NIH programs to support early career scientists in biomedical research

Authors

• R DelCarmen-Wiggins
• KJ Serrano
• E Gorodetsky
• VA Cargill

Abstract

The NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) is dedicated to promoting women’s health research and developing opportunities for the recruitment, retention, reentry, and advancement of women in biomedical careers. The NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers, led by ORWH, fosters the advancement of women in science at the NIH and in the extramural community. Although women are well represented in medical school and biomedical graduate degree programs, they are not proportionally represented among tenured faculty and elite leadership positions in the field, highlighting the need to support women at all stages of their careers. In 2018, women were 50% of the medical school applicant pool, however, 16% were deans, 15% were department chairs and 21% full time professors (AAMC); similar disproportionate outcomes were found among biomedical degree graduates. The goals of this poster are (1) to review new policies relevant to early career scientists, including the NIH Next Generation Researchers Initiative and changes to the parental leave policy; (2) to highlight ORWH signature programs for early and middle career researchers including the Re-entry Supplement, the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) career development awards, and the R56 Award; and (3) to summarize NIH-wide programs relevant to postdoctoral and/or early career scientists including the Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) program, Loan Repayment Programs, and NIH mentoring awards.

Scientific Focus Area: Research Support Services

This page was last updated on Friday, March 26, 2021