NIH loan repayment program

[BU Pathology]

The NIH has a loan repayment program to encourage physicians to go into academic medicine. They will provide up to $35,000 per year to pay off your loans. This is considered taxable income, so they will also pay the income tax on that benefit.

More information may be found at their website.

www.lrp.nih.gov

Questions should be directed towards the program, which will be the definitive source of information.

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[malchik]

First time applications are consistently funded at about 40-50%. The proposal has to be in one of five (really four) areas: clinical research, pediatric research, health disparities, contraception/infertility, clinical research for people from disadvantaged populations.

I appreciate the effort the NIH is making here, but should one make a major career decision on a 40-50% chance? For this reason I doubt this program is going to sway anyone's decision of what to do with their career. It is a nice gesture for those already committed to doing research though (in one of the 4 areas).

 

[TMZ2007]

$35k/year indefinitely? Or for a certain length of time?

 

[Patho2009]

This is research-only career. It is not academic practice (e.g. in a university setting) where the physician can have time protected for research besides the clinical practice. I doubt any physician can be drifted to research-only job and become like PhD people.

 

[BU Pathology]

Pathologists who have an interest in an academic career should consider this program. Here are some facts (not something typically found on SDN)

• 1,604 applicants were funded in fiscal year 2009
  
• More than 50% of the funded candidates were MDs or MD\PhDs
  
• The success rate for funding was about 50% (typical success rate for NIH grants last year was 20%, not the payline but the success rate. Do not confuse payline with success rate).
  
• To be eligible, 50% of your time must be spent in research activities

The one area, clinical research, is very broadly defined. Here is information from the NIH "Clinical research is patient-oriented clinical research conducted with human subjects, or research on the causes and consequences of disease in human populations involving material of human origin (such as tissue specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator or colleague directly interacts with human subjects in an outpatient or inpatient setting to clarify a problem in human physiology, pathophysiology or disease, or epidemiologic or behavioral studies, outcomes research or health services research, or developing new technologies, therapeutic interventions, or clinical trials."

This program probably is not appropriate for a physician who has limited research experience and views this as a way to help reduce her/his student loan debt. However, it is very appropriate, and has been considered very successfull, in keeping bright minds in academic medicine. It helps to reduce some of the disparity between the compensation of an academic physician and private practice.

Many physicians with K08 or K99 grants would be natural candidates for this program.

This program is not for everyone, but does help those starting investigative careers.

Dan Remick, M.D.
Chair, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center