Funding Opportunities

The overall goal of the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) program is to help ensure a highly trained, heterogenous pool of scientists is available in appropriate scientific disciplines to address the Nation's biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs. NRSA fellowships support the training of pre-and postdoctoral scientists, dual-degree investigators, and senior researchers. More information about NRSA programs may be found at the NIH Research Training and Career Development website. Note: This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) does not allow candidate to propose to lead an independent clinical trial, but does allow applicants to propose research experience in a clinical trial led by a sponsor or co-sponsor. The goal of the Kirschstein-NRSA Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD or Other Dual-Doctoral Degree Fellowship (F30) is to support promising predoctoral students, who are matriculated in a combined MD/PhD or other dual-doctoral degree training program (e.g. DO/PhD, DDS/PhD, AuD/PhD, DVM/PhD), during their mentored research training and clinical training under the guidance of appropriate faculty sponsors. The research and training plans are expected to provide the candidate with a strong understanding of the rigorous research design, experimental methods, quantitative approaches, and data analysis. This program thus contributes to efforts to increase the pool of highly trained physician-scientists and other clinician-scientists in the biomedical research workforce. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will support students at institutions with NIH-funded institutional predoctoral dual-degree training programs. These programs include institutions with NIH-supported Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTP), or Dental Scientist Training Programs (DSTP), or similar predoctoral dual-degree training programs. In a companion NOFO, NIH is also seeking F30 applications from students at institutions without NIH-funded institutional predoctoral dual-degree training programs. The intent of this two-NOFO approach is to promote equitable review of applications from these two kinds of institutions, as well as better tracking of fellowship awardee candidate’s future progress in establishing independent careers as physician/clinician-scientists. There is a critical need for physician-scientists and other clinician-scientists to investigate human health and disease through rigorous research. The complexity of biomedical, behavioral, and clinical science poses a challenge in the integration of research training into the standard course of study at most medical schools and other health professional schools. To address this challenge, a variety of programs have been developed to combine training for the MD or other health professional degrees (e.g., DO, DDS, AuD, DVM) with extensive research experience leading to a second, advanced degree. It is expected that graduates of these dual-degree programs will play a vital role in advancing knowledge across the full spectrum of health-related research. Candidates for the Kirschstein-NRSA F30 award are expected to propose an integrated research and clinical training plan and a research training project in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers. The integrated program of research and training should enhance the individual’s potential to transition into the next phase of their physician/ clinician-scientist career. The training plan should document the need for, and the anticipated value of, the proposed mentored training in relationship to the individual’s career goals. The training plan should also facilitate transition to a residency or other postdoctoral program appropriate to the candidate’s career goals and particular clinical degree. It is expected that the mentored training experience will provide: - A strong foundation in rigorous research design, experimental methods, and analytic techniques appropriate to the proposed research; - Enhanced ability to conceptualize and think through research problems with increasing independence; - Experience conducting research using appropriate, state-of-the-art methods, as well as presenting and publishing the research findings as first author; - The opportunity to interact with members of the scientific community at appropriate scientific meetings and workshops; - Opportunities to integrate clinical experiences during the research training component; - Clinical clerkship opportunities tailored to the candidate and his/her interests, as appropriate for the dual-degree program of study; and - Skills needed to transition to the next stage of the candidate’s research career. The Kirschstein-NRSA program may provide up to six years of support for research and clinical training that leads to the MD/PhD degree or another dual-doctoral degree. Because the F30 program is intended to support individuals matriculated in an integrated, dual-degree program during both their graduate research training and clinical training, the F30 cannot be used to support only the clinical training years. Note: This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is designed specifically for candidates proposing research that does not involve leading an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or an ancillary clinical trial, but does allow candidates to propose research experience in a clinical trial led by a sponsor or co-sponsor.