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Jessica Tsai: The NOA for my NIH and NCI KO8 came in

Photo taken from Jessica Tsai/X

Aug 25, 2024, 09:00

Jessica Tsai: The NOA for my NIH and NCI KO8 came in

Jessica Tsai, Assistant Professor at Children’s Hospital LA, shared a post on X:

“The day has finally arrived! The Notice of Award (NOA) for my National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute K08 came in this morning! Incredibly grateful to Children’s Hospital LA for their support and proud to represent the Cancer and Blood Disease Institute.

The K08 process required patience, perseverance, and some luck. Sharing details in hopes that this will help future physician-scientists and provide some transparency on a rather opaque and arduous process.

Dec 2021: I first started drafting my K08 application.
June 2022: Initial submission submitted, 128 page PDF with over 10 letters of recommendation/support.
Sept 2022: Post-submission materials sent in first author manuscript was accepted.

Oct 2022: Study section meeting, scored 32. Not triaged! But definitely not at the payline.
March 2023: Resubmission submitted, 132 page PDF.

June 2023: Study section meeting, scored 20 per senior faculty, likely fundable but who knows!

Fall 2023: Instructed to follow up in March 2024 given budget had not been approved by Congress.
March 2024: Budget appropriated at last. Instructed to follow up again in June 2024.

May 2024: Urgent request to transfer my entire application to my new institution. Managed to obtain new mentors and letters of support within one week.
June 2024: Manual submission because change of institution applications prior to NOA cannot be submitted through Assist.

Aug 2024: Notice of Award posted!
For me, there was a remarkable amount of patience and endurance to get through this process that people don’t usually mention. Please do reach out if you have other questions about the K08!”

Jessica Tsai