Last week, I wrote to NIGMS-funded T32 program directors to encourage them to inform students about trainee career outcomes. Because this topic is also relevant to the broader community, I'd like to share the message here.

Dear NIGMS T32 Training Grant Program Director:

At the June 2015 meeting of NIGMS training, workforce development, and diversity program directors, Peter Preusch, Dick Okita and I discussed the importance of making post-training career outcomes available to current and prospective students. The goal of collecting and sharing data on Ph.D. career outcomes is consistent with recommendations of the Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group of the Advisory Committee to the Director, NIH. This topic has also been addressed by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Council of Graduate Schools and a recent Molecular Biology of the Cell article.

We recently analyzed outcomes of the NIGMS Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (referred to here as the Diversity Supplement Program or DSP), which provides investigators holding active NIGMS research grants with supplemental funds to support scholars from groups underrepresented in biomedical science. Using a public search approach, we could track a large proportion of participants—but not all—through doctoral training and into various careers. We assessed the educational and career outcomes for undergraduate, graduate student and postdoctoral participants supported by supplements between 1989 and 2006, and we encourage you to explore the report.

In the years since the first cohort of postdoctoral fellows entered the NIGMS Pharmacology Research Associate (PRAT) program in 1965, the program's alumni have become leaders in pharmacology, neuroscience, cell biology and related fields across multiple career sectors, including academia, government and industry. On November 6, we'll mark the accomplishments of the more than 400 PRAT alumni in a full-day scientific symposium on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD.

The symposium will feature presentations by 10 alumni spanning the duration of the program and is free and open to the public, although we encourage you to register to attend. If you can't be there in person, you can watch the event live or later. If you have comments, anecdotes, historical data or photos from the PRAT program, please let us know by writing a note in the comments box on the meeting registration site or by sending me an e-mail message.

As part of our longstanding commitment to fostering a highly trained and diverse biomedical research workforce, we have launched a review process to ensure that our programs contribute most effectively to this goal. An important part of this effort is to seek your input. To this end, we just issued a request for information for feedback and novel ideas that might bolster the effectiveness of our undergraduate student development programs. Some of the things we’re particularly interested in are:

• The advantages (or disadvantages) of supporting a single program per institution that begins after matriculation and provides student development experiences through graduation.
• Approaches to leveraging successful institutional models for preparing baccalaureates for subsequent Ph.D. completion.
• Strategies to build institutional capabilities and effective institutional networks that promote undergraduate student training programs that lead to successful Ph.D. completion.
• If applicable, your specific experiences with any of our student development programs and their outcomes in preparing participants for biomedical research careers.

More broadly, we welcome your suggestions regarding the most important issues we can address in this arena. I encourage you to share your views (no longer available) on these and associated topics by the response deadline of April 15, 2015.

To increase the efficiency of issuing noncompeting grant awards, we’ve changed the submission date for noncompeting continuation institutional training grant (T32 and T34) progress reports. Beginning with applications for noncompeting awards that will be made in Fiscal Year 2016:

• Progress reports for all T32 grants will be due on November 15 (rather than on December 1).
• Progress reports for all T34 grants will be due on October 15 (rather than on November 1).

There is no change in the receipt dates for competing T32 or T34 applications.

The NIGMS Postdoctoral Research Associate (PRAT) program is now accepting applications for its 50th class of fellows, and I encourage you to pass along this fellowship opportunity to graduate students and early postdoctoral scholars who may be interested in applying. The application deadline is March 17, 2015. NIGMS PRAT fellows conduct research in scientific areas within the Institute’s mission while in an NIH intramural research program (IRP) laboratory. Before applying to the program, applicants must identify a potential preceptor in the NIH IRP and develop a research proposal. Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States who have or will have a doctoral degree (e.g., Ph.D. or M.D.) and no more than 5 years of postdoctoral research experience by the time the 2015 program begins in the fall. Individuals currently in Ph.D. or other doctoral degree-granting programs may apply as long as they anticipate completing the degree requirements before starting the fellowship program. NIGMS PRAT fellows receive 3 years of stipend support at levels determined by the NIH IRP guidelines and commensurate with experience. Additional benefits include health insurance, a travel allowance and professional development training activities, including a monthly seminar series designed specifically for the fellows. The professional development opportunities provide a rich forum for the exchange of ideas among this diverse group and are often cited by current fellows and alumni as one of the most valuable aspects of the program. For more information about the NIGMS PRAT program, including details about applying and identifying potential preceptors, please e-mail me.

