Slots: 1
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: Friday, November 15th, 2024, 5pm PT Contact RII.
LOI: N/A
External Deadline: January 25, 2025
Recurring Deadlines: ; May 25, 2025; September 25, 2025; January 25, 2026; May 25, 2026; September 25, 2026; January 25, 2027
Award Information
Award Type: Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: The number of awards is contingent upon NIH appropriations and the number of meritorious applications submitted.
Anticipated Award Amount: Application budgets are not limited but must reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.
Who May Serve as PI:
- To provide research training leadership for the program, at least one of the training PDs/PIs should have a record of using rigorous and transparent methods in experimental design, data collection, analysis, and reporting in a biomedical research field applicable to the program.
- Additional PDs/PIs may be included to strengthen the expertise of the PD/PI team. Examples include individuals such as program directors who regularly interact with students, or individuals with expertise in education, relevant social sciences, program evaluation, mentoring, or university administration.
Any of the PDs/PIs may serve as the contact PD/PI. The contact PD/PI is expected to have a full-time appointment at the applicant organization unless extremely well-justified. If the full-time status of the contact PD/PI changes after the award, the organization must obtain prior program approval to appoint a new PD/PI or request a deviation from the full-time rule. The PD(s)/PI(s) will be responsible for:
- The overall direction, management, administration, and evaluation of the program.
- The day-to-day administration of the program, including direct involvement with trainees.
- The selection and appointment of trainees to the research training program.
- The selection of faculty mentors for the program, assessment of mentor performance, and ensuring the program deals appropriately with substandard mentor performance.
- Monitoring and assessing the program and submitting all documents and reports as required.
- Appointing members of the Advisory Committee (when applicable) and implementing their guidance as appropriate.
Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-24-128.html
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
The overall goal of the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) program is to help ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained scientists is available in appropriate scientific disciplines to address the nation’s biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs. More information about NRSA programs may be found at the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award website. The NRSA program has been the primary means of supporting predoctoral and postdoctoral research training programs since enactment of the NRSA legislation in 1974.
Each NIGMS-funded MSTP award is expected to provide a rigorous, well-designed research training program that includes mentored research experiences, courses, seminars, and additional training opportunities that equip clinician scientists with the following skills required for careers in the biomedical research workforce:
- Technical (for example, appropriate methods, technologies, and quantitative/computational approaches).
- Operational (for example, independent knowledge acquisition, rigorous experimental design, interpretation of data, and conducting research in the safest manner possible).
- Professional (for example, management, leadership, communication, and teamwork).
Through this funding announcement, NIGMS encourages changes in integrated clinical and graduate research training to keep pace with the rapid evolution of the biomedical research enterprise, which is increasingly complex, interdisciplinary, quantitative, and collaborative. Other changes in the biomedical research enterprise include greater diversity in the backgrounds of people participating in biomedical research, the approaches utilized to investigate clinically relevant research questions, and the range of careers that dual-degree recipients are pursuing. Additionally, there is an increasing recognition of the need to enhance reproducibility of biomedical research results through scientific rigor and transparency, and to promote a culture where the highest standards of practice are used to ensure the safety of all individuals in the research environment. This funding opportunity is intended to encourage and enable the scientific community to develop and implement evidence-informed approaches to biomedical research training and mentoring that will effectively train future generations of rigorous clinician scientists to become leaders in biomedical research and clinical medicine.
Programs are encouraged not to simply layer additional activities onto existing structures but to instead use creative and transformational approaches to integrate clinical and biomedical graduate training, including curricular reform, that preserve the best elements of current programs, while enhancing the focus on the development of trainee skills.
NIGMS strives to ensure that future generations of researchers will be drawn from the entire pool of potential contributors and seeks to expand opportunities to support individuals from a variety of backgrounds at multiple training and career stages in a variety of organizations and educational settings across the country. The Overarching Objective of the MSTP is to develop a diverse pool of well-trained clinician scientists (that is, a Ph.D. combined with a clinical degree, such as an M.D., D.O., D.V.M., D.D.S., Pharm.D., etc.) who have the following:
- A broad understanding across biomedical disciplines.
- The skills to independently acquire the knowledge needed to advance their chosen fields and careers.
- The ability to think critically and identify important biomedical research questions and approaches that push forward the boundaries of their areas of study.
- A strong foundation in scientific reasoning, rigorous research design, experimental methods, quantitative and computational approaches, and data analysis and interpretation.
- The skills to conduct research in the safest manner possible, and a commitment to approaching and conducting biomedical research responsibly, ethically, and with integrity.
- Experience initiating, conducting, interpreting, and presenting rigorous and reproducible biomedical research with increasing self-direction.
- The ability to utilize clinical experience and observations to identify biomedical research questions and to develop impactful research programs that push forward the boundaries of their areas of study.
- The skills necessary to integrate research and clinical activities and the capacity to translate scientific research findings into clinical practice.
- The ability and skills to lead changes that promote health equity, reduce health disparities and improve the health of those medically underserved across diseases, disorders, and conditions.
- The ability to work effectively in teams with colleagues from a variety of cultural and scientific backgrounds, and to promote inclusive and supportive scientific research environments.
