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Clinical Research Loan Repayment Program

The Clinical Research LRP is a vital component of our nation’s efforts to attract health professionals to careers in clinical research.

In exchange for a two-year commitment to your clinical research career, NIH will repay up to $35,000 per year of your qualified educational debt, pay an additional 39% of the repayments to cover your Federal taxes, and may reimburse state taxes that result from these payments.

In Fiscal Year 2002, this program was restricted to researchers with NIH grants. Since FY 2003, NIH broadened eligibility to all doctoral-level clinical researchers with a domestic nonprofit or U.S government (Federal, state or local) funding. To participate, you must be a U.S. citizen (or U.S. national or permanent resident) and have a M.D., Ph.D., Psy.D., Pharm. D., D.O., D.D.S., D.M.D., D.P.M., D.C., N.D., or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited institution. You must conduct clinical research for 50% of your time (at least 20 hours weekly based on a 40 hour week) for two years, and your research MUST be supported by a domestic nonprofit institution or by a U.S. Government (Federal, state, or local) entity. Also, the research must not be prohibited by Federal law or NIH policy.  [Click here for additional eligibility criteria.]

Nearly 1,200 new and more than 200 renewal applications were submitted to the Clinical Research LRP in FY 2004. Slightly more than 50 percent of the new applications and nearly 90 percent of the renewal applications were funded. In FY 2004, more than 50 percent of awards went to applicants with M.D. or M.D. /Ph.D. degrees. Also, a majority of awardees were within 5 years of the receipt of their doctoral degree.

NIH defines clinical research as follows:

Please use the above definition to help determine whether your research qualifies for this program. If you’re uncertain after reading the definition, consult your principal investigator or research mentor. For further clarification, please contact the LRP liaison at the NIH Institute or Center (IC) most closely affiliated with your research.

Staff in the NIH Loan Repayment Program screen the applications for completeness and eligibility and forwards them to the NIH Center for Scientific Review to determine the NIH Institute or Center to which the application will be assigned for review.

In reviewing the application, peer review groups comprised of non-NIH scientists will be asked to consider the following criteria:

• Appropriateness of the applicant's previous training and experience as preparation for a career in clinical research;
• Suitability of the applicant's proposed clinical research activities in the two-year period to foster a career in clinical research;
• Assessment of the applicant's commitment to a research career as reflected by the personal statement of long-term career goals and the plan outlined to achieve those goals;
• Strength of recommendations attesting to the applicant's potential for a clinical research career;
• Availability of appropriate scientific colleagues to achieve and/or enhance the applicant's research independence; and
• Quality and appropriateness of institutional resources and facilities.

Once a NIH Institute or Center decides to fund a LRP application, the researcher is then considered a “participant.” Click here for more detail on the application and selection processes.

For additional information on FY2003 awards, please click here.