Tips on winning F30 and T32 NIH Grants?

[forsparta]

Hello,

I am going to be starting medical school this coming year and had some questions about these grants. I have done my research and saw that T32 are from the institution you attend and F30(F31 ect.) are from the NIH directly. As a MD only candidate, what can I do to improve my chances to get the F30 grants and win it to help and fund my research.

Background: I am a goldwater scholar, been funded by my institution before for research, and such.

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[SBR249]

You can only receive T32 funding if your institution/program has T32 funding.

As for F30/31, you should first concentrate on finding a good PI with a record of having funded NIH grants and also of having experience training students (preferably who also had their own grants funded).

 

[forsparta]

As for F30/31, you should first concentrate on finding a good PI with a record of having funded NIH grants and also of having experience training students (preferably who also had their own grants funded).

Would it be alright to email a PI with those questions (have students been funded, ect.)?

This is for a top 20 medical school which I will be attending.

 

[Neuronix]

As a MD only candidate, what can I do to improve my chances to get the F30 grants and win it to help and fund my research.

This makes no sense. MD-only candidate?

The F30 grant title is "Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD and Other Dual Doctoral Degree Fellows (Parent F30)"

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-110.html

"The applicant fellow must have a baccalaureate degree and show evidence of both high academic performance in the sciences and substantial interest in research in areas of high priority to the participating Institutes. In addition when the application is submitted, the applicant must be enrolled in a formally combined MD/PhD (or DO/PhD, DDS/PhD, or AuD/PhD) program, and be supervised by a sponsor for the research doctoral component."

So the only thing you can do to improve your chances is enroll in an MD/PhD program.

 

[forsparta]

This makes no sense. MD-only candidate?

The F30 grant title is "Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD and Other Dual Doctoral Degree Fellows (Parent F30)"

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-110.html

"The applicant fellow must have a baccalaureate degree and show evidence of both high academic performance in the sciences and substantial interest in research in areas of high priority to the participating Institutes. In addition when the application is submitted, the applicant must be enrolled in a formally combined MD/PhD (or DO/PhD, DDS/PhD, or AuD/PhD) program, and be supervised by a sponsor for the research doctoral component."

So the only thing you can do to improve your chances is enroll in an MD/PhD program.

My mistake, I meant F31 - which is for medical students.

 

[Neuronix]

My mistake, I meant F31 - which is for medical students.

http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-111.html

"Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellows (Parent F31)

The applicant fellow must have a baccalaureate degree and be currently enrolled in a PhD or equivalent research degree program (e.g., EngD, DNSc, Dr PH, DSW, PharmD, PsyD, ScD), a formally combined MD/PhD program, or other combined professional/clinical and research doctoral (e.g., DDS/PhD) in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences at a domestic or foreign institution. The Kirschstein-NRSA F31 may not be used to support studies leading to the MD, DDS, or other clinical, health-professional training (e.g., DC, DMD, DNP, DO, DPM, DVM, ND, OD, AuD).

Students seeking support for pursuit of a combined degree program (e.g. MD/PhD, or DO/PhD, or DDS/PhD) also may be eligible to apply for the Kirschstein-NRSA for Individual Predoctoral MD/PhD Fellows (F30)."

 

[atsai3]

Hello,

I am going to be starting medical school this coming year and had some questions about these grants. I have done my research and saw that T32 are from the institution you attend and F30(F31 ect.) are from the NIH directly. As a MD only candidate, what can I do to improve my chances to get the F30 grants and win it to help and fund my research.

Background: I am a goldwater scholar, been funded by my institution before for research, and such.

An F30/F31 will not fund your MD education.
Sure you may plan on spending 10-20 hours per week in a lab during your first and second years of medical school and during the summer in between, but that's just dabbling. The federal government has no interest in funding dabblers. If you are looking for grants to fund your MD education, with few exceptions your only options will be merit based scholarships.

 

[SBR249]

An F30/F31 will not fund your MD education.
Sure you may plan on spending 10-20 hours per week in a lab during your first and second years of medical school and during the summer in between, but that's just dabbling. The federal government has no interest in funding dabblers. If you are looking for grants to fund your MD education, with few exceptions your only options will be merit based scholarships.

The OP did say it was to fund his research.

Anyway to the OP: if you are willing to take some time (like a year) off from med school at some point before you graduate, look into funding from HHMI or Doris Duke or other foundations

 

[atsai3]

The OP did say it was to fund his research.

