The competitive NIH Pathway to Independence Award is one of the most coveted grants for postdoctoral fellows pursuing an academic research career in the biomedical sciences. The award, which launched in 2006, provides one to two years of mentored training support during the K99 phase, and an additional three years of support for independent research through R00 funding. About 90% of K99 recipients secure an independent investigator position and receive the R00 portion of the award—about half of whom eventually acquire R01 funding.1 These numbers are impressive, and for that reason, many NICHD fellows might be thinking about how they, too, can apply.
One such fellow is Thien Nguyen, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Gandjbakhche laboratory (Section on Translational Biophotonics). While Dr. Nguyen worked on her K99/R00 proposal a few months ago, she wanted to talk to other fellows who had also been through the application process. Fast forward, we now have a Q&A with two NICHD fellows in the DIR who are in the K99 phase of the award! Read about their experiences writing the proposal and check out their tips for winning the grant.
As we stick with the theme of prestigious awards, we are excited to announce that two NICHD postdocs were accepted into the 2023 Postdoctoral Research Associate Training (PRAT) Program. This is a competitive, three-year fellowship available to NIH fellows in their first two years of postdoctoral studies. Find out who became a PRAT fellow, and a little about their research, in the article.
Lots of exciting announcements and events are featured within, including several installments of a new webinar series this summer. So, enjoy the remainder of August, stay cool, and we’ll see you next month!
Your Editor in Chief,
Shana R. Spindler, PhD
This newsletter is for NICHD fellows and by NICHD fellows. We want to hear from you! Please send your questions, comments, and ideas to our editor at shana.spindler@nih.gov.
Reference:
- Woitowich N, Hengel S, Vilgalys T, Babdor J, Tyrrell D. “Analysis of NIH K99/R00 Awards and the Career Progression of Awardees.” bioRxiv 2023 Jun 22;2023.01.26.525751. doi: 10.1101/2023.01.26.525751. Preprint.