K12 Program

College of Medicine Clinician Scientist K12 Scholars Program

The College of Medicine Clinician Scientist K12 program provides mentored, protected research experiences to enhance the development and retention of early career physician scientist investigators. The goal of the COM K12 program is to increase clinical and translational research capacity through the training of junior faculty to help drive research independence. This funding opportunity is only open to junior faculty in the College of Medicine who hold an M.D., D.O., or M.D./Ph.D. (or foreign equivalent).

Scholars appointed to the COM K12 program receive:

  • Didactic training to support their continued career progression.
  • Mentored support to develop an extramural grant application.
  • Professional development opportunities to support their transition to independent researchers.
  • Annual research funding and salary support.
  • Salary support at 40% FTE (subject to NIH Salary Cap)
  • $20,000 in project funds to purchase research supplies
  • $1,000 towards travel funds to attend a relevant scientific conference
  • Full-time faculty appointment in the MUSC College of Medicine at the time of appointment
  • Rank of Instructor or Assistant Professor at the time of appointment
  • Clinical doctoral degree (MD or DO or foreign equivalent) or a dual degree (MD/PhD)
  • Ability to commit 40% FTE for training and clinical research activities
  • Candidates must be starting basic, translational, and/or clinical research projects that are based in clinical and translational science.

Current Scholars

Michele L Esposito MD 

Michele Esposito, M.D.

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Medicine
Project: Mechanisms of Skeletal Muscle Microvascular Dysfunction in Systolic Heart Failure
Mentor: Michael Zile, M.D.

Charles Terry MD 

Charles Terry, M.D.

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Medicine
Project: Prospective Identification and Characterization of ARDS Using Computational Phenotypes
Mentor: Dee Ford, M.D.

Past Scholars (PDF)   

Scholar Resources

Leadership

Aimee McRae-Clark 

Aimee McRae-Clark, PharmD

Program Director
843-792-5216 mcraeal@musc.edu

Susan Dorman 

Susan Dorman, M.D.

Associate Program Director
843-792-4541 dorman@musc.edu

Contact

Diana Lee-Chavarria 

Diana Lee-Chavarria, MA

Workforce Training and Development Manager
843-792-8205
leeachar@musc.edu