10:30 am

Current opportunities for funding new investigators

• Overview of NIH programs and the history of R29 FIRST Awards

  Alan I. Leshner, Chief Executive Officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science

• NIH study section and review process

  Brent B. Stanfield, Acting Director, Center for Scientific Review, NIH

• NSF experience (why does it differ from NIH?)

  Mary E. Clutter, Assistant Director for Biological Sciences, NSF

• Success of career transition awards

  Martin Ionescu-Pioggia, Senior Program Officer, Burroughs Wellcome Fund

• Questions and discussion

11:40 am

A University President’s Perspective

James R. Gavin III, President, Morehouse School of Medicine

12:20 pm

Introduction to breakout sessions

12:30 pm

Box lunches available

12:45 pm

Breakout sessions during lunch (please sign up at registration table; topics enclosed)

1:45 pm

Reporting back on breakout sessions

2:15 pm

Academic panel addressing impact of funding on hiring decisions; startup packages; institutional commitment to unfunded researchers; challenges for new faculty, staff scientists, and postdoctoral fellows:

• David Hirsh, Executive Vice President for Research, Columbia University

• Robert D. Goldman, Stephen Walter Ranson Professor and Chair, Department of Cell & Molecular Biology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

• William G. Kelly, Assistant Professor of Biology, Emory University

• Peter Espenshade, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

• Questions and discussion

3:20 pm

Break