Dear Chair of the Department of Psychiatry:

Thank you for your interest in nominating one of your post-doctoral investigator’s projects. Your involvement in this nomination and application is a critical factor not only to the success of your nominated project, but also to the success of the fellowship program as a whole.

The Foundation accepts nominations from selected institutions. If you would like to be included on our list of invited institutions, please contact the Foundation.

You may nominate only one investigator for each of the two fellowship programs, the ADHD and the depression fellowships. We have no policy with regard to how your institution decides which project to nominate, but we note for you that in the past, some institutions have had internal competitions to select the application that they wish to nominate.

The nominated investigator should hold a Ph.D. or M.D. and should have completed all clinical training. The investigator should be at the junior faculty level, although the Foundation will consider nominations of students with Ph.D.s or M.D.s who are in research training programs. Regardless, the investigator should have demonstrated evidence of strong research ability and a commitment to the field of pediatric psychiatry and psychology. If the investigator is a T32 recipient, please note that the Foundation will not fund salary, but will fund research costs for the work that the T32 grantee performs as part of his or her T32 obligations.

In selecting a project to nominate, you should be aware that the Foundation considers the following factors about the project, among others, in making its awards: originality, soundness, the potential for contribution to the field, the quality of institutional support, and the mentoring and training plan. It also considers the likelihood of the project’s leading toward a larger project that could receive government or other grant funding.

The Foundation conducts a two-phase competition. The first round requires a written letter of nomination (1 – 2 pages) from you, the Department Chair. In addition, the first round requires letters of recommendation from mentors as well as a project description and credential information from the nominated investigator. For the specifics of the application process, please go to Fellowship Program Applications. As you will see, our application process is conducted online.

With regard to your letter, the Foundation requests that you address how your institution will support the candidate’s research and why you believe the proposed research project meets the qualities described above. Furthermore, because we require this submission to be made by your institution, we request that your letter affirm that you have reviewed and support the application in its entirety.

If you have any questions, please contact the Foundation. We appreciate the time and care with which past nominators have approached the process, and we are similarly grateful for your attention to this letter and any future nominations that you make.

Sincerely,

Sally Klingenstein Martell
Executive Director

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Foundation at info@ktgf.org and we will respond promptly.