Early-Career Investigators Forum 2009
Funding Issues for Early-Career Investigators

The Obesity Society 2009 Annual Meeting
Woodley Park Marriott, Washington DC
10/25/2009

Program directors from three NIH institutes, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and National Institute of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) discussed funding opportunities and tips to take advantage of these opportunities.

The awards primarily discussed in this session included:

• Pre-doctoral / Post-doctoral Fellowship awards (F-awards)
• Mentors career awards (K-awards)
• R-series grants, (specifically R21 and R03)

For full details on awards, see:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/funding_program.htm

Some of the most important points discussed in the 2009 Early Career Investigators Forum included:

1. NIH encourages and supports new investigators in pursuit of research careers. The NIH Statement of Commitment to New and Early Stage Investigators reads "new investigators are innovators of the future - they bring fresh ideas and technologies to existing biomedical research problems, and they pioneer new areas of investigation. Entry of new investigators into the ranks of independent, NIH-funded researchers is essential to the health of this country's biomedical research enterprise. NIH's interest in the training and research funding of new investigators is understandably deep and longstanding."
2. Contact a program officer early in the process of researching an award to apply for.
3. Make sure to apply to an institute that funds the type of projects for which you are seeking funding.

For additional information, please also refer to the discussants' slides:

Linda Nebeling, PhD, MPH, RD, FADA, National Cancer Institute (View Slides)
Charlotte Pratt, PhD, RD, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (View Slides)
Carolyn Miles, PhD, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (View Slides)