The NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22)

The NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22) supports mentored, non-independent investigators ready to transition to independent academic faculty positions.

Note: The details on this page are for informational purposes only. Please read and follow all requirements and instructions in the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) and the Table of IC-Specific Information linked therein before applying for an award. Application review information is described in the funding opportunity. If you have any questions before submitting your application, please contact the relevant NCI program staff listed at the end of this page. 

For more complete information, reference the funding opportunity PAR-24-117 (K22 Independent Clinical Trial Optional), and/or contact the program staff.

The objective of the NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22) is to provide support to mentored, non-independent investigators in transitioning to their first independent tenure-track faculty cancer research positions, or their equivalent. It is expected that the Research Plan be based on the candidate’s original project ideas and/or hypotheses. The K22 project can be within the overall scope of the postdoctoral mentor’s research awards. However, there should be no text duplication or duplication of the scientific aims, and the candidate’s application should propose a scientific research question or approach that is distinct from the mentor’s pending or active research grants.

NCI will not support both a K22 award and an active or pending research grant that propose substantially the same research.

NCI Extension Guidance for Eligibility Window for K22 awards

Extension of Eligibility Window for Childbirth: NCI will approve a K22 eligibility extension of 1 year for childbirth for women applicants within the 8-year eligibility window beginning with the October 12, 2021 due date for application submission. Applicants who will be the PD/PI on a K22 application must provide the child’s date of birth in the extension request justification to the NCI program director listed in the NOFOs at least 12 weeks before submitting an application. Men, those who have adopted children, and same-sex partners of individuals giving birth are not eligible for the automatic one-year extension for childbirth, but, can request an extension for childbirth or adoption-related time away from research that will be approved on a case-by-case basis.

Temporary Extension of Eligibility Window due to COVID-19-related Disruptions: Under normal circumstances, individuals must have no more than 8 years of post-terminal degree research experience to be eligible to apply for a K22 award. However, due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, NCI will consider providing up to a 2-receipt cycle extension (roughly 8 additional months) of eligibility for prospective applicants whose research training has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, who are in their eighth year of post-terminal degree research training, and who started their postdoctoral training by the end of 2020. Prospective applicants should submit an eligibility extension request to their relevant NCI program official and provide an appropriate justification for the requested extension time period. Multiple extensions for events occurring during the same time period (e.g., childbirth during the COVOD-19 pandemic) will not be permitted, but rather, prospective K22 candidates may only receive an extension for one category for events that occurred within overlapping time periods.

In addition, prospective K22 applicants whose research training has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic are advised to submit a request to extend their ESI status.