On May 3, 1993, the National Research Council's (NRC) Committee on National Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Research Personnel convened a public hearing to gather the views of colleagues on the future direction of the National Research Service Awards (NRSA) program. In preparation for the hearing, the committee formulated a set of questions to be addressed by respondents and consulted with the staff of the National Institutes of Health in compiling a list of individuals and organizations to whom a letter soliciting a response to those questions could be sent. (See Appendix A.) A letter posing the following four questions was sent to over 1,000 individuals: What is the most significant challenge we face today in the United States in maintaining an adequate supply of qualified scientists to sustain and advance health research? What improvements might be made in the National Research Service Awards (NRSA) program to assure a continuing supply of skilled investigators in the biomedical and behavioral sciences in the coming years? What steps might be taken to improve the effectiveness of the NRSA program in recruiting women and minorities into scientific careers? What features of the NRSA training grant might be strengthened to assure the maintenance of high quality research training environments?

This book assesses the nation's future needs for biomedical and behavioral scientists and the role the National Research Service Awards (NRSA) program can play in meeting those needs. The year 1994 marks the twentieth anniversary of the National Research Act of 1974 (PL 93-348), which established the NRSA program. In its twenty years of operation, the NRSA program has made it possible for many thousands of talented individuals in the basic biomedical, behavioral, and clinical sciences to sharpen their research skills and to apply those skills to topics of special concern to the nation, such as aging, hypertension, the genetic basis of disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), cancer, environmental toxicology, nutrition and health, and substance abuse.