Loan Repayment Programs

NIH's Loan Repayment Programs help M.D.s and some other doctoral-level professionals pursue research careers by repaying qualifying educational debt.

Table of Contents

• General Information
• Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs)
  • Clinical LRP
  • Pediatric LRP
  • Other LRPs

General Information

• Application window begins September 1 and ends December 1.
• The Center for Scientific Review assigns applications to NIH ICs.
• Applications are peer reviewed and assigned priority scores based on the following criteria:
  • Applicant's potential to pursue a career in their research area.
  • Quality of applicant's research environment.
• NIAID reviews its applications in May and selects awardees in June.
• The NIH Division of Loan Repayment makes awards by August. It also does the following:
  • Verifies eligible debt, exact amount of loans, applicants' salaries, and other financial information.
  • Keeps track of changes of institution, mentor, or area of research.
• Awardees can receive up to $35,000 a year plus accrued taxes (39 percent), and some state tax relief. Read more at Guidelines for Tax Reimbursement Requests. Maximum award including taxes is about $50,000 to $60,000.
• Awardees work in their area of research for two years at a minimum of 50 percent effort.

Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs)

NIAID supports the following programs:

• Clinical Research LRP
• Pediatric Research LRP

For FY 2007, NIAID participated as follows:

• We had a total budget of $5.67 million.
• We received 213 applications and made 145 awards.
  • 96 awards were clinical LRPs ($3.8 million).
  • 49 awards were pediatric LRPs ($1.8 million).

Clinical LRP

• Eligibility
  • Applicants must work directly with patients, regardless of clinical relevance of project. For this award, NIH defines clinical research as "patient-oriented clinical research conducted with human subjects."
  • You can apply even if you aren't a current NIH grantee.
• Most recipients are M.D.s. Some are Ph.D.s working with patients.
• Read more at Clinical Research Loan Repayment Program and the July 2, 2008, Guide notice.

Pediatric LRP

• Eligibility
  • Applicants must propose either basic or clinical research with a clear pediatric relevance.
  • You can apply even if you aren't a current NIH grantee.
• Most recipients are M.D.s. Some are Ph.D.s and D.V.M.s working in pediatric research. Non-pediatricians have trouble qualifying unless the application clearly explains the pediatric relevance.
• Read more at Pediatric Research Loan Repayment Program and the July 2, 2008, Guide notice.

Other LRPs

• Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds. Supported by the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, NCMHD.
• Contraception and Infertility Research. Supported by the NICHD.
• Health Disparities Research. Supported by NCMHD.

For more, visit NIH Loan Repayment Programs or contact Milton J. Hernandez at 301-496-3775 or mh35c@nih.gov.