Roadmap Scholars Program

2026 LA CaTS ROADMAP SCHOLAR APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Application packets must be received by 5:00pm on Monday, February 2, 2026.

SUPPORT	SELECTION PROCESS	APPLICATION
FILE FORMAT	IMPORTANT DATES	RELATED FILES

ANNOUNCEMENT
The LA CaTS Roadmap Scholars program provides the opportunity for junior faculty, together with their mentors, to design an individual research Roadmap that includes completion of a Master’s of Science - Clinical Research degree covering courses in clinical research methodology, molecular medicine, ethics, protocol design, grant writing as well as mentored research; and execution of a concentrated training plan and research project. When complete, we anticipate that Roadmap scholars will have competed successfully for an NIH Career Transition (K) award or its equivalent, permitting continued protected mentored career development.

ELIGIBILITY

Three to four Roadmap Scholars will be chosen each year. Applicants should hold an MD, DO, PhD, DDS, or PharmD. Please refer to any NIH K award guidelines for eligibility criteria. Applicants must be current members of the faculty or will be appointed to the faculty (effective date no later than July 1, 2026) at any of the LA CaTS affiliated institutions. Faculty appointment cannot be contingent upon receiving the LA CaTS Roadmap Scholar award. Please refer the LA CaTS webpage for a list of all affiliated institutions: https://www.lacats.org/about/institutions/. A scholar may be selected from any of the affiliated institutions, but the institution must be able to support a portion of the selected scholar’s salary, and the selected scholar must have at least one mentor. In addition, for an application submitted on behalf of a non-U.S. citizen with a temporary U.S. visa, the (domestic) institution is responsible for determining and documenting that the candidate’s visa has a validity period that authorizes the individual to remain in the United States from the start of the award (July 1, 2026) and long enough to complete the two-year Roadmap Scholar award, which will terminate on June 30, 2028.

SUPPORT

The program supports up to 75% of the Scholar's salary and fringe up to an annual maximum designated amount determined by the LA CaTS Center in conjunction with the scholar’s institution. The program also funds travel to present at the Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) meeting and at another scientific research conference of the Scholar’s specialty. In addition, the Scholar’s mentor will receive a one-time allocation of $10,000 (direct cost only) to support the Roadmap Scholar’s research and career development. The program also covers costs of tuition for courses in the Masters of Science - Clinical Research curriculum.
Support is provided for 2 years, by the end of which we anticipate that the scholar will have competed successfully for an NIH Career Transition (K) award or its equivalent, providing continued protected mentored career development for a total of at least 5 years and providing protected time for advancement to an R01 or equivalent award.

SELECTION PROCESS

The selection process will be competitive and composed of two rounds. First, our Professional Development Internal Advisory Board (IAB) will evaluate and prioritize the candidates. The IAB is composed of COBRE Directors, Center Directors, and Department Chairs. Those candidates who are selected to continue to the second round will be invited to interview with the Directors of the Professional Development Core. Scholar awardees will be notified by approximately April 24, 2026.

APPLICATION

Each application must include the following:

Cover page with title of research project, and name, title and institution of nominee.
NIH Biosketch with personal statement of the applicant
NIH Biosketch(s) of ALL proposed mentors
Abstract of intended translational research (30 line limit)
Proposed performance site(s) for the research project
Name(s) and role(s) of the mentor(s) that will guide the nominees’ research training
Research proposal follows the format of any K NIH Application: Specific Aims, Significance, Innovation and Research Approach (Note, our limit is 3 pages, excluding references)
Career Development Plan: Present a systematic plan that: (a) shows a logical progression from the candidate’s prior research and training experiences to the training and research experiences proposed for the mentored phase of the award and subsequently to independent investigator status and (b) justifies the need for further mentored career development to become an independent research investigator (1 page limit)
Support letters: In addition to letters from the applicant’s Mentor(s), we require letters from the applicant’s Dean, Department Chair, and Section Chief pledging support for the career development and protection of 75% time for the 2 years of this award and for up to an additional 3 years if the Scholar is awarded support for further training. If the applicant is not currently a faculty member, the institutional letter of support must explicitly state the start date of the faculty appointment which must be on or prior to July 1, 2026, and that this appointment is not contingent on receipt of the Roadmap Scholar award.
Mentorship Agreement: Completed and signed by applicant and each mentor.
Roadmap Scholar Applicant Demographics: Click on link to complete online form.

