NIH Director’s Early Independence Award

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The NIH Director’s Early Independence Award supports exceptional investigators who wish to pursue independent research essentially after completion of their terminal doctoral/research degree or end of post-graduate clinical training, thereby forgoing the traditional post-doctoral training period and accelerating their entry into an independent research career. Applications in all topics relevant to the broad mission of NIH are welcome, including, but not limited to, topics in the behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences and topics that may involve basic, translational, or clinical research. Georgetown University may submit two nominees. Please read the following eligibility requirements carefully and share with colleagues and lab members who may be interested.

Application Material

Eligibility

  • Applications with multiple PDs/PIs will not be accepted. Only single PD/PI applications are allowed. 
  • The receipt date of the terminal doctoral degree or end of post-graduate clinical training of the PD/PI must be between June 1, 2018 and September 30, 2020. 
  • At the time of application, the PD/PI must not have served as a post-doctoral fellow following a previous (not the most recent) doctoral degree for more than twelve months. 
  • At the time of award, either: o 1) the Early Independence investigator must have received a PhD, MD, DO, DC, DDS, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, ND (Doctor of Naturopathy), PharmD, DSW, PsyD, or equivalent doctoral degree, or o 2) an authorized official of the degree-granting or training institution must certify that all degree requirements have been met and that the receipt date of the degree (as will appear on the transcript) will be before September 30, 2020. 
  • Individuals must commit at least 9.6 person-months each year (i.e., 80% effort of a 12-month appointment) to the Early Independence Award project in years 1-2 of the project period. In years 3-5, awardees may reduce effort towards the Early Independence Award project but must commit at least 9.6 person-months each year to independent research in general. 
  • Individuals are eligible only if they, at the time of application submission, do not have research independence. 

Eligible individuals must have all the following characteristics: 

  • The PD/PI’s current research agenda is set through concurrence with mentors. 
  • The PD/PI’s research is funded primarily through support to other investigators (mentored fellowships such as NIH F31 or F32 Fellowships or NSF Graduate Research Fellowships do not preclude eligibility). 
  • The PD/PI does not have any space assigned directly by the institution for the conduct of his/her research. o The PD/PI, according to institutional policy, cannot apply for an NIH R01 grant without special waiver or exemption from the institution. 

Details

For more information, visit the NIH Grant website.