UPDATE: The slides [PDF, 1.5MB] from the 2019 Webinar for Bridges Applicants have been posted.

In September 2018, we presented our plans to reorganize the Bridges training programs, part of a larger effort to reorganize the undergraduate and graduate programs in the Division of Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity. We’re now pleased to announce two new Bridges funding opportunities aimed at developing and implementing effective, evidence-based approaches to biomedical training and mentoring. The goal of these funding announcements is to enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce and to encourage applications from training programs that:

• Focus on skills development (including an emphasis on quantitative and computational skills)
• Promote rigor and reproducibility in research and teach the responsible and safe conduct of research
• Create inclusive, safe, and supportive research training environments
• Use evidence-based, innovative educational and mentoring practices
• Employ cohort-building activities and interventions that enhance the trainees’ self-perception and self-efficacy in science
• Provide individualized mentoring and oversight throughout the trainees’ progress
• Introduce trainees to a variety of scientific research areas and career paths
• Leverage intra- and inter-institutional resources to form strong partnerships that facilitate the successful advancement and persistence of trainees in the biomedical research workforce
• Identify and describe a valid need for the proposed training program

The new programs are:

Bridges to the Baccalaureate (T34)
PAR-19-299
Supports research-oriented undergraduates to bridge from a community college or 2-year institution to a partnering 4-year, degree-granting institution, and complete bachelor's degrees in STEM fields.

First application receipt date: September 25, 2019
Earliest start date: August 2020

Bridges to the Doctorate (T32)
PAR-19-300
Supports the successful transition of trainees enrolled full time at institutions awarding terminal master's degrees in the biomedical sciences to biomedically relevant Ph.D. programs in partnering research-intensive institutions*.

First application receipt date: September 25, 2019
Earliest start date: August 2020

Because these are new funding announcements, all applications (including those from previously established programs) must be submitted as new. However, applicants who have previously held a Bridges grant may describe in the narrative their program’s outcomes over the past 15 years.

If you have questions about our new Bridges training programs, contact Mercedes Rubio or Patrick H. Brown.

*Institutions with an average of NIH research project grant funding greater than or equal to $7.5 million total costs per year over the last 3 fiscal years; this information is available through NIH RePORTER.