Table 2.

Key Panelist Recommendations

Need	Recommendation
Increase the number of K awardees and support more NIAID K applicants who received competitive, yet unfunded, scores	NIAID should partner with professional scientific societies/organizations for the societies to provide small grants to NIAID K grant applicants who scored just beyond the NIAID pay line (NIAID staff should inform unfunded K applicants to contact scientific societies for funding consideration)
Help ESIs remain in research by senior PI providing succession plans that includes a junior PI	Include requirements in NIAID large multiproject initiatives to include roles for ESIs
Address concerns with reviewers of K applications	NIAID (not the Center for Scientific Review) is responsible for reviews of all K applications assigned to NIAID; it should ensure that K applications are not evaluated like “small R01s” and should better educate reviewers that the training potential is the most critical feature in a K submission
Focus on diversity	Provide more funding opportunities for ESIs from underrepresented groups; expand NIAID’s Primary Caregiver Technical Assistance Supplement Program to include K awardees as eligible individuals; provide a supplement to NIAID K awardees who are primary caregivers (eg, for childbirth or ailing parents) to include a technician to help them with their research pursuits
Increase funding for research training at NIAID	Find ways to support more trainees with K, F and T grants rather than students and postdoctoral researchers who are supported from their mentor’s R01 award
Engage the NIAID research training community	Following recent training precedent, NIAID should continue to hold workshops for K and F grantees, as well as meetings for T32 program directors on a routine basis

Abbreviation: ESIs, early-stage investigators; NIAID, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; PI, principal investigator.