Reminder of Requirement for Certification Letter for Applications in Response to Kirschstein-NRSA for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (PA-11-112) and Deadline for Their Receipt

Notice Number: NOT-OD-11-046

Release Date:   February 24, 2011

NOT-OD-10-115: Enhancing Peer Review: New NIH Policy on Post-Submission Application Materials
NOT-OD-09-117: Amendment: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships (F31) to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (PA-09-209)

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

This Notice reminds prospective applicants for Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Parent F31 - Diversity) (PA-11-112) of the requirement for the inclusion of a letter with the application certifying eligibility of the Fellowship Applicant for this program.  This Notice also notifies prospective applicants that, according to the NIH policy on post-submission materials (NOT-OD-10-115), the certification letter must be received by the NIH by the application due date, or the application will be considered incomplete and not reviewed.

Specifically, information must be submitted by the applicant Institution in a letter certifying that the applicant belongs to one of the following groups as further defined in PA-11-112 (see section on Eligible Individuals): (A) An individual from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis; or (B) An individual with disabilities, who are defined as those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; or (C) An individual from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The certification letter (titled: Diversity_Eligibility_Ltr) must be attached under Item 12 “Other Attachments” in Section 4.4 “Other Project Information Component.”  The letter must be on institutional letterhead and scanned so that an institutional official signature is visible.  For additional instructions, see: Individual Fellowship Application Guide SF424 (R&R).

Please direct all inquiries to:

Office of Extramural Programs
National Institutes of Health
Email: NIHTrain@mail.nih.gov