NHGRI/DIR Education and Outreach Programs

National Human Genome Research Institute

Investigators

Abstract

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Intramural Training Office (ITO) oversees a comprehensive program of career development activities for approximately 200 trainees at various education levels including Postdoctoral IRTA Fellows, Visiting Fellows, Predoctoral Students, Postbaccalaureate IRTAs, and summer interns. ITO collaborates with divisions and offices within NHGRI, as well as across and outside of the NIH, to provide the best possible training experience for NHGRI trainees. Despite substantial ITO staff turnover at the start of FY25, remaining staff and newly acting leadership successfully ensured continuity of operations and trainee support, while dealing with the departure of the new full-time director, an acting director, and a program coordinator (contractor). NHGRI Training Program Collaborations. In FY 2025, ITO continued to foster synergy between NHGRI intramural and extramural training teams. These collaborations share best practices, support trainees across programs, and identify opportunities to strengthen transitions between programs. For example, ITO provides educational resources and support for grant writing and the NIH Loan Repayment Program for trainees. ITO also works with the Extramural Training Director to raise awareness of cross-cutting training opportunities and share resources throughout the training community. In addition, ITO ensures NHGRI Intramural training program offerings are accessible to other institutes, and participates in offerings from other NIH Intramural training programs when novel programs are available elsewhere. Grant-writing Support. ITO centralizes a highly successful grant writing and submission support program within NHGRI. ITO co-organizes a grant writing workshop with other ICs and actively identifies and communicates funding opportunities, procedures, and deadlines to trainees. ITO has developed a grant submission SOP and provides updates, documentation, individualized orientations, and guidance for Postdoctoral and Clinical Fellow applicants to Pathway to Independence/Career Transition K Awards and other specialized grant programs. Annual Career Development Networking Event: Trainee Scientific and Career Development Retreat. ITO organized and hosted an annual trainee retreat for all NHGRI trainees in May 2025. The agenda included professional networking, trainee science presentations, and two keynote addresses by NHGRI scientific leadership. Sessions also included wellness and mental health, Artificial Intelligence in biomedical sciences, career planning, and navigating challenging conversations. Science Communication. ITO offered the Three-minute Talk (TmT) Science Communication Series in FY 2025. In this series, trainees learned how to effectively convey the relevance of their research to a broad audience of scientists in three minutes or less, through a workshop and individual public speaking coaching sessions. The program culminated with TmT presentations at the annual NHGRI Research Summit. The winner of the NHGRI TmT competition advanced to the NIH-wide competition. Specialized Programs. The Summer Internship Program (SIP) was not hosted in FY25. Plans are to resume the program in FY26, with close coordination with the Central NIH Training Office, OITE.