LRP Application Guide

1. Applicant Information Form. This includes:
   • Contact information
   • Education
   • Employment information
   • NIH Bio-sketch
2. Funding Information identifying non-profit funding sources. This form outlines the sources for your research funding. There are three (3) categories: Non-Profit (non-NIH), NIH Grant and NIH NRSA Fellowship.
   
   Instructions: Indicate the non-profit source(s) of the funding that will support your research activities over the term of the LRP contract. If your research is supported by grants, it is not necessary for you to be named on the grant to include the grant information. If your non-profit employer is one of your top three non-profit funding sources, list your non-profit employer in Section 1.
   
   At least one non-profit or NIH funding source must be identified. Funding information will be used for NIH program evaluation only. The source of your funding will not be used in the review of your application.
3. Personal Statement which includes a discussion of career goals and academic objectives.
   
   Instructions: Use 8,000 characters or less including spaces (approximately two single-spaced, typed pages) to briefly describe your previous research training experience, your short-term academic and research objectives, your long-term career objectives and your plan to achieve these objectives. Please include your name and the date in the header of the document.
4. Online Certification Form which must be printed, signed and faxed to the Division of Loan Repayment (DLR). This form certifies to the accuracy of the application information, addresses the confidentiality of the recommendations and allows DLR to obtain financial information.
5. U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Residency. This form is completed, printed, and should be faxed to DLR along with one of the required documents proving U.S. Citizenship or permanent residency; for example, a U.S. Passport, a birth certificate, or a resident alien card.
6. Disadvantaged Background (only for applicants to Clinical Research for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds). Applicants to this LRP are required to provide documentation of their disadvantaged background.
   
   An individual from a disadvantaged background (42 CFR pt. 57.1804(c)) is one who comes from a family with an annual income below low-income thresholds according to family size as published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, adjusted annually for changes in the Consumer Price Index, and adjusted by the Secretary for use in all health professions programs. The Secretary periodically publishes these income levels in the Federal Register. Note that the published levels represent the low-income levels for the period from the year of publication to the present. If you are establishing your eligibility based on a prior year, the published levels for that year will apply. Current financial need alone is NOT sufficient to classify an individual as being from a disadvantaged background.

1. Research Activities: Describes the current or proposed research project including your specific responsibilities and role in conducting the research. The research supervisor/mentor will be asked to concur in the research project description you provide.
   
   Instructions: Identify your Principal Investigator or Research Supervisor. Your Principal Investigator/Research Supervisor will be asked to complete a recommendation form on your behalf, to concur with your research project description and to provide additional information on your research training and laboratory environment.
   
   Instructions: Use 20,000 characters or less including spaces (approximately six single-spaced, typed pages) to describe the research activities you will pursue over the next two years and your specific responsibilities and role in the research project(s). Also briefly describe the overall research environment, including intellectual and physical resources available to you. Literature citations are included in the character count and should be listed on the last page. Please include your name, employer, title of your research project and the date in the header of the document.
   
   Research Environment (for Independent Researchers only): This documents information on the research environment where you will be working during the contract.
   
   Instructions: Use 5,000 characters or less (approximately one typed page) to describe the current research conducted in the branch/laboratory/section/department where the applicant is located and the availability of appropriate scientific colleagues, institutional research, and facilities.
   
   
   
   Career Development Plan (for Independent Researchers only): This documents you career development plan for the upcoming years.
   
   Instructions: Use 5,000 characters or less (approximately one typed page) to describe your career development plan and explain how this plan will foster the development of your career in research. Specify the types of research methods and scientific techniques to be learned, membership in journal clubs or groups and conferences and seminars to be attended.
   
   Research Accomplishments: (for Renewal Applicants Only): This document outlines your accomplishments during your prior participation in the NIH LRP.
   
   Instructions: Please use 5,000 characters or less including spaces (approximately one typed page), to describe your research accomplishments over the past two years.
   
   Research supervisors/mentors complete several online forms on behalf of the applicant:
   
   1. Recommendation
   
   2. An Assessment of Research Activities form including review/concurrence with the Research Activities Statement you submitted;
   • Description of the Research Environment, which provides detailed information about the lab where you will be conducting research, including funding, lab space, and major areas under investigation
   • Training or Mentoring Plan, which describes the research methods and scientific techniques to be taught
   • NIH Biosketch of a laboratory staff member if involved in training or mentoring the applicant (optional)
   • Supervisor/Mentor’s NIH Biosketch.
   • Assessment of Research Accomplishments (for Renewal Applicants Only)
   
   
2. Identification of Recommenders. Recommenders are colleagues that can speak to the applicant's research capability.
   
   Instructions: Your application requires that you obtain three completed recommendations including one from your Research Supervisor. Please provide the names and email addresses for the other individuals who will provide a recommendation for your application. You may submit up to four names of individuals to ensure that the mandatory three recommendations are received.
   
   Recommenders identified in this form will be contacted by email as soon as you press the SUBMIT button and will be asked to complete an online recommendation form on your behalf. We can only accept recommendations via the online form. Letters, faxes and other forms of recommendation are not acceptable.
   
   Recommenders complete the online Recommendation form which includes their assessment of your research capabilities and potential to become an independent researcher. A total of three (3) Recommendations are required. The recommenders are asked to rate the applicant on several criteria, and to provide text responses to three (3) questions: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Overall Comments.
   
   
3. Identification of Institutional Contact. The official providing this information should be someone authorized to reply for the organization. Please check with your institution to see who to name.
   
   Instructions: To verify institutional support for your research, please provide contact information for the official at the institution where you are conducting your research who can provide verification of compensation amounts and availability of time and resources to conduct your proposed research. Institutional Officials identified in this form will be contacted by email as soon as you press the SUBMIT button and will be asked to complete an online form on your behalf that will include an assurance of two years of continuing support and a minimum 50% commitment (20 hours per week) of research effort. Please ensure that all email addresses are entered accurately as once you press SUBMIT you cannot return to this form to make changes.
   
   Important: The official providing this information should be someone authorized to reply for the organization. Common titles for this individual are dean, associate dean, provost or chancellor of research & sponsored programs, or vice president of research administration. If you are not certain whom to name, please consult with your research supervisor or principal investigator.
   
   

• Lender and servicer name and address
• Loan number
• Disbursement date
• Total loan
• Current balance
• Monthly payment
• Interest rate and type
• Status (in repayment/deferment/forbearance)