Anyway to the OP: if you are willing to take some time (like a year) off from med school at some point before you graduate, look into funding from HHMI or Doris Duke or other foundations

If the OP is going the MD-only route, then for the purposes of the F30/31 the NIH will consider her to be doing not research. As I wrote in my post, it doesn't matter if s/he is going to be in a lab 10-20 hours a week for the first 2 years along with the summer in between-- that is considered not research. If the OP wants to take time off during medical school to complete a PhD, then s/he would be eligible to apply for the F30/31.

If the OP wants to take time off during medical school (e.g., 1-2 years) to do research without doing a PhD, the HHMI and Doris Duke would fund that research (but not her MD education).

 

[SBR249]

If the OP is going the MD-only route, then for the purposes of the F30/31 the NIH will consider her to be doing not research. As I wrote in my post, it doesn't matter if s/he is going to be in a lab 10-20 hours a week for the first 2 years along with the summer in between-- that is considered not research. If the OP wants to take time off during medical school to complete a PhD, then s/he would be eligible to apply for the F30/31.

If the OP wants to take time off during medical school (e.g., 1-2 years) to do research without doing a PhD, the HHMI and Doris Duke would fund that research (but not her MD education).

I was speaking more towards the OP's intention and not how the NIH or funding organization will categorize the proposal. He/she was probably looking for a grant that will defray costs of lab supplies, travelling to conferences, etc not to pay medical school tuition or something.

 

[forsparta]

First off, thanks for the replies. I did not mean to fund my education but rather to fund my research. I guess F grant is off the table, but what can I do to improve my chances for the T series?

 

[atsai3]

First off, thanks for the replies. I did not mean to fund my education but rather to fund my research. I guess F grant is off the table, but what can I do to improve my chances for the T series?

The purpose of the T32 is to fund institutions to fund researchers. As a student, you do not personally apply for a T32. You would apply to a T32-funded training program, and the program director (or program steering committee) would assess whether or not you are a good bet. The program director will be looking to appoint people who are committed to a career in research and who plan to remain on the training grant for 2+ years.

So if you are asking about how to improve your chances to get into a T32 training program, then you basically need to show that you are serious about research. If you already have a lot of research experience, you should be in good shape. If you don't have any research experience, or if you want to get more research experience under your belt to improve your application, then you will need to find time to do research during medical school before you entre the T32. Most medical students who take time off during medical school to pursue full time research (through a T32) before residency training generally do it after completing the MS2 or MS3 year (i.e., finish MS1-MS2, do full time research for 2-5 years, and then come back to complete MS3-MS4). So if you want to show that you are serious about research, then you basically have 2 years to do it: find someone who is willing to hire you as a part time research assistant (and full time during the summer between MS1 and MS2) and give it as many hours as you can without compromising your grades.

T32 training programs take both predoctoral and postdoctoral students. So doing it during medical school (i.e., taking time off) is only one way to do it. You could also go straight through medical school, then complete residency (and clinical fellowship), and then apply for the T32 during fellowship. Same rules about boosting your application apply: basically try to get as much research experience under your belt during medical school, residency, and fellowship to convince the program director that you are a good bet.

 

[forsparta]

The purpose of the T32 is to fund institutions to fund researchers. As a student, you do not personally apply for a T32. You would apply to a T32-funded training program, and the program director (or program steering committee) would assess whether or not you are a good bet. The program director will be looking to appoint people who are committed to a career in research and who plan to remain on the training grant for 2+ years.

So if you are asking about how to improve your chances to get into a T32 training program, then you basically need to show that you are serious about research. If you already have a lot of research experience, you should be in good shape. If you don't have any research experience, or if you want to get more research experience under your belt to improve your application, then you will need to find time to do research during medical school before you entre the T32. Most medical students who take time off during medical school to pursue full time research (through a T32) before residency training generally do it after completing the MS2 or MS3 year (i.e., finish MS1-MS2, do full time research for 2-5 years, and then come back to complete MS3-MS4). So if you want to show that you are serious about research, then you basically have 2 years to do it: find someone who is willing to hire you as a part time research assistant (and full time during the summer between MS1 and MS2) and give it as many hours as you can without compromising your grades.

T32 training programs take both predoctoral and postdoctoral students. So doing it during medical school (i.e., taking time off) is only one way to do it. You could also go straight through medical school, then complete residency (and clinical fellowship), and then apply for the T32 during fellowship. Same rules about boosting your application apply: basically try to get as much research experience under your belt during medical school, residency, and fellowship to convince the program director that you are a good bet.

My goal is to become a physician scientist, so the T grant is inline with what I would like to do.

Thank you for your detailed advice - so I have to demonstrate a lot of research to get awarded this. Do you have any idea what types of people I am competing against? How much research do they have?

Appreciate it

 

[atsai3]

My goal is to become a physician scientist, so the T grant is inline with what I would like to do.

