In a February 10, 2021 response to the National Cancer Institute’s K08 Career Development Award request for information, SSO advocated changing the minimum percent effort to 50%. The SSO reached this position through a recommendation from the SSO Research Committee, which carefully reviewed results of a recent SSO member survey.
The SSO and members of the SSO Research Committee concluded that the percent effort needed for a K08 from a surgeon should be flexible (50-75%) and depend on the effort needed for the project and the career development activities designed for the individual, as well as the surgical specialty of that individual.
SSO’s response to the NCI also communicated concerns over a larger financial issue that affects the number of surgeon-scientist K08 applicants. “Surgery departments function as the major source of revenue for most academic medical centers. This places a disproportionate burden on surgery departments to maximize clinical revenue,” SSO said in the letter. “This means that paying surgeons an equitable salary who are only 25% clinically active creates a cost to the department that must be offset by other revenue. Reducing the minimum effort from 75% to 50% would decrease the cost to the department and allow department chairs to offer more surgeons the ability to apply for a K08 in their departments,” the letter concluded.
NCI thanked SSO for the valuable and thorough response to the request for information. SSO will continue to monitor this issue, respond accordingly and notify members of potential changes to the K08 Career Development Award.