National Research Mentoring Network for a Diverse Biomedical Workforce

The work conducted under this subcontract by Dr. Richard McGee will focus on the development and deployment of Career Coaching resources focused primarily on intensive coaching on writing research and training proposals by postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty (Assistant and Associate Professor). The model will be based on the Grant Writers Groups that Dr. McGee has developed and shown to be highly effective. They start with concentrated in-person initiation during the early phase of proposal develop and continue through weekly group sessions over a 2-3 month period. These weekly sessions are conducted either in-person if enough participants are in the same physical location, or can be mediated using distance technology tools that permit real-time feedback on 1-2 page sections of grants being revised each week. The work will focus on both demonstration and conduct of these groups by Dr. McGee, as well as conducting Coaching Institutes to train others to be effective grant writing coaches using this methodology. The first year will be devoted to: 1) developing materials to be used for the Coaching Institute; 2) introductions of the methodology to partners in the NRMN; 3) identification of venues in which to conduct the Coaching Institutes (such as national scientific or professional development meetings, scientific societies, regional meetings with minority-serving institutions, etc.); 4) planning for conduct of Grant Writers Groups and Coaching Institutes in years 2-5. Work in years 2-5 would include conducting the groups and institutes, and refining methods to improve their effectiveness.