Personnel Needs and Training for Biomedical and Behavioral Research 1979 Report (1979) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 4-22
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From page 4... ...
iminate certain inequities for individual recipients of NRSA awards, or to make the administration of the program more eff icient O Minimal Percentages for Individual and Inst i tut tonal awards The HRSA Act of 1974 required that at least 25 percent of the amounts appropriated be used for ind ividual NRSA awards, i.e., fellowships, in contrast to institutional awards ~ training grants)
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From page 5... ...
The House Committee was informed that the language was ambiguous wi th respect to whether the 3-year duration of el igibil ity referred to predoctoral and postdoctoral support combined or separately. This ambiguity apparently deterred some individuals from seeking NRSA support for their predoctoral training because of their desire to preserve their el igibil ity for this support for their postdoctoral training .
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From page 6... ...
As the House Committee Report noted, this more ~ iberal provision has the ef feet of provid ing greater free dom for predoctoral and postdoctoral students, and al so permitting a more flexible util ization of research grants by freeing an individual scientist's research funds that now are used to support graduate students working on those proj eats . Finally, the extension in the duration of NRSA support undoubtedly will have a benef icial impact upon the recruitment and retention of promising but economically disadvantaged students (particul arly women and minorities)
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From page 7... ...
Limit on Institutional Support from Training Grant Awards With the beginning of the NRSA awards, DHEW imposed a 25 percent limit on the amount of institutional support that could be requested by ind ividual training programs . Thi s percentage, which was based upon the total program award, marked a decline from the average of 50 percent that NIH data show prevailed under the prior training grants program.
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From page 8... ...
Removing Inequi by in Service And Payback Requirements The provisions of the NRSA Act of 1974 authorized the Secretary, DHEW, to permit clinicians and other individual s qualified to provide heal th care services who received NRSA support to discharge their payback obligations by providing approved heal th care services in 1 ieu of engaging in heal th research or teaching if the Secretary determined that no suitable heal th research or teaching positions were ava~able. Simile arty, the Secretary was authorized to permit Ph.D.
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From page 9... ...
It was reported that a strict interpretation of the requirements of the Act deterred some students from seeking research training in more than one area, or in obtaining a position in a field different from that of their areas of training. It was also pointed out that many students received their research training support from employment on federally funded research grants (usually NIH)
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From page 10... ...
In reviewing this provision in connection wi th the proposed 1978 Amendments, the House Committee concluded it might be inappropriate for the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences to be binding on a government agency. The Senate Committee's view was that the responsibi~ ity for determining eligible areas of research training should continue to be pi aced wi th the NAS/NRC Commi thee, which provides an independent assessment of national need.
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The Senate Commi t tee noted that i t will g ive close attention to any statutory changes that may be ind icated following a review of the concl usions drawn from these studies . COMMITTEE 'S ENDICOTT HOUSE CONFERENCE In carrying out the Congressional mandate to assess the national need for biomedical and behavioral research personnel, and to specify the kinds and extent of training to be provide]
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From page 12... ...
ining numbers of physicians reporting research as a primary activity in a survey by the American Medical Association, fewer physicians participating in the research training programs of the NIH, a growing number of budgeted vacancies in clinical departments of medical school faculties, and a smaller number of recent medical school graduates expressing interest in research careers. A major cause of these trends is believed to be the income differential between physicians in private practice and those in academic or research positions Studies have documented the substantial net loss in ~ if etime income to a rel at ive to one who are other aspects of the add i t tonal tra in ing requires for a research career, One instabil ity of research funding, and the ~ imited experience in research as a basis upon which the individual must assess his/her chances of becoming a successful clinical investigator.
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The training grant facil itates broad, multidisciplinary training, allows for interdisciplinary training at the predoctoral level, and for flexibi] ity to special ize at the postdoctoral ~ ever.
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. DU" \.1 Muir of Personnel P~lcipat$nq in ItTH Research Grants in 19730 ~ Field of ~1~TOS=.
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It is for these reasons that the Committee has paid special attention to training grants and is planning to examine further both their effect upon the qual ity of training and the impact that the loss of training grant support has had upon departments and tra ining programs. Specifically, the Committee plans to collect information from departments on a case-study basis with regard to what occurs when training grant support is lost, how coopera t ion wi th in depar tmen t s i s a f f ec ted, and wha t the impact has been wi th regard to innovative courses and seminars .
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From page 16... ...
By way of background for this issue, it will be recap led that the NRSA Act of ~ 974 requested the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of the nation's overall need for biomedical and behavioral research personnel and the sub j ect areas in wh ich such personnel are needed . This Committee has responded to the t task by subdividing the biomedical and behavioral f ields into four broad areas: basic biomedical sciences, behavioral sciences, clinical sciences, and health servi ces research.
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From page 17... ...
But the question arose as to whether further efforts should be devoted to the problems of identifying emerging fields and of attracting students into those fields with the incentives provided by training stipendse At the predoctoral level, training should be broad; yet is there reason for considering that some of this training should be targeted or directed to areas where society's needs are clearly evident -- aging, cardiovascular problems, environmental hazards, etc.? At the postdoctoral level the peer review system does better in matching training funds with relevant needs/opportunities.
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From page 18... ...
The Committee concluded that these various facets of the issue cannot be resolved readily but, because of their importance' should be accorded high priority for continuing attention. Other Topics Discussed at the Endicott House Conference In addition to the foregoing issues 9 a number of other topics were discussed, all of which were considered to be important to the Committee's task, but which for several reasons did not generate high-priority research questions.
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From page 19... ...
Ordinary market forces may work against decisions to enter scientific careers. Research training actual ~ y is research participation, and early recruitment into science is necessary to maximize research productivity.
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Some discussants thought that basing fell owship support on financial need alone would lead undesirably to ignoring academic merit, aptitude for the occupation, and related aspects signif icant for scientific work. An important aspect of the discussion of the rational e for federal support is the power of training grants to direct students to priority areas.
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From page 21... ...
Summary As can be seen by these brief summaries of the maj or topics discussed at the Endicott House conference, the Committee rev dewed a number of basic issues relating to the training of biomedical and behavioral researchers . It is dif f icul t to convey briefly all the points that were raised in the discussion; and, indeed, for this reason we have not attempted to summarize the extensive discussion of topics such as the marginal utility of federal funding for training, the extent to which federal funds should be used to supper t inch iv id ual s who pur sue nonre se arch and/or 21
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From page 22... ...
nonacademic careers, and the selective pattern of ~ istribution to institutions of federal support for research training . Al ~ the topics generated considerable comment, wi th the ~ iscussions of one topic of ten overlapping that of another.
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