The NIH Loan Repayment Program

NIH wants outstanding health professionals to pursue their careers in biomedical, behavioral, social, and clinical research without feeling limited by educational loan debt. The NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) aim to help investigators do just that.

If you are or will be conducting qualified research at a domestic nonprofit institution outside the NIH, you may be eligible for one of the five extramural LRPs:

• Clinical Research
• Pediatric Research
• Health Disparities Research
• Contraception and Infertilities Research
• Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds

LRP applicants are evaluated according to the following, recently updated, criteria:

Applicant’s potential to pursue a career in research, including:

• Appropriateness of the applicant’s previous training and experience to prepare for a research career.
• Appropriateness of the proposed research activities during the LRP contract period to foster a career in research.
• Commitment to a research career, as reflected by the personal statement of long-term career goals and plan to achieve those goals
• Strength of the letters of recommendations attesting to the applicant’s potential for a successful career in research

Quality of the overall environment to prepare the applicant for a research career, including:

Quality and availability of appropriate scientific mentors and colleagues to help achieve or enhance the applicant’s research independence, including the mentors’ record in mentoring researchers, funding history and research productivity.

Quality and appropriateness of institutional resources and facilities.For renewal applications (also known as Type 2 applications), progress under the previous project period is an additional evaluation criterion:

Assessment of the renewal applicant’s research accomplishments during the previous LRP support period; and

Assessment of the renewal applicant’s development as an independent investigator. Renewal applications need to be submitted one year before the current contract ends.NIH receives LRP applications every year from September 1 to December 1 at 8 p.m. EST with awards beginning in the following July-September. See NOT-OD-09-107 and the LRP Web site for further details.