Research Updates in Kidney and Urologic Health

NIDDK Offers Enhanced Training and Career Development Opportunities

Training and development of the next generation of biomedical and behavioral scientists are critical to the mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) fully supports this mission. Approximately three-fourths of the Training and Careers Program of NIDDK's Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases (DKUHD) is directed toward the next generation of nephrologists, urologists, and basic scientists studying kidney and urologic disease mechanisms.

At NIDDK, the training portion of an individual's profession generally precedes the career development portion. Training is funded through the recently named Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA). This congressionally mandated program, originally established in 1974, offers two awards. The first is the Institutional Training Grant, an award issued to an institution of higher education. The Program Director of the grant selects high caliber individuals to participate in a specifically designed curriculum of study and research into kidney and urologic diseases. Funds from the grant offset stipend and tuition costs. During Fiscal Year 2002, a total of 47 Institutional Training Grants were awarded. A list of the institutions and the names of the Program Directors may be viewed at www.niddk.nih.gov/fund/training/T32table.htm#Kidney and www.niddk.nih.gov/fund/training/T32table.htm#Urology.

The second award mechanism established by the NRSA legislation is the Individual Fellowship Award. These awards go to individuals who devote 40 hours a week to research training and agree to participate in full-time research for at least 2 years. Thus, the combination of institutional and individual awards provides a balanced strategy to ensure a continuing supply of well-trained scientists to conduct cutting-edge health-related research.

All trainees and fellows receiving Kirschstein-NRSAs are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The service award carries a payback obligation during the first 12 months of postdoctoral support. This obligation may be fulfilled on a month-by-month basis by subsequent Kirschstein-NRSA training or by a variety of other health-related activities.

After training, a biomedical scientist may strive for independence in order to achieve individual research career goals. The Career Development Program (the K series of grant mechanisms) provides support for this transition phase. Four K awards are "mentored" awards. Candidates who display the potential to become independent investigators identify a mentor who is recognized as an accomplished investigator in the proposed research area and who has successfully trained independent investigators. The candidate and the mentor are jointly responsible for planning, directing, and executing the program on behalf of the applicant institution. Applications are competitively reviewed using seven criteria: resumé, description, candidate, career development plan, research plan, mentor, and environmental and institutional commitment.

The K01 award is meant for Ph.D.s pursuing basic research. Applicants who obtained an M.D. are eligible for either a K08, if they are pursuing basic research, or a K23, if they are pursuing patient-oriented research. The K25 is a mentored quantitative research career development award that assists individuals with an advanced degree in quantitative research (physics, mathematics, chemistry, and so on) who wish to apply their training to biomedical sciences. Last year, 99 such K awards were issued for kidney and urology researchers, 18 of which were new awards. More than 50 percent of applications were funded.

More details about research career development from the NIDDK may be found at www.niddk.nih.gov/fund/training/training.htm#Career. For information about training and careers in general, see www.niddk.nih.gov/fund/training/training.htm.

The NIH initiated the Extramural Loan Repayment Program (ELRP) in 2001 to ease the debt burden scientists often incur while attending graduate or medical school and a residency program. The NIDDK supports loan repayment programs for both clinical research and pediatric research. Competitive applicants must demonstrate their commitment to a research career and have a debt-to-salary ratio of at least 20 percent. The ELRP repays up to $35,000 a year toward each participant's outstanding eligible educational loan debt, depending on the repayable total. The eligibility criteria have been broadened to include not only NIH grantees but also investigators funded by private or government sources outside NIH. Last year, the NIDDK accepted 87 percent of loan repayment applications; 55 percent of the awardees were in clinical research and 45 percent were in pediatric research. For more details about eligibility and to apply online, visit www.lrp.nih.gov.

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