Supporting Early Stage Investigators

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Essential to the NIH mission of raising healthcare standards worldwide is its maintenance of a robust, cutting-edge biomedical research workforce. With innovative ideas, optimism, energy, and fresh perspectives, early stage investigators are an absolutely critical component for NIH to continue its groundbreaking work in improving the health of the world population.

Our longstanding commitment to attracting and retaining the best new investigators has led to the development of programs geared to cultivate talent and allow individuals to mature into world-class researchers. These programs have resulted in the recruitment of more than 1,600 new investigators in fiscal year 2007, which equates to more than 25 percent of all NIH-funded competing R01-equivalent awards. However, these new investigators are often still many years past their degree-conferral date. Despite our efforts, since 1980 the average age at which an investigator first obtains R01 funding (PowerPoint – 44 KB) has increased to the age of 42 for PhD degree holders and 44 for MD and MD/PhD degree holders.

Looking forward, we are focusing our attention on encouraging earlier transitions into independent research careers by developing programs that focus specifically on early stage investigators (those researchers that are within a set number of years of their terminal degree). This approach is patterned after the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, which both supports singularly creative new investigators at an early career stage and stimulates highly innovative research that has the potential for significant impact. By shifting new investigator incentives to those at earlier career stages, we hope to shorten the prolonged periods of training.

Following the theme of early stage investigators, this issue of the NIH Extramural Nexus highlights several other programs and initiatives designed to attract and retain new scientists in the field of biomedical research. From our efforts to strengthen science education in grades K-12, to our loan repayment programs, to our efforts to track and enhance the careers of staff, we are redoubling our efforts to ensure the next generation of biomedical research scientists is even better prepared to face the inevitable challenges of the future.

As always, I welcome your thoughts about these and other issues affecting extramural research.

— Norka Ruiz Bravo, Ph.D.

OER Director and NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research