Early Career (Bridge) Awards Open to IRP Scientists

TO: Scientific Directors
FROM: Deputy Director for Intramural Research
SUBJECT: Awards for Early-Career Scientists

I would like to invite you to nominate outstanding early-career scientists in your Institute or Center for the increasing number of awards, bridge grants, scholarships, and lectureships that are now available to intramural scientists. Winning one of these awards advances the scientist’s career and brings credit to your IC and NIH as a whole – even when little or no money is involved. An attached chart lists eligibility and application information for:

• The ORWH-Pfizer Fellowship for Research on Women’s Health (March 20)
• The American Heart Association (AHA) Scientist Development Grant (June 15)
• NCI, NIEHS, NICHD, NHGRI, NEI and other institute bridge-grant (K22) type Scholarships and Awards (June 8 for NCI; others with various deadlines)
• Burroughs Welcome Fund Career Awards Program (May 30)
• The Presidential Early Career Awards in Science and Engineering (May 30)
• The Searle Foundation Awards (May 30)
• The Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award (May 15)
• The Director’s Seminar Series (DSS) (May 15)

The deadlines for the fellowships are indicated in parentheses above. Many are coming up soon. For the AHA and K22 programs, applicants should consult their advisors and apply directly to the funding agency (AHA application packets are available from Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, NHLBI). For the other awards (Presidential, Searle, Burroughs and Duke), we must make NIH-wide nominations. I request that every institute with first-year tenure-track investigators or outstanding advanced postdocs make at least one nomination for the Presidential, Searle, and/or Burroughs awards. I would also like each of you to nominate investigators for the Duke award and for the Director’s Seminar Series, which are targeted to recently tenured or about-to-be-tenured investigators. Preliminary applications for these NIH-wide award nominations should consist of:

• C.V.
• Bibliography
• Brief cover letter justifying the nomination

These should be submitted electronically to Colleen Crone of the Office of Intramural Research by May 15 for the Doris Duke award and May 30 for the Burroughs-Wellcome, Presidential, Searle and DSS. A committee of NIH scientists will meet this spring to select from among your nominees. We will notify the candidates who are chosen in time for them to prepare complete application packages for the awards programs before the institutional deadlines. NIH scientists have been quite successful in competing for these prestigious awards in recent years. Thank you for your help in getting this information out and in selecting and relaying to us your nominations for these prestigious awards.

- Michael M. Gottesman, M.D.