FILE FORMAT
All documents should be compiled (in above order) into a single PDF file.
The format of the application should conform to NIH SF424 guidelines, as closely as possible.

File Name

Save the file and use file name “nominee last name_ nominee first name_ nominee institution_ roadmap” (ex: Doe_John_MyUniversity_Roadmap). Be sure to only use standard characters in file names: A through Z, a through z, 0 through 9, and underscore (_). Do not use any special characters (example: “&”, “-“, “*”, “%”, “/”, and “#”) or spacing in the file name, and for word separation use underscore (example: “My_Attached_File.pdf”) in naming the attachments.

Font

Use an Arial, Helvetica, Palatino Linotype, or Georgia typeface, a black font color, and a font size of 11 points or larger. (A Symbol font may be used to insert Greek letters or special characters; the font size requirement still applies.)

Paper Size and Page Margins

Use standard paper size (8 ½" x 11).

Use at least half inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) for all pages. No information should appear in the margins, including the PI’s name and page numbers.

Page Formatting

Since a number of reviewers will be reviewing applications as an electronic document and not a paper version, applicants are strongly encouraged to use only a standard, single-column format for the text. Avoid using a two-column format since it can cause difficulties when reviewing the document electronically.

Application packets should be sent via email to CareerDevel@LACaTS.org. Applications do not need to be routed through the institutional research office.

Important Dates:

Informational Webinar 1 - "LA CaTS Roadmap Scholar Application FAQs": Friday, December 19, 2025, at noon (Zoom meeting link)
Informational Webinar 2 - "LA CaTS Roadmap Scholar Application FAQs": Thursday, January 8, 2026, at 12:30pm (Zoom meeting link)
Applications Deadline: 5:00pm on Monday, February 2, 2026 (submit via email to CareerDevel@LACaTS.org)
Nominees and Mentors Notified by: Friday, April 24, 2026 (approximately)
Salary support begins: July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028
Classes begin for Scholars: Wednesday, July 1, 2026

SELECTED PAST ROADMAP SCHOLARS:

Name	Year	Institution	Research Interest	Current Status
Jacob T. Mey, PhD, RD	2022	Pennington Biomedical Research Ctr	Nutrition and Asthma	Awarded in July 2023 the NIH K01 grant for $709,000 for 5 years to assess the biological mechanism defining the diet-asthma relationship.
Crystal Y. Zheng, MD	2021	Tulane University	Infectious Disease	Co-Investigator for West African Emerging Infectious Disease Research Center (WAEIDRC) 1U01AI151812-01 from Aug 1, 2020 – April 30, 2022, and Co-investigator for Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) Early Career Investigator Mentored Research Award from Mar 1, 2022 – Mar 1, 2023.
Christine Bojanowski, MD	2019	Tulane University	Chronic infections and Cystic Fibrosis	Promoted to Co-Director of Adult Cystic Fibrosis Center in 2020. Awarded elite, $130K Gilead Research Scholar Program in Cystic Fibrosis in 2021. Selected as a Scholar for the Tulane University School of Medicine Scientist Pipeline Program.
Amanda Staiano, PhD	2015	Pennington Biomedical Research Ctr	Childhood Obesity and Health Behavior	Awarded $4.5M subaward for 5-yr PCORI grant, A Pragmatic Family-Centered Approach to Childhood Obesity Treatment.
Maissaa Janbain, MD	2015	Tulane University	Hemophilia and Anti- fibrinolytic Therapy	Secured $200,000 in extramural grant funding as a PI. Selected as a Scholar for the Tulane University School of Medicine Scientist Pipeline Program.
Courtney Peterson, PhD	2013	Pennington Biomedical Research Ctr	Dietary strategies to mitigate or reverse chronic disease	Promoted to Associate Professor in Dept of Nutrition Sciences at UAB. NCATS featured scientist in August 2018. In 2021, awarded $4.2M grant for 5-yr NCI grant.