BIRCWH Scholars Program- FAQ

Many questions about the BIRCWH Scholars Program have been addressed below. Click on the topic below to see the supplied response.

If you have questions regarding the BIRCWH Scholars Program that are not covered below, please contact Jody Hirsh via e-mail at jkhirsh@northwestern.edu

• How many positions are available for the CDWH Program?
• If I am accepted into the program, can I suspend my start date of July 1st?
• Do you support a H1-B visa?
• What if my permanent residency status is pending?
• Do you require an OSR-1 form signed off by the Department? Is a budget required?
• I am a faculty member in the Feinberg School of Medicine. Does the institutional support letter require a signature from the Division Chief and the Department Head?
• What is NIH Policy Concerning Concurrent Support from Mentored Career Development (K) Award and a Research Grant?
  

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Q: How many positions are available for the CDWH Program?

A: There is one new position available for the July 1, 2009 funding cycle.

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Q: If I am accepted into the program, can I suspend my start date of July 1st?

A: No, all accepted applicants must start on or before July 1st.

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Q: Do you support a H1-B visa?

A. In order to apply, the applicant must be a current U.S. citizen, noncitizen national, or have permanent residence status and possess an Alien Registration Receipt Card or verification of legal admission as a permanent citizen. Individuals on temporary or student visas, or with pending applications are not eligible.

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Q. What if my application for permanent residency has been submitted or is pending?

A. Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, noncitizen national, or have permanent residence status and possess an Alien Registration Receipt Card or verification of legal admission as a permanent citizen AT THE TIME THE APPLICATION IS SUBMITTED.

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Q: Do you require an OSR-1 form signed off by the Department? Is a budget required?

A: The budget and OSR form will only be needed upon acceptance to the CDWH program, they are not required for the application.

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Q: I am a faculty member in the Feinberg School of Medicine. Does the institutional support letter require a signature from the Division Chief and the Department Head?

A: For faculty members, a letter of commitment from the Department Chair is requested to assure that the terms of the award will be met by the candidate and their department.

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Q:  What is NIH Policy Concerning Concurrent Support from Mentored Career Development (K) Award and a Research Grant?

A: For the full notice see NIH Notice Number NOT-OD-08-065 for details. Summary is as follows:

The policy detailed in this notice is effective for currently active and for all future K awards.  NIH recognizes that other Federal agencies are important resources to investigators pursuing biomedical and behavioral research and that funding from such agencies helps to sustain research laboratories also pursuing research within the mission of NIH.  Therefore NIH is extending the policy of allowing NIH K awardees to reduce effort on the K award in the final two years of the award to all K awardees who compete successfully for peer-reviewed research awards from any Federal agency, if programmatic policy of the other Federal agency allows such an arrangement.  Mentored K award recipients are encouraged to obtain funding from NIH or other Federal sources either as a PI on a competing research grant award or cooperative agreement, or as project leader on a competing multi-project award.  Requested budgets for a competing research grant or a subproject on a multi-project grant should request appropriate amounts for the salary and associated costs for the K award recipient’s effort.  At the time the research grant is awarded the effort required on the K award may be reduced to no less than 6 person-months (50% full-time professional effort at the grantee organization) and replaced by effort from the research award so that the total level of research commitment remains at 9 person-months (75% full-time professional effort) or more for the duration of the mentored K award.  This change in policy applies to the following mentored K award activity codes: K01, K07 (developmental) K08, K22, K23, and K25, as well as individuals mentored through institutional K12 awards.  To be eligible for salary support from peer-reviewed research awards from any Federal agency:

• The K award recipient must be one of the named PIs on a competing NIH research grant application (R01, R03, R15, R21, R34, or equivalent application from another Federal agency) or a sub-project director on a competing multi-component research or center grant or cooperative agreement application (P01, P50, U01, etc. or an equivalent application from another Federal agency).
• The K award must be active when the competing research grant application is submitted.
• The K award must be in its final two years before the reduction in effort to 6 person-months (50% full-time professional effort) is permitted.

For submissions to NIH, a letter must accompany the research grant application from the chair of the mentored award recipient’s department or other responsible institutional official providing: (1) evidence that the recipient will continue to focus on the development of his/her research career; (2) will continue to have access to his/her mentor; and (3) that the recipient’s total level of research effort will be maintained and protected at a minimum of 9 person-months (75% full-time professional effort).  For submissions to other Federal agencies, this type of institutional commitment letter is strongly encouraged; however, applicants should check with that agency for guidance on the allowability of such a letter.

When a mentored K award recipient obtains independent support, as described above, the NIH Institute or Center (IC) supporting the K award will adjust the level of effort committed to the K award to no less than 6 person-months consistent with maintaining total research effort at 9 person-months or 75% or more of full-time professional effort.  NIH may adjust the total salary amounts committed to the K award if consistent with the adjusted level of effort.  If necessary, the K award may also be adjusted to avoid any budgetary overlap.

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