• Anna Kaatz, Melissa Dattalo, Caitlin Regner, Amarette Filut, and Molly Carnes.
• 1 Center for Women's Health Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison , Madison, Wisconsin.
• J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2016 Jan 1; 25 (1): 789078-90.

BackgroundNIH Mentored Career Development (K) Awards bridge investigators from mentored to independent research. A smaller proportion of women than men succeed in this transition. The aim of this qualitative study was to analyze reviewers' narrative critiques of K award applications and explore thematic content of feedback provided to male and female applicants.MethodWe collected 88 critiques, 34 from 9 unfunded and 54 from 18 funded applications, from 70% (n = 26) of investigators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with K awards funded between 2005 and 2009 on the first submission or after revision. We qualitatively analyzed text in the 5 critique sections: candidate, career development plan, research plan, mentors, and environment and institutional commitment. We explored thematic content within these sections for male and female applicants and for applicants who had received a subsequent independent research award by 2014.ResultsThemes revealed consistent areas of criticism for unfunded applications and praise for funded applications. Subtle variations in thematic content appeared for male and female applicants: For male applicants criticism was often followed by advice but for female applicants it was followed by questions about ability; praise recurrently characterized male but not female applicants' research as highly significant with optimism for future independence. Female K awardees that obtained subsequent independent awards stood out as having track records described as "outstanding."ConclusionThis exploratory study suggests that K award reviewer feedback, particularly for female applicants, should be investigated as a potential contributor to research persistence and success in crossing the bridge to independence.

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