If you have an NIGMS research grant, we want to raise your “IDP consciousness.” If you’re unfamiliar with this abbreviation, IDP stands for “individual development plan.” A recent NIH Guide notice announced a revised policy on describing the use of IDPs in annual progress reports that requires you to include a section on how you use IDPs to help identify and promote the career goals of the graduate students and postdocs supported by the grant. The notice states:

NIH will not require but strongly encourages institutions to develop and use IDPs for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers supported by NIH awards, regardless of their position title. IDPs provide a structure for the identification and achievement of career goals. Therefore, NIH encourages grantees to develop institutional policies that employ an IDP for every graduate student and postdoctoral researcher supported by NIH awards. Beginning on October 1, 2014, annual progress reports are required to include a description of whether the institution uses IDPs or not and how they are employed to help manage the training and career development of those individuals.

Please note that you should not include the actual IDPs in your progress report. NIGMS’ training strategic plan emphasized the importance of IDPs, and our IDP Web page provides useful resources for preparing and implementing them. If you have other tips for using IDPs or meeting the new progress report requirement, please feel free to share them here.

You may be interested in these recent funding opportunity announcements (FOAs): Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program Infrastructure for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) (U54) (PAR-14-303) Purpose: Develop infrastructure and other resources to conduct clinical and translational research in IDeA-eligible states Letter of intent due date: 30 days prior to the application due date Application due dates: October 8, 2014; September 30, 2015; September 30, 2016 NIGMS contact: J. Rafael Gorospe, 301-435-0832 The NIGMS Human Genetic Cell Repository (U42) (RFA-GM-15-005) Purpose: Maintain the current collection of NIGMS Human Genetic Cell Repository cell cultures and DNA samples; acquire, characterize and expand high-quality cell samples; and distribute cell lines and DNA isolated from them to qualified biomedical researchers Application due date: October 1, 2014 NIGMS contact: Michael Bender, 301-594-0943

UPDATE: The sample applications are no longer available on the NIGMS website. As described in an earlier post, NIGMS supports several kinds of individual predoctoral fellowships for advanced Ph.D. or M.D-Ph.D. students. To assist trainees in developing their applications, several investigators have graciously agreed to let us share their successful predoctoral F31 applications on our Web site. Some parts of these applications have been redacted to protect personal and other private information. Please note that the investigators provided these applications for nonprofit educational uses only. The applications may not be changed, and the investigator and grantee institution should be credited as the source of this material. As we fund additional fellowships, we may post more samples for educational use. For additional information about our F30 and F31 programs, please refer to the NIGMS NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowships Web page or contact fellowship coordinator Peggy Schnoor. I hope you find these sample fellowship applications useful, and I welcome your suggestions about other training tools or resources we can offer.

You may be interested in these recent funding opportunity announcements (FOAs): IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) [P20] (PAR-14-233) Purpose: Augment and strengthen the biomedical research capacity of an IDeA-eligible state Letter of intent due date: 30 days prior to the application due date Application due dates: July 29, 2014; May 27, 2015; May 26, 2016 NIGMS contact: Krishan K. Arora, 301-594-3900 Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base (R24) (RFA-GM-15-002) Purpose: Develop a high-impact pharmacogenomics knowledge base that serves as a research resource available to the entire scientific community Letter of intent due date: 30 days prior to the application due date Application due date: October 7, 2014 NIGMS contact: Rochelle Long, 301-594-3827