What ’s New with the NIH Loan Repayment Programs: FY 2022 Applications, Anniversaries, and a New Program

Two decades ago, NIH launched a duo of loan repayment programs (LRPs) to recruit and retain qualified health professionals into research on health disparities. Now, as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Health Disparities Research LRP (LRP-HDR) and Clinical Research LRP for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds (LRP-IDB), we wanted to share some data, highlight a new extramural LRP, and send a reminder that the LRP application cycle opens on September 1st. At the start of the LRP-HDR in fiscal year (FY) 2001, NIH funded $3.1 million towards the program, supporting 28 awards (Figure 1). All funding data presented here and in Figure 2 are inflation-adjusted, using 2020 as the base. Funding and awards for this program reached a high point in FY 2007 at $18.48 million (293 awards). After a decade of steady decline, there was a striking rise in funding to $12.95 million in FY 2020 (171 awards). Figure 1 – LRP-HDR Funding and Awards: FY 2001-2020 This increase seen in FY 2020 was due to the expansion of the LRP-HDR to all NIH Institutes and Centers, not only the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities. Previously, the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities was the sole funder of this LRP, meaning the LRP needed to compete with other programs at the Institute for resources. The reverse in the downward trend for this program was exactly the intent behind the expansion. As Dr. Ericka Boone, Director of the OER’s Division of...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - Category: Research Authors: Tags: blog Open Mike biomedical research workforce loan repayment program LRP Source Type: funding