Research Supplements to Promote Re-entry and Re-integration into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers

NIGMS participates in an NIH-wide program that provides administrative supplements to research grants to support individuals with high potential to re-enter or re-integrate into an active research career after taking time off to care for children or parents or to attend to other family responsibilities. The program provides administrative supplements to existing NIH research grants to support full-time or part-time research by these individuals in a program designed to bring their existing research skills and knowledge up to date. It is anticipated that at the completion of the supplement, the re-entering or re-integrating scientist will be in a position to apply for a fellowship, career development, or research award.

Principal investigators at domestic institutions who have an active NIGMS research grant, program project grant, center grant or cooperative agreement research program with a reasonable period of research support remaining at the time of the supplemental award are eligible to submit a request to NIGMS for an administrative re-entry supplement to their grant for support of the re-entering/re-integrating scientist. NIGMS does not support re-entry or re-integration supplements on SuRE grants or to IDeA (COBRE and INBRE​) grants.

Eligible re-entry candidates who have been in a postdoctoral or faculty position at the time they left active research​ must have a doctoral degree, such as an M.D., D.D.S., Ph.D., O.D., D.V.M. or equivalent. Individuals at the predoctoral level who have been in a biomedical graduate program are also eligible re-entry candidates and include those previously enrolled in dual-degree programs (e.g., M.D.-Ph.D., D.D.S.-Ph.D., D.V.M.-Ph.D.). The duration of the career interruption, in general, should not be less than 6 months.​

Postdoctoral and predoctoral candidates seeking to transition out of unsafe research environments because of discriminatory and unlawful harassment are eligible to apply for a re-integration supplement, to allow them to transition to a new, safe, and supportive research environment to complete their training.

Supplemental awards may be made for up to 3 years but may not exceed the time remaining in the grant award period. For additional information or examples of qualifying interruptions, please see the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, NOT-OD-23-170​, or contact Shakira Nelson.

The requested salary and fringe benefits for a re-entry/re-integration candidate must be in accordance with the salary structure of the grantee institution, consistent with the level of effort. An additional amount of $10,000 may be requested for supplies, domestic travel, and publication costs relevant to the proposed research. Equipment may not be purchased as part of this supplement without justification and specific prior approval by NIH.

Application and Su​bmission Procedures

Application and Supplementary Information

Please see the Program Announcement for specific application requirements. NIGMS strongly encourages electronic submission via the Commons of the completed request, including all appropriate signatures and supporting documents, to be submitted as a single PDF document.

Submission and Review Process

Applications may be submitted at any time and are administratively reviewed within NIGMS on a rolling basis. Applicants should be aware that applications submitted after May 1 may not be awarded until the following November due to the change in fiscal year on October 1. We anticipate applicants will receive notification of a funding decision approximately 12 weeks after receipt of the application. This is a competitive program and funding is not guaranteed.