Omar McCrimmon

Applications to NIH Loan Repayment Programs Accepted Sept. 1 through Nov. 15

It’s no secret that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) offers a wide-range of research support mechanisms that keep early stage investigators in the research pipeline. One of those support mechanisms, The NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs), provides educational loan debt relief to help researchers stay in the career that they love and continue to make a significant impact on the public health of this nation and around the world. In exchange for a commitment to conduct biomedical or behavioral research, the NIH will repay up to $70,000 of student loan debt over two years through the NIH LRPs. LRP awards are renewable and there is no limit on the number of times you can reapply.

Loan Repayment Programs encourage careers in research

The objective of the LRPs is to recruit and retain highly qualified health-related professionals to careers in biomedical and biobehavioral research. If you are a qualified investigator who is engaged in NIH mission-relevant research for at least 20 hours per week at a nonprofit or government (state or local) institution, you may be eligible to apply to the one of the five extramural LRPs:

• Clinical Research Extramural LRP: Patient-oriented research conducted with human subjects or materials of human origin including cognitive phenomenon
• Pediatric Research Extramural LRP: Research that is directly related to diseases, disorders, and other conditions in children
• Health Disparities Research Extramural LRP: Research that focuses on minority and other health disparity populations.
• Contraception and Infertility Research Extramural LRP: Research on conditions impacting the ability conceive and bear young.
• Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds Extramural LRP: Available to clinical investigators from disadvantaged backgrounds.

To qualify, applicants must be a citizen or a permanent resident of the United States, possess a doctoral-level degree (with the exception of the Contraception and Infertility Research LRP), and have educational loan debt equal to or exceeding 20 percent of his/her annual institutional base salary.

What are some helpful tips to keep in mind?

• Learn about the LRPs prior to starting your application. This includes knowing the funding priorities of the NIH Institute or Center that you would like to review your application and getting familiar with the application process by viewing the LRP Application Guide.
• Contact an LRP program officer/liaison. As the deadline approaches, LRP program officers will get busier and busier. Avoid communication delays and reach out early!
• Contact an LRP Ambassador. Ambassadors are individuals that have received an LRP award or support LRP awardees. Feel free to contact one near your local institution to discuss program benefits, their experiences, and more!
• Keep in mind that LRP application reviewers are assessing an applicant’s overall potential to succeed in a research career by evaluating an applicant’s:
  • previous training and research experience
  • commitment to a research career
  • strength and quality of letters of recommendation
  • quality and appropriateness of the research environment
  • research progress (for renewal applications only)
• Don’t be afraid to ‘separate yourself from the pack.’ Highlight about your accomplishments within the application. Applicants who describe deficits, not accomplishments, are less likely to receive an award.
• Apply early! Last-minute or rushed application submissions often contain simple mistakes that could be avoided by a timely submission.

Graph represents a 50 percent success rate for LRP applicants. Source: LRP Data Dashboard.

A great means of repaying educational debt

Approximately 1,500 researchers benefit from the $70 million NIH invests each year through the extramural LRPs. On average, nearly 50 percent of all LRP applications are funded, and these awards are competitively renewable (for a one- or two-year period) until all educational debt is repaid! To take a closer look at award data and other important program statistics, visit the LRP Interactive Data Dashboard.

The LRPs are unique programs with tremendous benefit to early stage investigators. Interested in applying? Visit www.lrp.nih.gov for more details and to apply. For additional assistance, call or e-mail the LRP Information Center at 866-849-4047 (Mon-Fri 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST) or lrp@nih.gov. You can also follow the NIH Division of Loan Repayment on Twitter and Facebook for more information and cycle updates.

Omar McCrimmon is a communications specialist at the NIH Division of Loan Repayment in Rockville, MD.