Clinical Loan Repayment Program Public Health Improvement Act

Clinical Loan Repayment Program

Public Health Improvement Act (P. L. 106 -505) Title II, Clinical Research Enhancement Act Included requirement for the establishment of a loan repayment program for qualified health professionals who contract with the federal government to conduct clinical research. Signed into Law, November 13, 2000

Definition of clinical research “The term clinical research means patient-oriented clinical research conducted with human subjects, or research on the causes and consequences of disease and human populations involving material of human origin(such as tissue specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator or colleague directly interacts with human subjects in an outpatient of inpatient setting to clarify a problem in human physiology, pathophysiology or disease, or epidemiologic or behavioral studies, outcomes research or health services research or developing new technologies, therapeutic interventions or clinical trials. ”

Eligibility U. S. citizens Clinical Degree (M. D. , Pharm. D. , D. O. , D. D. S. , D. M. D. , equivalents) Educational debt in excess of 20% of income NIH support: NRSA postdoctoral fellow or trainee Mentored Career Development Award First-time recipient of R 01, R 03, R 21 or U 01 First-time director of center component Minority supplement recipient

Repayment Benefits Repay up to a maximum of $35, 000 per year on debt from undergrad, health professional tuition other reasonable educational expenses required by school attended reasonable living expenses Payments are made directly to lender

Notice in NIH Guide January 8, 2002 announced acceptance of applications with deadline date of Feb 28, 2002. NIDA posted notice on website E-mailed notices to list serve training grant directors relevant constituent organizations program personally contacted known potential applicants

NIH received over 600 applications NIDA was assigned 26 for review

Degrees of applicants 11 M. D. 10 Ph. D. (9 Psych, 1 Sociology) 3 Psy. D. 1 J. D. 1 Dr. Phil.

M. D. Specialities 3 Psychiatry 3 Internal Medicine 2 Pediatrics 1 Family Practice 1 Infectious Diseases 1 Medicine

Review -briefly assess the applicant's potential for a research career in clinical or pediatric research. -emphasized that it should be a review of proposed research or research plans. -Asked to concentrate on - applicant's research career goals and whether the environment will enable the accomplishment of those goals. reviewers relied on the personal statement, letters of recommendation, description of current research, research statement of proposed research.

Applications were received electronically and review was also handled electronically www. lrp. nih. gov

Future Directions NIH plans to broaden the program: Next year individuals whose research is supported by foundations, professional societies and other non-profit sources will be eligible apply in addition to NIH grantees.