title of Project/Mentors	Years in Program
Nneka Ifejika, MD UTHealth Medical School Neurology	Swipe Out Stroke (SOS): Feasibility of Using a Consumer-Based Electronic Application to Improve Compliance with Weight Loss in Obese Minority Stroke Patients Sean Savitz, MD	2014-
Mike Liang, MD UTHealth Medical School Surgery	Modifying Risk in Ventral Hernia Patients Lillian Kao, MD David H. Berger, MD Kevin O. Hwang, MD, MPH Ann Barnes Smith, MD, MPH	2014-
Ricardo Mosquera, MD UTHealth Medical School Pediatrics	Home-Centered Comprehensive Care (HCCC) for Children with Severe Asthma: A Pilot Trial Jon Tyson, MD, MPH Kathleen Kennedy, MD, MPH James Stark, MD, PhD Angela Stotts, PhD	2014-
Absalon Gutierrez, MD UTHealth Medical School Internal Medicine	Killing Several Birds with One Stone: Comparative Effects of Antidiabetic Medications on Postprandial Hyperlipidemia, Free Fatty Acid Signaling, and Endothelial Dysfunction in Individuals with Prediabetes Heinrich Taegtmeyer, MD Phillip Orlander, MD	2013-
Sheng Luo, PhD UTHealth Public Health Biostatistics	Innovative Statistical Methods for Analyzing Parkinson’s Disease Study Data Barbara Tilley, PhD Mya Schiess, MD	2013-
Amber Luong, MD, PhD UTHealth Medical School Otorhinolaryngology	Randomized Double-Blinded Controlled Trial of Oral Antifungal for the Treatment of Fungal Sensitive Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps Martin Citardi, MD Rick Wetsel, PhD Lillian Kao, MD.	2013-
Anka Vujanovic, PhD UTHealth Medical School Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences	Randomized Controlled Trial of a Novel Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for PTSD and Cocaine Dependence Scott Lane, MD Charles Green, PhD Joy Schmitz, MD.	2013-
Allison McCoy, PhD UTHealth Biomedical Informatics	InSPECT: Interactive Surveillance Portal for Evaluating Clinical Decision Support Dean Sittig, PhD Eric Thomas, PhD	2012-2013
Siddharth Prakash, MD, PhD UTHealth Medical School Internal Medicine	Validation and Replication of Genetic Variants Associated with Bicuspid Aortic Valve in Turner Syndrome Suzanne Leal, PhD Dianna Milewicz, MD, PhD David D. McPherson, MD	2012-
Joyce Samuel, MD, MS UTHealth Medical School Pediatrics	Series of n-of-1 Crossover Trials of Antihypertensive Therapy in Adolescents with Essential Hypertension Jon Tyson, MD Donald Molony, MD Joshua Samuels, MD	2012-
Andrew Barreto, MD UTHealth Medical School Neurology	The Safety and Efficacy of Argatroban and TPA in Acute Ischemic Stroke Jon Tyson, MD, MPH James Grotta, MD	2010-2013
Laura Benjamins, MD MPH UTHealth Medical School Pediatrics	Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus Infection among HIV-Exposed Infants Gloria Heresi, MD James Murphy, PhD	2010-2014
Sherwin Assassi, MD UTHealth Medical School Internal Medicine	Gene Expression Predictors of Outcome in Systemic Sclerosis Filemon Tan, MD, MPH	2009-2011
Isabel Gay, DDS, MS UTHealth Dentistry Periodontics	The Effect of Non-surgical Periodontal Therapy on Glycemic Control of Bacterial Levels in a Mexican-American Population with Type 2 Diabetes Gena Trible, PhD James Katancik, DDS, PhD	2009-2012
Kevin Hwang, MD, MPH UTHealth Medical School Internal Medicine	Promoting Colorectal Cancer Screening among Members of Internet Health Communities Eric Thomas, MD, MPH	2009-2012
Sunil Krishnan, MD UT MDACC Radiation Oncology	Optimizing the Combination of Gold Nanoparticles and Radiation Therapy John Hazel, PhD	2009-2012
Shaper Mirza, PhD UTHealth Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus	Relationship between Immune Dysregulation and Nasal Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Elderly with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Healthy Controls Susan Fisher-Hoch, MD	2009-2012
Jeremy Schaefer, PhD UTHealth Dentistry Diagnostic Science	Evaluation of miRNAs in Peripheral Blood Leukocytes and Intestine in Crohn’s Disease Patients: Implication for Diagnosis and Therapy John Klein, PhD	2009-2012
Erik Sulman, MD, PhD UT MDACC Radiation Oncology	Functional Analysis of Podoplanin in the Treatment Resistance of Glioma Stem Cells Kenneth Aldape, MD	2008-2011
Jerrie Refuerzo, MD UTHealth Medical School OB/GYN	Developing, Evaluating, and Applying Nanotherapeutics to Improve the Outcome of High-Risk Pregnancies Mauro Ferrari, PhD	2008-2011
Niton Tandon, MD UTHealth Medical School Neurosurgery	A Cross-modal Synthetic Approach to Eloquent Cortical Regions Ponnada Narayana, PhD	2008-2011
Kuojen Tsao, MD UTHealth Medical School Surgery	The Role of Anti-reflux Surgery for Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Premature Infants with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Kevin Lally, MD Kathleen Kennedy, MD, MPH	2008-2010
Susan Wootton, MD UTHealth Medical School Infectious Diseases	GI Shedding of Human Influenza Virus in Hospitalized Children James Murphy, MD	2008-2011
Kenneth Helmer, MD UTHealth Medical School Surgery	The Anti-Inflammatory Role of Ketamine in Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair David Mercer, MD Jon Tyson, MD, MPH	2007-2008
Mary Kay Koenig, MD UTHealth Medical School Pediatrics	Contribution of Mitochondrial Membrane Uncoupling to Heteroplasmic Shift during Ketogenic Incubation of Mutated mDNA Cells In Vitro Diane Hickson-Bick, PhD Hope Northrup, MD	2007-2010
Elizabeth Plimack, MD UT MDACC Cancer Medicine	Efficacy and Toxicity of Decitabine Combined with IFN alfa-2b in Patients with Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma Jean-Pierre Issa, MD Robert Wolff, MD	2007-2008
Mary Ruppe, MD UTHealth Medical School Internal Medicine	Growth Determinants in X-Linked Hypophosphatemic Rickets Dianna Milewicz, MD, PhD	2007-2010
Kerri Smith, PhD UTHealth Medical School Pathology	Induction of Tolerance Using a Covalent Analog of Factor VIII Keith Hoots, MD Sudhir Paul, PhD	2007-2010
Wendy Woodward, MD, PhD UT MDACC Breast Radiation Oncology	Radiation Resistance of Human Mammary Stem/ Progenitor Cells in the Immortalized Human Breast Cancer Cell Line MCF-7 Thomas Buchholz, MD Jeffrey Rosen, PhD	2007-2010
Scott Evans, MD UT MDACC Pulmonary Medicine	Evaluation of Pulmonary Epithelial Cells and Alveolar Macrophages Will Predict the Etiology of Infectious Pneumonias Burton Dickey, MD	2007-2010
Nicole Gonzales, MD UTHealth Medical School Neurology	A Pilot Trial of PPAR-y Agonist to Accelerate Hematoma Resolution in Intracerebral Hemorrhage James Grotta, MD	2007-2010
Jay Murthy, MD UTHealth Medical School Internal Medicine	Comparative Expression Proteomics of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid and Serum in Patients with Diffuse Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease and a Novel Scleroderma Mouse Model Michael Blackburn, PhD Maureen D. Mayes, MD, MPH	2007-2010
Claudia Pedroza, PhD UTHealth Public Health Statistics	Use of Bayesian Methods for Analyses of Center Differences Jon Tyson, MD, MPH Lemuel Moye, MD, PhD	2007-2010
Christopher Pelloski, MD UT MDACC Radiation Oncology	Mechanisms and Prognostic Significance of YKL-40 Induced Gene Expression and Phenotypic Changes in Malignant Glioma Kenneth Aldape, MD Alfred Y.K. Yung, MD	2007-2010
Amado Zurita-Saavedra, MD UT MDACC Genitourinary Medical Oncology	Developing Osteoblast Cadherin (Ob-Cadherin) as a Biomarker and Therapeutic Target in Prostate Cancer Metastasis Sue-Hwa Lin, PhD John Heymach MD, PhD	2007-2010

