HOW NEXT GENERATION CAN PURSUE RESEARCH TRAINING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES WITH NIMH? (1177 hits)
For Immediate Release From National Institute of Mental Health!
For 75 years, NIMH has transformed the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research—bringing hope to millions of people. This Director’s Message, guest written by the NIMH Training Team https://www.nimh.nih.gov/funding/training, is part of an anniversary series celebrating this momentous milestone.
Every January, many conversations revolve around starting anew—new paths and goals that will lead toward a brighter future. The NIMH Training Team engages in this forward thinking year-round. We understand that to continue making progress in understanding, treating, and preventing mental illnesses, the next generation of NIMH researchers needs to be highly supported and well trained.
The NIMH Training Team develops, administers, and promotes research training and career development opportunities that support hundreds of new and established researchers annually across the NIMH continuum of basic, translational, and services research. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/funding/training/... Some funding activities support individual applicants, such as early career investigators, while other opportunities are for institutions, such as universities, to develop research education and training programs that benefit entire cohorts. We also support training opportunities available through NIH-wide initiatives and collaborative research projects.
As NIMH celebrates its 75th Anniversary, we’ve reflected on what we’ve accomplished and our ongoing work, including our individual, institutional, and collaborative training activities. We hope that by sharing these opportunities, we inspire someone to take the next step and join us in the effort to use research to help the millions of people living with mental illnesses.
Individual training opportunities
NIMH supports the development of the research workforce by providing funding and training opportunities to individual researchers. This support allows the researchers to learn critical scientific skills and use new and emerging technologies, approaches, and methods to address the broad field of mental health research as it advances and evolves.
Individual training opportunities support career development, transition, and advancement for researchers across the full spectrum of NIMH’s mission, working in intramural or extramural spaces. The trainings also span the career spectrum, with opportunities for:
Graphic showing the four stages of the researcher career spectrum: Predoctoral researchers, postdoctoral researchers, early career investigators, and midcareer investigators.
One example is the National Research Service Award (NRSA) program https://www.nimh.nih.gov/funding/training/... which supports predoctoral students engaged in research leading to a doctoral degree, doctoral students working on dissertation research, and postdoctoral fellows doing research early in their careers. Through the NRSA program, NIMH supported hundreds of predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers in 2023 alone. In addition, our many mentored research career development award programs provide support for investigators who are in their final stage of research training before transitioning to becoming independent investigators.
Young scientist wearing a stethoscope around his neck looking through a microscope in the lab.
It is important to train researchers with diverse skill sets and scientific perspectives. For example, NIMH has training programs, education and career development opportunities, supplements, and loan repayment programs for physician–scientists and other clinician–scientists engaged in both scientific research and clinical practice. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/funding/training/... These investigators’ dual scientific and and clinical expertise uniquely positions them to make meaningful, clinically informed discoveries across the spectrum of NIMH-supported research.
