Opportunities for Minority Students
Program Brief
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) supports training opportunities to help individuals prepare for a career in health services research. AHRQ is particularly interested in fostering the professional development of minority health services researchers.
Health services research affects a wide-range of issues, including consumer education; patient outcomes and effectiveness of care; health care quality; health care for minority, elderly, and other special populations; health care costs and financing; information for health care policymakers; and access to care and health care delivery.
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Contents
What is health services research?
Is a career in health services research right
for you?
What kinds of training are available?
Who may apply for a NRSA institutional
training grant?
What are the requirements for a NRSA
individual fellowship?
Who is eligible for a dissertation grant?
Are there other mentored career development opportunities for clinical and research scientists?
Does AHRQ provide career development support for independent scientists?
How can I get more information and application materials?
Where can I get more information about
AHRQ's Minority Health Program?
About AHRQ
Health services research is a unique
"Field of Inquiry," defined by questions
and work, not discipline or disease.
Health services researchers address a
wide range of issues, including
consumer education; patient outcomes
and effectiveness of care; health care
quality and patient safety; patientcentered
care; health care for
minorities, children, elderly individuals,
and other special populations; and
health care access, utilization, cost, and
financing. These issues are addressed
from a variety of interdisciplinary
perspectives and approaches, including:
- Clinical fields of medicine, nursing,
dentistry, and allied health.
- Social and behavioral sciences.
- Human factors engineering.
- Epidemiology and biostatistics.
- Multidisciplinary perspectives from
health care policy, research,
administration, and management.
Health services researchers investigate
how various factors—including social
forces, financing mechanisms,
organizational processes and structures,
evolving health technologies, and
individual behavior—act separately and
together to affect the delivery of health
care and, ultimately, the health and well-being of individuals. They pursue
careers in many settings, including
academia, professional organizations,
health policy groups, clinical settings,
and in Federal, State, and local agencies.
Findings and products that result from
health services research enable
providers, patients, insurers, employers,
and other purchasers and policymakers
to make better health care decisions.
They also can be used to improve the
design of health care benefits, develop
new policies to optimize the way we
finance and pay for care, facilitate access
to health care services, and improve
patient outcomes.
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If you are interested in searching for
answers to the questions and problems
that are in the forefront of today's
health care arena, a career in health
services research may be right for you.
AHRQ is seeking qualified applicants,
particularly minority applicants, who
are interested in training opportunities
to prepare them for a career in health
services research.
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AHRQ supports both predoctoral and
postdoctoral training through the
institutional National Research Service
Award (NRSA) training programs.
These grants are awarded to institutions
that in turn recruit and accept students
into their programs. AHRQ also awards
individual NRSA fellowships to
applicants who have completed their
research or clinical doctoral degrees. In
addition, AHRQ supports dissertation
grants for doctoral candidates. Support
is also available for career development.
These opportunities are supported
through three AHRQ programs that provide mentored and independent
support to individuals who have clinical
and/or research doctorates. To be
eligible for these grants, candidates
must be U.S. Citizens, non-citizen
nationals, or permanent residents by the
time of the award. Minority candidates
are strongly encouraged to apply for
these fellowships and grants.
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NRSA institutional training grants
assist domestic institutions in
supporting predoctoral and
postdoctoral academic training of
qualified individuals who have
demonstrated an interest in health
services research. These training grants
are awarded by AHRQ to institutions,
not individuals. The institutions select
the recipients of these awards. The
awards allow trainees to gain 1 or more
years of full-time, supervised experience
in applying research methods to the
evaluation of health services in
preparation for a career in health
services research.
Candidates for predoctoral training
grants must have a baccalaureate degree
and be enrolled in a Ph.D. program or
a program leading to an equivalent
degree. NRSA grants may not be used
to support studies leading to an M.D.
Candidates for postdoctoral training
grants must have a Ph.D., M.D.,
D.D.S., Pharm.D., Dr.P.H., Sc.D.,
D.N.Sc., or other doctoral degree.
Tuition benefits are provided, as well as
stipends to help trainees defray living
expenses during the research training
experience.
Academic programs that have received
NRSA institutional training awards are
listed individually on the AHRQ Web
site (http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/training/t32.htm). Individuals interested in pursuing a career in health
services research are encouraged to
review the list to obtain more detailed
information on program contacts and
Web links to specific training programs.
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NRSA fellowships are awarded directly
to individuals and monitored by
AHRQ. These postdoctoral fellowships
provide for 1 or more years of academic
training and supervised experience in
applying quantitative research methods
to the systematic analysis and
evaluation of health services. Applicants
must have a Ph.D., M.D., D.D.S.,
Sc.D., Dr.P.H., or equivalent doctoral
degree from an accredited domestic or
foreign institution. This is an ongoing
AHRQ program announcement, and
applications are accepted throughout
the year.
