The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bethesda, Maryland, campus is home to more than 1,000 laboratories where scientists are engaged in virtually every area of biomedical research, so expertise in almost any discipline is readily accessible. Inter-Institute interest groups promote interactions between senior scientists and NIH fellows in different disciplines.
The NIH environment encourages scientific exchange—in laboratories, in meeting rooms, and even in the hallways. To learn a new scientific technique, to borrow a reagent, or find out about a new area of research, a trainee travels no farther than down the corridor or to a building across a campus road or connects directly to colleagues through the interest groups' or the NIH fellows' email servers.
There are other tangible advantages to training at NIAID. Most of the laboratories at NIAID are on the NIH campus. There is an extensive menu of lectures and seminars every week. The renowned National Library of Medicine is adjacent to the NIH campus, and the many academic, cultural, and recreational benefits of living in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area are readily available.
NIAID also has a large research operation in Hamilton, Montana, called the Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML). RML offers state-of-the-art equipment, modern facilities with new BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs, and a great view of the Rockies.
Office of Training and Diversity
The Division of Intramural Research (DIR) Office of Training and Diversity (OTD) sponsors research experiences in DIR laboratories in Maryland and Montana through a variety of programs. For example, OTD provides funding for postbaccalaureate and postdoctoral trainees, which includes a stipend and health insurance.
Trainees are able to participate in several career-development programs offered by OTD: the NIAID annual fellows retreat, skill-building workshops, grant-writing seminars, orientation sessions, and individual career counseling.
OTD also conducts an annual outreach program, called Intramural NIAID Research Opportunities (INRO), to identify talented undergraduate and graduate students interested in DIR research and training programs. INRO applications are accepted from August 15 to October 15 each year.
For more information, visit the OTD website.