Thank you for your detailed advice - so I have to demonstrate a lot of research to get awarded this. Do you have any idea what types of people I am competing against? How much research do they have?

Appreciate it

You will be competing against medical students who are going to use the T32 to get a PhD, new physicians (i.e., just completed residency and/or fellowship) who are going to use the T32 to get an MPH or a PhD, as well as midcareer professionals who would like to get into research (more rare).

Hard to say how much research experience you need. Plenty of people apply to T32 programs straight out of undergrad (i.e., to do a combined MD/PhD), and many of them don't have much research experience (enough to get into an MD/PhD program, but perhaps not more than your average physician post-fellowship).

 

[snobored18]

My goal is to become a physician scientist, so the T grant is inline with what I would like to do.

Thank you for your detailed advice - so I have to demonstrate a lot of research to get awarded this. Do you have any idea what types of people I am competing against? How much research do they have?

Appreciate it

It is extremely unlikely any institution/department will waste a T-series slot on a medical student during the didactic years even if they could as most T-series grants are for specific purposes (e.g. translational M.S. degrees for medical students during a "research year", giving cardiology fellows 1-3 years of protected time for research, funding pharmacology PhD students, paying for a couple MD/PhD slots, etc.). The point of F-series and T-series grants is to fund full time research training...not to fund medical students who want to spend 10-20 hours a week in the lab when they aren't busy with didactic coursework.

As an MD-only student your research funding options are generally limited to summer programs (I believe the NIH does fund some opportunities, but my guess is that they are primarily allocated to diversity initiatives). If you want to fund your own research during the year look into the AMA seed grants (~4K) or into private foundations in your field/specialty of interest as there are definitely ways to fund a summer experience or get some extra $$$ to run small studies over the course of a year.

As mentioned previously there are some great "year off" programs such as the Sarnoff, HHMI, Doris Duke, etc. that also might be worth looking into if your ultimate goal is to be a physician scientist. Also look into what options are available at your institution as many places with NIH funded CTSA/CTSI centers offer a paid one year M.S. to medical students between M2 and M3 or M3 and M4 (this would likely be a T32 funded slot).

 

[forsparta]

You will be competing against medical students who are going to use the T32 to get a PhD, new physicians (i.e., just completed residency and/or fellowship) who are going to use the T32 to get an MPH or a PhD, as well as midcareer professionals who would like to get into research (more rare).

I have a question about this - if I was to pursue a MPH (along with MD), would it be possible to get the T32 for that (the research I will do with the degree)?


I read everyones information and am very thankful for the outpuring of help. As someone new to this, it is very nice to gain an understanding of these things.

 

[justgo]

No, you don't get funding for the research you do for an MPH degree....that is part of the degree and you pay for it and you do it during the degree (ie NOT research). You may get funding for a 3 month full-time stint, but that is it and that would absolutely not qualify for T or F funding. Again, T funding is awarded to the INSTITUTION, then they award it to individuals so you need to see if your institution has a program and apply through them or apply to a program that has it and you are not likely to get it. These programs are big commitments for both the school and the individual. It isn't just something you can do as part of another degree.

I think you are grasping at straws here and I am not really sure why....

If you want to be a physician scientist and do research during your MD years then why are you not doing an MD/PhD? Would you be interested in doing research after the MD and going through one of the payback programs? What exactly are you interested in long-term? Why have you fixed onto these granting options? Getting these F or T grants are not guarantees of getting future funding or anything. What is the aim here?

I have a question about this - if I was to pursue a MPH (along with MD), would it be possible to get the T32 for that (the research I will do with the degree)?


I read everyones information and am very thankful for the outpuring of help. As someone new to this, it is very nice to gain an understanding of these things.

 

[atsai3]

No, you don't get funding for the research you do for an MPH degree....that is part of the degree and you pay for it and you do it during the degree (ie NOT research). You may get funding for a 3 month full-time stint, but that is it and that would absolutely not qualify for T or F funding. Again, T funding is awarded to the INSTITUTION, then they award it to individuals so you need to see if your institution has a program and apply through them or apply to a program that has it and you are not likely to get it. These programs are big commitments for both the school and the individual. It isn't just something you can do as part of another degree.

I think you are grasping at straws here and I am not really sure why....

If you want to be a physician scientist and do research during your MD years then why are you not doing an MD/PhD? Would you be interested in doing research after the MD and going through one of the payback programs? What exactly are you interested in long-term? Why have you fixed onto these granting options? Getting these F or T grants are not guarantees of getting future funding or anything. What is the aim here?

I agree with justgo's questions. Answering these would help us answer your questions better.

(Short answer to your question about MD/MPH is "no".)