The NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) repay up to $35,000 annually of a researcher’s qualified educational debt in return for a commitment to engage in NIH mission-relevant research, and aim to help recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers. While the overall success rate of all NIH LRP applicants from 2006-2017 is an impressive ~50% across all NIH institutes and centers, the success rate of Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program KL2 Scholar applicants is even more notable: nearly 79% – a stat that may surprise many early career researchers.
A recent blog post featured this news and the UF CTSI’s Loan Repayment Grant Writing Workshop on the website of the Center for Leading Innovation and Collaboration (CLIC), the coordinating center for the CTSA Program.
Thomas Pearson, director of the UF CTSI Translational Workforce Development Program, recently held a Loan Repayment Grant Writing Workshop to facilitate a discussion about writing competitive LRP applications and renewals. The UF CTSI has held two workshops to date, convened in late summer and early September to coincide with the LRP window for applications.
Pearson encourages other hubs to take a similar approach in highlighting and explaining the LRPs, noting that the number of submitted applications tripled following their 2017 workshop, and approved applications nearly quadrupled. The UF CTSI is happy to offer the entire workshop presentation and recording to other CTSA Program hubs upon request.
“In addition to making researchers aware of this great opportunity, we want to help them identify the resources available to them that can help with tackling the application and ensuring success,” Pearson said. “During the workshop, we walk through our LRP Toolkit, which is complete with past applications, sample letters of reference, related announcements and applicable contact information, among other resources.”
Read the entire blog post here on the CLIC website.