NICHD Office of Education

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development

Investigators

Abstract

The Office of Education delivers workshops, programs, and individualized opportunities to a population averaging 300 trainees, including postdoctoral IRTA, visiting, and research fellows; clinical fellows and medical students; graduate students; postbaccalaureate fellows; and summer interns. The activities include: scientific presentation skills workshops, job interviewing, writing and editorial services for professional school and job applications, grantsmanship workshops, academic and non-academic career seminars and webinars, one-on-one career counseling, clinical shadowing, teaching opportunities through our annual NICHD Postbac Seminar Series, and lab management programs. We are also actively working on a collaboration with Howard University for research, teaching, and mentoring opportunities. An annual retreat for fellows and graduate students is held to address scientific development and careers, which includes a keynote address, fellows presentations, career round table discussions led by NICHD alumni, and a poster presentation by each attendee. The program is developed and run with the assistance of a fellow-student steering committee. We also work collaboratively with various office and scientific groups within DIR to achieve training goals and policy development, such as tenure track mentoring, fellow stipends increase, and affinity group seminar series for invited speakers. Among the office's accomplishments from the past year, we are actively developing our collaboration with Howard University for research, training and mentoring opportunities. For the spring 2022 academic semester, we welcomed (virtually) our second cohort of six undergraduate student mentees from the College of Arts and Sciences into the Biology Secondary Mentors Program. Each student was paired with an NICHD investigator in the DIR, with whom they will work closely towards developing and executing a research project from their sophomore through their senior years of college. Our first cohort of four undergraduates, who started the program in 2020, continued their projects with their respective NICHD mentors. Mentees also had the opportunity to participate in the 2022 NIH Summer Internship Program, proceeding with their projects virtually or in-person. In spring 2022 Office of Education Director of Communications and Outreach, Dr. Triesta Fowler, co-led the new seminar series, Career Planning and Professional Development: Exploring the MD, PhD, and MD-PhD Paths, to undergraduates in the Howard University Department of Biology to provide medical and research career exploration, as well as guidance on how to proceed with medical and graduate school admissions processes. Our TmT (Three-minute Talks) competition, now in its eighth year, was held in conjunction with 10 other institutes: NCATS, NIDCR, NHGRI, NEI, NIDDK, NIDCD, NINDS, NLM, NHEIS and NIAID. Jeremie Oliver, predoctoral IRTA fellow in Dr. Rena DSouzas laboratory, Section on Molecules and Therapies for Craniofacial and Dental Disorders, was this years NICHD finalist for the event. The office developed an online Annual Progress Review (APR) for fellows, launched in 2016, to track scientific and career development and progress. As part of investigators' assessments of mentoring, these fellow APR reports are also provided for the BSC site visits. An Individual Development Plan and Annual Progress Report system for all NICHD postbac fellows is in the final stages of development, planning for implementation in FY23. In addition, a new online fellows exit survey has been developed and was implemented in summer 2022. This exit survey aims to obtain a comprehensive view of trainees experiences at NICHD and to stay connected with the trainees and learn of their career moves, as well as to help us improve our training program. The database of NICHD alumni from 2008 to the present continues to be updated, and we have compiled a valuable list of organizations that accepts grant applications from NIH intramural fellows, both NIH and non-NIH funding mechanisms. The 15th NICHD Division of Intramural Research Mentor of the Year awards will be announced at the September 20th virtual NICHD DIPHR & DIR Joint Scientific Retreat. For NICHD, 16 FARE awards were made for the FY2023 competition. In addition to the Fellows Intramural Grants Supplement (FIGS) continuing to recognize and stimulate grant applications among fellows, we launched the sixth cycle of our competitive internal funding opportunity for NICHD postdoctoral and clinical fellows, the Intramural Research Fellowships (IRFs). The ultimate goal of this opportunity is to promote grant writing and enhance awareness of the various components of the NIH grant application and submission process. Our institute has established an exchange program with Inserm, the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (France), which provides a unique opportunity for US and French scientists to obtain postdoctoral training with French and US mentors, respectively, and 2nd and 3rd year medical students from the Santa Casa de So Paulo School of Medical Sciences (Brazil) train with NICHD investigators as well for the Future Researchers Program. Since 2016, up to three students on an annual basis completed a research rotation with NICHD. Following a virtual 2021 NIH Summer Internship Program (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), NICHD welcomed a hybrid 2022 program, with 34 students participating in in-person research projects, and 17 participating in virtual research projects. Remote research projects were supported in part by the NIH Virtual Desktop, developed by the NIH Center for Information Technology and the Office of Intramural Training and Education (OITE) and a robust online summer curriculum was offered by the OITE. The Fellows Recruitment Incentive Award (FRIA) continues to support investigators who recruit postdocs from populations traditionally underrepresented in science. The 2022 award went to Dr. Jack Yanovski, Section on Growth and Obesity, for recruitment of postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Diana Elizondo. The NICHD Developing Talent Scholars program, which focuses on providing trainees with a customized academic and professional development plan that includes exposure to intramural activities and resources as well as supporting their career advancement, is now in its 12th year. Our alumni group includes 30 individuals who have gone on to pursue training in medicine, biomedical research, occupational therapy, and public health. Three new postbaccalaureate fellows joined the program in 2022. Lastly, the NICHD Connection monthly newsletter continues its focus on mentoring, careers, and academic support programs for young scientists, publishing its 148th issue in September 2022 and reaching all members of the intramural division and our alumni.