Notice Number: NOT-OD-16-063

Key Dates
Release Date: June 3, 2016

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

The NIH has issued two new funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) to replace PA-14-150 "Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD or Other Dual-Doctoral Degree Fellowship (Parent F30)". Applicants should follow all instructions in the Individual Fellowship Application Guide SF424 (R&R) - Forms Version D for preparing applications.

Background
In June 2014, a Working Group of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) issued a report on the Physician-Scientist Workforce (http://acd.od.nih.gov/psw.htm). The Working Group identified several challenges confronting physician-scientists, a group which includes individuals with MD, DO, DDS/DMD, or DVM/VMD, or nurses with research doctoral degrees who devote the majority of their time to biomedical research. The Working Group made several recommendations to the ACD about the funding and training of physician-scientists in order to attract and retain well-qualified individuals in research careers, including the modification of some current NIH programs.

Implementation
In response to the Physician Scientist Workforce Working Group recommendations, NIH is issuing two F30 FOAs to provide funding opportunities for dual-degree students at different institutions with or without active, NIH-funded dual-degree training programs. Specifically:

• Section I. Funding Opportunity Description: Each FOA targets a different cohort of students seeking dual-degree training. PA-16-305 seeks applications from students at institutions with currently active, NIH-funded institutional predoctoral dual-degree training programs. PA-16-306 seeks applications from students at institutions without currently active, NIH-funded institutional predoctoral dual-degree training programs. The intent of this two-FOA approach is to ensure equitable review of applications.
• Section III. Eligibility Information: For PA-16-305, eligibility is limited to institutions with currently active, NIH-funded institutional predoctoral dual-degree training programs supporting the same dual degree. These include institutions with NIH-supported Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTP), or Dental Scientist Training Programs (DSTP), or other similar predoctoral dual-degree training programs. For PA-16-306, eligibility is limited to institutions without currently active, NIH-funded institutional predoctoral dual-degree training programs supporting the same dual degree.
• Section V. Application Review Information: The review questions under Institutional Environment & Commitment to Training have been modified to reflect each type of institution where the student seeks dual-degree training.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Division of Biomedical Research Workforce
Office of Extramural Programs
Office of Extramural Research
Website: https://researchtraining.nih.gov
Email: [email protected]