A Practical Guide to Writing a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Grant provides F-Series grant applicants and mentors with insider knowledge on the process by which these grants are reviewed, the biases that contribute to the reviews, the extent of information required in an NRSA training grant, a deeper understanding of the exact purpose of each section of the application, and key suggestions and recommendations on how to best construct each and every section of the application. A Practical Guide to Writing a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Grant is a solid resource for trainees and their mentors to use as a guide when constructing F30, F31, and F32 grant applications. - Covers F30, F31, and F32 grant applications - Detailed overview of the review process - Key suggestions on how to best construct each section of the application - Includes a checklist of required items

The Department of Health and Human Services has identified Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) as the foremost public health problem in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report that, as of December 31, 1994, there were 441,528 documented cases of AIDS in this country, and the number is increasing. AIDS is an illness characterized by a defect in natural immunity against disease. Many more individuals are known to be infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) but do not have symptoms or the defming characteristics of AIDS. The incubation period for AIDS may range from 1 to 10 or more years in adults and 6 months to several years in children. Infected persons appear to be capable of transmitting infection indefinitely, even if they remain asymptomatic. In order to increase the number of minority investigators conducting research on HIV infection and 1 AIDS, NIMH conducted a 3h-day technical workshop for minority investigators on July 24-27. 1990, in Fairlakes, Virginia. University-based research programs were asked to nominate investigators who were selected on the basis of a referred 1 0-page prospectus for a proposed research project. This procedure was used because NIMH wanted to be sure that the prospective investigators were established in a research environment that would pr

Professionals in need of such training and bioethicists will be interested.

A rising median age at which PhD's receive their first research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is among the factors forcing academic biomedical researchers to spend longer periods of time before they can set their own research directions and establish there independence. The fear that promising prospective scientists will choose other career paths has raised concerns about the future of biomedical research in the United States. At the request of NIH, the National Academies conducted a study on ways to address these issues. The report recommends that NIH make fostering independence of biomedical researchers an agencywide goal, and that it take steps to provide postdocs and early-career investigators with more financial support for their own research, improve postdoc mentoring and establish programs for new investigators and staff scientists among other mechanisms.