Postdoctoral

Training, fellowship, and career development opportunities.

Training at the NHLBI

- Training and Career Development

Training and career development opportunities at the NHLBI in Bethesda, Maryland cover a broad spectrum of disciplines for individuals at career stages ranging from high school students, graduate students, scientists, clinicians, and healthcare professionals. Click on the program names below for detailed descriptions and information on how to apply.

NIH-NHLBI Martha Vaughan Postdoctoral Fellowship

The NIH-NHLBI Vaughan Fellowship program is designed to prepare postdoctoral researchers to be future scientific leaders. Vaughan Fellows will have the opportunity to work with accomplished NHLBI Investigators, have access to the world-class research facilities of the NIH Intramural Research Program, and be supported by a comprehensive training and mentorship structure. NHLBI encourages applications from scientists from all backgrounds with expertise in all disciplines.

Postdoctoral Research Training at the NHLBI

Postdoctoral training in the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP) provides the opportunity for recent doctoral degree recipients to enhance their research skills in the resource-rich National Institutes of Health (NIH) environment.

Funding for Training

- Training and Career Development

The NHLBI supports fellowships, research career development awards, and training/education research for those pursuing biomedical or behavioral research careers in cardiovascular, pulmonary, or hematologic health and disease, sleep disorders, or transfusion medicine, at universities and institutions across the country. Click on the program names below for detailed descriptions and information on how to apply.

Individual

Maximizing Opportunities For Scientific And Academic Independent Careers (Mosaic) Postdoctoral Career Transition Award To Promote Diversity

K99/R00
DIVERSITY

Supports a cohort of early career, independent investigators from diverse backgrounds conducting research in NIH mission areas. The long-term goal of this program is to enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce. The MOSAIC K99/R00 program is designed to facilitate a timely transition of promising postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds (e.g., see Notice of NIH's Interest in Diversity) from their mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent research-intensive faculty positions. The NHLBI encourages research designed to answer the breadth of scientific questions related to heart, lung, blood, and/or sleep diseases, disorders, and phenotypes.

Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award

K25

The purpose of this award is to attract to NIH-relevant research those investigators whose quantitative science and engineering research has thus far not been focused primarily on questions of health and disease. The K25 supports productive professionals with quantitative (e.g., statistics, economics, computer science, physics, chemistry) and engineering backgrounds to integrate their expertise with NIH-relevant research.

Pathway to Independence Award

K99/R00

NHLBI temporary COVID-19 eligibility extension

Increases and maintains a strong cohort of new and talented, NIH-supported, independent investigators. This program is designed to facilitate a timely transition of outstanding postdoctoral researchers or clinician-scientists from mentored research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions, and to provide independent NIH research support during the transition that will help these individuals launch competitive, independent research careers. View the fact sheet for more information.

Programs to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE)

DIVERSITY

PRIDE is an all-expense-paid summer institute, research education and mentoring initiative sponsored by the NHLBI. The aim is to address the difficulties experienced by junior investigators and transitioning postdoctoral scientists in establishing independent academic research careers and negotiating through the academic ranks.

Research Supplements To Promote Re-Entry And Re-Integration Into Health-Related Research Careers (Admin Supp)

SUPP
DIVERSITY

Provides administrative supplements to currently active NIH research grants to support individuals with high potential to re-enter an active research career after a qualifying interruption for family or other responsibilities.

Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award

F32

Enhances the research training of promising postdoctoral candidates who have the potential to become productive, independent investigators in scientific health-related research fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers.

Institution

Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award

T32

Enables institutions to recruit individuals selected by them for predoctoral and postdoctoral research training in specified shortage areas. The goal of this program is to prepare qualified predoctoral and/or postdoctoral trainees for careers that have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the Nation. View the additional NHLBI-specific funding announcement focused on diversity.

Read the Supplemental Guidelines for the Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award.

Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR)

R38

The purpose of this program is to recruit and retain outstanding, postdoctoral-level health professionals who have demonstrated potential and interest in pursuing careers as clinician-investigators. To address the growing need for this critical component of the research workforce, this funding opportunity seeks applications from institutional programs that can provide outstanding mentored research opportunities for Resident-Investigators  and foster their ability to  transition to individual career development research awards. The program will support institutions to provide support for up to 2 years of research conducted by Resident-Investigators in structured programs for clinician-investigators with defined program milestones.    

T32 Training Program for Institutions That Promote Diversity

T32
DIVERSITY

The NHLBI's T32 Training Program for Institutions That Promote Diversity is a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Program intended to support training of predoctoral and health professional students and individuals in postdoctoral training institutions with an institutional mission focused on serving health disparity populations not well represented in scientific research, or institutions that have been identified by federal legislation as having an institutional mission focused on these populations, with the potential to develop meritorious training programs in cardiovascular, pulmonary, and hematologic diseases, and sleep disorders.