CCTS Trainees, Scholars, and Associate Members Dinner

The CCTS’s TL1 trainees, KL2 scholars, and associate members (new investigators supported by the CCTS through other mechanisms) met to discuss their research and forge new collaborations. Many were surprised at the common themes among studies being performed in different CCTS institutions. For instance, several MD Anderson and UTHealth investigators realized they all were addressing aspects of inflammation.


(above) John McAuliffe (TL1 trainee and student in the PhD program in Patient-Based Biological Research; Sarcoma Medical Oncology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center); Ashley Hood Jagar (TL1 trainee; Neuroscience, UTHealth); Emily Jen (TL1 trainee; Experimental Therapeutics, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center); Scott Evans, MD (KL2 scholar; Pulmonary Medicine, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center); Sandeep Agarwal, MD (CCTS associate member; Rheumatology; UTHealth Medical School).	(above) Eyal Muscal, MD (CCTS associate member and student in the Masters Program in Clinical Research; Pediatrics/Rheumatology, Baylor College of Medicine), describes his studies on cognitive impairment in pediatric lupus.

(above) Eyal Muscal, MD (CCTS associate member and student in the Masters Program in Clinical Research; Pediatrics/Rheumatology, Baylor College of Medicine); Kenneth Helmer, MD (KL2 scholar; Surgery, UTHealth Medical School); Lillian Kao, MD, MS (CCTS associate member and graduate of the Masters Program in Clinical Research; Surgery, UTHealth Medical School); Sherwin Assassi, MD (CCTS associate member and student in the Masters Program in Clinical Research; Rheumatology, UTHealth Medical School); Frank Arnett, MD (Executive Director, CCTS); Jayasimha Murthy, MD (KL2 scholar; Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, UTHealth Medical School).	(above) Kamal Busaidy, DDS (CCTS associate member and student in the Masters Program in Clinical Research; Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, UTHealth Dental Branch), discusses his work on osteonecrosis of the jaw due to bisphosphonate treatment, a therapy for some cancers.

KL2 Program

Career development grants for instructors and assistant professors

CCTS KL2 Scholars

CCTS Trainees, Scholars, and Associate Members Dinner