Recipients of AHRQ-supported NRSA
fellowships receive stipends to help
defray living expenses. Sponsoring non-Federal, nonprofit institutions receive
an allowance to cover some of the
awardee's expenses. Prior to making
formal application for this program,
you must be accepted by an appropriate
institution and have a sponsor who will
supervise your training and research
experience. Information about this
program is available on the AHRQ
Web site (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-09-229.html).
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AHRQ supports the health services
research dissertation grant program
(R36). To be eligible for a dissertation
grant, an applicant must be a full-time
student in a doctoral program. All
requirements for the doctoral degree—other than the dissertation—must be completed by the time of submission,
with the exception of the defense and
acceptance of the dissertation proposal
by the dissertation committee.
Acceptance of the dissertation proposal
by the committee has to be completed
by the time of the award. Support can
be requested for periods ranging from
9 to 17 months. Details are available on
the AHRQ Web site
(http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/training/rsrchtng.htm#HSRDA).
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AHRQ sponsors two mentored career
development opportunities: Mentored
Research Scientist Development Awards
and Mentored Clinical Scientist
Development Awards. These two
training programs are described briefly
here. More information is available on
the AHRQ Web site
(http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/training/rsrchtng.htm#HSRDA).
Mentored Research Scientist
Development Awards (K01) provide
support for the development of
outstanding research scientists who are
committed to a career in health services
research, with a focus on their
development as independent scientists.
A candidate for this program must have
a research doctoral degree, identify a
mentor with extensive research
experience, and be willing to spend a
minimum of 75 percent of full-time
professional effort conducting research
and developing a research career during
the first part of the award. The
applicant may opt to reduce planned
time on the grant during the last 2
years, as long as a minimum of 50
percent of his or her time is devoted to
the project. Awards provide funding for
3 to 5 years.
Mentored Clinical Scientist
Development Awards (K08) provide
support for the development of
outstanding clinical scientists who are
committed to a career in health services
research, with a focus on their
development as independent scientists.
Candidates must have a clinical
doctoral degree, identify a mentor with
extensive research experience, and be
willing to spend a minimum of 75
percent of full-time professional effort
conducting research and developing a
research career during the first part of
the award. The applicant may opt to
reduce planned time on the grant
during the last 2 years, as long as a
minimum of 50 percent of his or her
time is devoted to the grant. Grants
provide 3 to 5 years of funding.
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AHRQ sponsors Independent Scientist
Awards (K02) in health services
research. These awards are intended to
foster the development of promising
new investigators in the field.
Individual awards support recently
minted research and clinical doctorate
scientists who are independent but can
demonstrate a need for protected time
to focus intensively on their research.
Awards are provided for 3 to 5 years.
More details are available on the
AHRQ Web site (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-09-086.html).
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To find out more about AHRQ
research education and career
development opportunities, contact:
Karen Rudzinski, Ph.D.
Director, Division of Research Education
Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
Telephone: 301-427-1529
E-mail: Karen.Rudzinski@ahrq.hhs.gov
Technical assistance is available from AHRQ staff managing specific programs (http://www.ahrq.gov select "Staff Contacts").
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AHRQ's Minority Health Program
focuses on both health services research
issues—including increasing the
participation of minority researchers in
health services research—and problems
that are important to minority
individuals and populations. To find
out more about AHRQ's minority
research portfolio, contact either:
Francis Chesley, M.D., Director
Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 301-427-1449
E-mail: Francis.Chesley@ahrq.hhs.gov
Or
Cecilia Rivera Casale, Ph.D.
Senior Advisory for Minority Health
Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
540 Gaither Road
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 301-427-1547
E-mail: Cecilia.Casale@ahrq.hhs.gov
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AHRQ is an agency of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services. AHRQ's mission is to support
research designed to improve the
quality of health care, reduce its cost,
and broaden access to essential services.
AHRQ develops and disseminates
research-based information to increase
the scientific knowledge needed to
enhance consumer decisionmaking,
improve health care quality, and
promote efficiency in the organization
of public and private systems of health
care delivery.
If you would like to know more about
AHRQ and want to keep abreast of its
activities, call the Agency's Publications
Clearinghouse at 800-358-9295 to
subscribe to Research Activities. Research
Activities is AHRQ's free monthly digest
of recent research findings, funding
opportunities, upcoming conferences,
and other timely and important
information for the health services
research community.
AHRQ is committed to increasing
the number of minority health
services researchers through
enhancing awareness of the training
opportunities available to minority
applicants.
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AHRQ Publication No. 09-P009
Replaces AHCPR Publication No. 97-0040
Current as of August 2009
Internet Citation:
Preparing for a Career in Health Services Research: Opportunities for Minority Students. Program Brief. AHRQ Publication No. 09-P009, August 2009. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/fund/minortrg.htm
540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850