NIH Extramural Nexus

You may have heard that Dr. Collins has charged a new subcommittee of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) with creating a model of the biomedical research workforce that will address future workforce needs, as well as help inform NIH in implementing policies to facilitate a vibrant and diverse future biomedical research workforce. Many questions will be asked:

• What is the right size of the workforce?
• What are the appropriate types of positions that should be supported to allow people to have successful careers and to continue to advance biomedical and behavioral sciences?
• What is the best way to support these various positions?
• What types of training should be provided?

In preparation for this committee, my office developed some basic information about how the biomedical research community is currently supported by NIH. I thought I’d use my blog to present some of this interesting information.

So to begin, let’s ask where does NIH support go and what have been the trends in funding to various types of institution? After all, the grantee institution employs the biomedical researchers, it’s the place where training will be sought and is delivered, and it’s the place where any new workforce policies will be implemented.    

Looking over the past 25 years, medical schools have received the largest proportion of NIH funds followed by non-medical school academic institutions, research organizations and others. While this is no surprise to most, what is interesting is the consistency of this support over the past 25 years, meaning that the flow of funding from NIH has been relatively constant, at least in the proportion of funds various types of institutions receive from the agency. Even through the doubling of the NIH budget, the growth of specialized programs like the AREA and IDEA programs, and a number of other initiatives that target various types of institutions, states and populations, the proportion of funding remains remarkably steady. This is just a snippet of the data we have at hand, so we’ll be looking at these and other data that will paint the picture of the current funding structure of biomedical research and NIH support. More to come in future blogs.

Since last week there has been quite a bit of news on the formation of the new National Center for Accelerating Translational Sciences (NCATS) here at NIH. You may have seen the New York Times article where the NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins, described the intent of NCATS and the potential it has for accelerating the translation of basic discoveries into therapeutics. I heard from many of you after the publication of this article and wanted to let you know that Dr. Collins and the institute and center directors who are members of the committe charged with planning NCATS have put a statement on the NIH Feedback website called “Separating Fact & Fiction:  News about the Proposed National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.” I urge you to read this clarification and to keep tuned into and use the Feedback website for further news about structural changes at NIH and to submit any comments you may have regarding these changes.

Now that I am a blogger, I’ve been careful to keep my eyes out for other blogs that may be having discussions about NIH-related topics. There has been some recent blog traffic on how NIH should support research projects when there are disruptions in careers due to family obligations. As pointed out by the blogger, our National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) explicitly offers a supplement to support a technical replacement for a postdoctoral research associate that may need to be away from the lab because of illness, disability or family care responsibilities. And the question came up, “Why don’t other NIH institutes and centers offer the same supplement program?” A very important question, given that NIH is obviously concerned about accomplishing the goals of the funded project but is on record as having the desire to foster a family-friendly environment for its supported workforce.    

It is worth noting that while most NIH institutes do not have a specifically identified supplement program for postdocs, policies are in place to allow grant funds to be used for parental leave and child care. This is an NIH-wide policy, applying to all grants, not just those supported by NIAID. The costs of replacement technical support can be charged to any NIH research grant, and, if necessary, the grantee institution can request an administrative supplement to cover the costs. Those standard provisions are described in frequently asked questions about Policies Related to Parental Leave and Child Care, which are posted on the Office of Extramural Research website. In addition, these policies provide for a number of other things, among them: 1) dependent child care expenses can be charged as part of fringe benefits provided through the grantee institution or through the indirect costs, as can the costs of  leave for the birth or adoption of a child if this policy is in effect for other institutional employees in similar positions, and 2) a grant may be extended or an investigator can reduce their percent effort to take a leave of absence for care-giving responsibilities. We also have recently implemented a policy that requires applicants who are seeking conference support to describe plans to identify resources for child care and other types of family care at the conference site to allow individuals with family care responsibilities to attend. 

I hope this is not the first time you are hearing about these policies. They are central to the NIH family-friendly position. As we at NIH continue to work towards developing a diverse workforce, we must do whatever we can to assure that the best and brightest are able to participate in research and being able to balance work and family life can certainly add to the attraction of a research career.

Updated: All our family-friendly policies are now on one page.

Welcome to my blog. I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant about starting it. Not that I’ve ever been accused of being the quiet, shy type! It was more being concerned about having enough material to write the types of commentaries and discussions that would generate a following and be most beneficial to you our partners, grantees, PIs and trainees. But, then it hit me. There is so much to discuss. So, here I am blogging!

I will make this blog as interesting and current as possible, helping you understand the NIH perspective, describing key events and policies, responding to concerns we are hearing from the extramural community, and allowing you to comment. My hope is that by broadening the avenues of communication to include a blog, I can enhance the dialog with the entirety of the research community. As you know, at NIH we make continual adjustments in response to the needs of the community, congress and others. These changes affect all of us—whether we are scientists, administrators, policy makers or the public—and I want to be talking about them with you as they happen.

Along with my blog posts, the NIH Extramural Nexus contains news and updates on extramural grant policies, processes, events and resources. We will be posting articles throughout the month to get the information out to you when you need it. If you are receiving this post via e-mail, each month you will receive a digest of news and articles posted the previous month. To receive information in a more timely way, subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter.

Finally, I’d like to mention that I am extraordinarily proud to be a public servant working for the biomedical research community and the NIH. I couldn’t ask for a more wonderful group of people to work with, and I’m excited to be part of this organization’s extraordinary mission to improve the lives of people everywhere. Talk to you soon!