The Graduate Partnerships Program (GPP) helps prepare NIH graduate students to become innovative and creative leaders in the scientific research community. We provide programs, services, individual assistance, and resources to enhance the academic, professional and career development of NIH graduate students.

If you are coming to NIH as part of an Institutional Partnership, you concurrently applied to the GPP and a partner university. Depending on the partnership, you will spend time at the university completing coursework and rotations. You will also complete rotations here at NIH and choose an NIH lab for your dissertation research, typically at the end of your first year of graduate study. If you are in the Oxford, Cambridge or Karolinska partnerships, you will choose mentors at the start of your first year and will work to develop a collaborative dissertation involving your NIH and university mentors. Although the details differ slightly for each institutional partnership, administrative details and funding are managed by the GPP during your first year of graduate study.

If you are coming to NIH as part of an Individual Partnership, you registered with the GPP after one or two years of graduate training at your home university. You likely chose an NIH mentor before arriving at NIH, and you will not typically rotate through different NIH labs. Students in individual partnerships are funded directly by their university, NIH mentor or outside scholarships and awards.  The administrative details regarding your appointment and financial support are handled by your mentor’s Institute or Center.

It is important that you understand these administrative differences, so that you can effectively manage your time at the NIH. However, regardless of the type of partnership you joined, you are a member of the graduate student community at NIH, and the GPP is here to serve you.  To ensure a smooth transition to the NIH community, the GPP created a Graduate Student Handbook; detailing NIH overview, funding, mentors, collaborations, getting started at NIH, professional & career development, as well as resources and support.