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NIH CHRC K-12 Program

Child Health Research Career Development Award (CHRCDA)

The University of Iowa Child Health Research Career Development Award (CHRCDA) is part of a national network of mentored institutional career development programs for physician scientists and junior faculty who have recently completed postgraduate clinical training in Pediatrics and are committed to an independent research career. This supervised training program is sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

The University of Iowa CHRCDA program was originally established in 1990 when NICHD first developed this program. Since its inception, our CHRCDA program has facilitated and supported the career development of more than 40 junior pediatric faculty. We intend to continue this tradition by recruiting promising young physicians who have recently completed subspecialty training and who are commencing an academic career. We are now seeking qualified applicants interested in training in the broad areas of molecular genetics, neuroscience, and host defenses. The CHRCDA program provides a unique opportunity for young investigators to study biological processes from regulation of gene expression to normal and abnormal physiology in the whole organism. This program emphasizes cellular and molecular biology, developmental biology, applied genetics and genomics, animal models of human disease, and translational research, thus taking advantage of established strengths of other programs and investigators throughout the College of Medicine and University.

The Department of Pediatrics at the University of Iowa has a longstanding tradition of training highly successful independent pediatric investigators. We are uniquely equipped to provide research training in cellular and molecular biology, genetics, and translational research that future academic pediatricians will need to be successful in exploring disease pathogenesis, host defenses, and normal and abnormal development in children. The impressive number of outstanding scientists in the Department of Pediatrics and the extensive ongoing interactions and collaborative work between the members of the Department of Pediatrics and members of other Departments and Colleges at the University of Iowa provides an extraordinarily rich and stimulating environment for the development of young pediatric research-scientists.

The primary goal of the University of Iowa CHRCDA is to train physician scientists and junior faculty in the methodology needed to pursue basic and translational research in the area of pediatric health. Individuals with little or no research experience as well as those with one or more years of research training are encouraged to apply. Appointments are generally for three years. Regardless of the length of the appointment all CHRCDA scholars will be guaranteed 75% protected time for research education and training. A major goal of our program is to recruit, develop and retain minority and women pediatric physician-scientists as independent investigators.

Applicants may choose a mentor, but a final choice will be made after acceptance to the program and in consultation with the Research Director.

Contact Information for Recruiting Officer

Damian Krysan, MD, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics
CHRC Program Recruiting Officer
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Stead Family Department of Pediatrics
200 Hawkins Drive
Iowa City, IA 52242

Office: 319-335-3066
Email: damian-krysan@uiowa.edu