- The skills to teach and communicate scientific methodologies and findings to a wide variety of audiences (for example, discipline-specific, across disciplines, and for the public).
- The knowledge, professional skills and experiences required to identify and transition into careers in the biomedical research workforce that utilize the dual-degrees (for example, the breadth of careers that sustain biomedical research in areas that are relevant to the NIH mission).
Program Considerations
NIGMS will accept predoctoral training grant applications supporting integrated clinician and graduate research training through this MSTP funding announcement and subsequent reissuances (graduate research training in basic biomedical sciences is supported through PAR-23-228 and subsequent reissuances). Applicants are strongly encouraged to read information about NIGMS predoctoral training grant programs, including the MSTP and Leading Equity and Diversity in the Medical Scientist Training Program (LEAD MSTP) (PAR-23-030), found on the NIGMS website and to contact program staff before preparing or submitting an application to verify that the proposed program is eligible and in alignment with NIGMS funding priorities.
General Considerations. NIGMS intends to fund applications that propose feasible, rigorous, well-designed and integrated dual-degree research training programs that will build on the most effective elements of successful programs, while encouraging creative and transformational approaches to clinician scientist research training, ranging from curricular reform to changes in the research training environment. Funded programs should implement plans to optimize the time required to earn the dual degree. Programs are expected to limit appointments to individuals committed to research careers that utilize the dual-degree qualifications.
NIGMS encourages programs to devise and test alternative entry pathways in addition to or instead of the direct application and admission to the first year of the dual-degree training program, thus providing opportunities to recruit students from clinician-only or from Ph.D.-only programs. NIGMS encourages institutions to offer MSTP trainees the opportunity to earn the Ph.D. in a broad range of biomedical, physical, and social and behavioral sciences, and engineering to meet the needs for clinician scientist researchers in all areas of the biomedical workforce. Programs that provide interdisciplinary research training, incorporate training in data science, or take advantage of clinical research opportunities within nationwide networks and infrastructures such as the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award program are encouraged to apply. NIGMS encourages applicants to offer training across the landscape of medical fields and scientific disciplines related to health, and to promote opportunities for the exploration of clinician scientist career options. Funded programs are expected to:
- Be a well integrated dual-degree program that exerts a strong, positive influence at the organizational level on research training and mentoring practices.
- Have clearly defined training objectives and show evidence of meeting the objectives in progress reports and in renewal applications.
- Implement evidence-informed training and mentoring activities (for example, approaches that are grounded in the literature and evaluations of existing relevant dual-degree research training programs). Programs are expected to be responsive to evaluations, particularly with respect to trainee feedback.
- Provide rigorous, well-designed mentored research experiences, and additional opportunities that will build a strong cohort of dual-degree research-oriented individuals. Training grant funds may not be used solely as a vehicle to provide financial aid for trainees to conduct research.
- Demonstrate effective oversight of dual-degree trainee development and promote retention for the entire time the dual-degree trainee is in the training program. Retention efforts are activities designed to sustain the scientific interests and participation of trainees from all backgrounds. Retention and oversight activities might include monitoring academic and research progress, building strong trainee cohorts, as well as increasing science identity, self-efficacy, and a sense of belonging within research training environments. Programs are expected to make efforts to identify individuals who may need additional academic and social supports to successfully complete the program, and ensure they receive the needed support.
- Promote inclusive, safe, accessible, and supportive research training environments to maximize success for all individuals in the training program. Specifically, funded programs should have organizational and departmental environments where individuals from all backgrounds are welcomed, feel integrated into, and supported by the biomedical research community. Safety in research training should encompass (1) environments free from harassment, discrimination, and intimidation, in which all are treated in a respectful and supportive manner, (2) laboratory and clinical settings where individuals exercise the highest standards of practice for chemical, biological and physical safety, and (3) practices at the organizational leadership and research community levels that demonstrate core values and behaviors to emphasize safety over competing goals.
Trainee Support. The training grant defrays the cost of stipends, tuition and fees, and training related expenses, including health insurance, for the appointed trainees in accordance with the approved NIH NRSA support levels. NIGMS typically provides full-time support for approximately 25% of the trainees in the training program during any given year. Individuals may receive up to six years of aggregate Kirschstein-NRSA support at the predoctoral level for dual-degree training, including any combination of support from institutional training grants (for example, T32) and an individual fellowship award (for example, F30 or F31 awards). Many dual-degree training programs guarantee enrolled students full support for the duration of the dual-degree program (through combinations of federal support, institutional funds, other fellowships, and grants). Training programs may implement institutional policies regarding payback of non-NRSA institutional sources of funds by students who start training but do not complete one or both degrees. NIGMS does not require nor permit institutions to receive payback NRSA funds from trainees who are appointed to NIH training grants, but do not complete training.
Synergies of Federally Funded Training Programs. Funded research training programs are encouraged to complement and synergize with other ongoing federally supported predoctoral research training programs at the applicant organization (for example, in the development of skills needed for careers in the biomedical research workforce that are not discipline-specific); however, the scientific training goals must be distinct from related programs at the same organization currently receiving federal support. In cases where an organization has multiple NIGMS predoctoral training grants, it is expected that these programs will work together to create administrative and training efficiencies to reduce costs and improve trainee services and outcomes.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.