Office of Fellowship Training

National Institute Of Mental Health

Investigators

Abstract

In fiscal year 2023 (FY23), the Office of Fellowship Training (OFT) processed 600 personnel cases for trainees and provided training to IRP administrative staff on the processing of trainee personnel cases. The OFT provided faculty with 27 Predoc IRTA slots with travel and tuition, and 27 OFT Loaner slots for Postbac IRTAs. The OFT provided monthly orientations to trainees. The OFT web content received 5,595 unique page views in July 2023. The OFT LinkedIn Group grew to 364 members and career and professional development content is posted weekly. The OFT provides career and professional development guidance and solicits trainee feedback during and upon completion of their time at NIMH. The OFT Steering Committee met in FY23 to provide final input for development of an IRP Postbac cohort program for individuals with a demonstrated commitment to diversity and to provide input for OFT Strategic Planning. Symposia/Seminar Series In FY23, the OFT and Fellows Committee organized the 25th Annual NIMH IRP Fellows Scientific Training Day to be held in-person at the National Museum of the American Indian in D.C. This years event will highlight and celebrate NIMH IRP alumni and the invited keynote Dr. Kimberly Noble. The event will be held on September 29, 2023 with more than 200 attendees expected to participate. The Fellows Committee with the OFT organized the monthly Fellows Afternoon Neuroscience Seminar Series (FANS) and the Fellows Invited Lecture Series (FILS). FILS speakers have included Colleen McClung, Andrew Novick, and Laura Cancedda. The OFT organized the 2022/2023 IRP Investigators Seminar Series and the NIMH IRP Women Scientists Discussion Series. The Women Scientists Discussion Series included a new NIMH IRP interview series entitled Growing up in Science where faculty share details around their careers, including challenges encountered along the way. Dani Bassett, Perry Zurn, Tonya White, and Bevil Conway, have been interviewed by Silvia Lopez-Guzman, Melissa Brotman and Arash Afraz in this year's series. The Annual Julius Axelrod Symposium was held in-person in FY23 and celebrated the NIMH IRP trainees and the keynote speaker Dr. Marina Wolf the 2022 SfN Axelrod Prize recipient. Training OFT organized the IRP Grantsmanship Workshop with Grant Writing Mentors, LLC. Training was provided in three phases, and in FY23 Phase I provided training in Grantsmanship to 66 trainees from NIMH, and 9 other institutes. Thirteen trainees from 4 ICs participated in Phases II and III of the workshop. This year, NIMH Trainees submitted grant proposals for K99, K22, Postdoctoral Research Associate Training (PRAT) Grant and private funding including Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF). The OFT offered seminars for Postdocs on career award mechanisms (K-Awards), PRAT Program application, and NSF funding mechanisms. To satisfy the NIH mandate to provide all NIH IRP scientific staff with training in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR), the OFT held 11 Ethics for Lunch discussions on the Use of Human Biospecimens and Informed Consent from October 2022 through December 2022. One hundred percent of NIMH IRP Scientific staff satisfied their research ethics training requirement in FY23. In FY23 Science Communication Seminars and Workshops included the Three Minute Talk (TmT) coaching and competition. Twenty trainees participated in the TmT coaching and NIMH IRP competition, 12 finalists will compete at the Training Day. Negotiation Skills, Interview Skills for Postdocs, and Chalk Talk Workshops were offered in FY23. Postbac-specific training opportunities in FY23 included a Statistics Course, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Application Workshop, an Interview Skills Workshop, a Clinical Psychology PhD Program Application Workshop, a Mental Health Careers Panel, a Pre-Med Application Workshop, peer mentoring sessions for those following the clinical psychology and medical school paths, an NIMH funding session for graduate and medical students, and a panel discussion with psychology program directors. The OFT offered a Summer Intern curriculum which supported 38 trainees in FY23. OFT Administered Programs In FY23, the OFT administered and directed the University College London-NIMH Joint Doctoral Training Program in Neuroscience and the NIH-Karolinska Institutet (NIH-KI) Program for Graduate Training in the Neurosciences. A total of 11 applicants were interviewed for each of the UCL and KI joint graduate partnership programs with 2 students joining the UCL program and 4 students joining the KI program this year. In FY23 quarterly virtual check-in sessions with students were held. In FY23 the OFT continued to lead and organize the Outstanding Scholars in Neuroscience Award Program (OSNAP) and the affiliated Award Symposium with NINDS, NIDA, NEI, NIDCD, NIDCR, NCATS, and NIGMS. There were 99 nominees for the award this year and 22 were selected for the 4th cohort of OSNAP Award recipients. The OFT participated in the selection of 2023 Outstanding Resident Award Program (ORAP) recipients and will provide support for a virtual ORAP meeting to be held in October 2023. OFT Recruitment of Trainees The OFT Team participated in virtual trainee recruiting efforts through the NIH OITE Graduate Program Fair and at annual meetings for the Society of Neuroscience, SACNAS, ABRCMS, SOBP and ACNP. In FY23 the OFT held quarterly drop-in NIMH IRP training opportunities information sessions on Zoom with an average attendance of 30 individuals per session. These sessions were publicly advertised using the NIMH Twitter and LinkedIn feeds.