ja_mageia

The National Institutes of Health has announced a funding opportunity for the NIH Director’s Early Independence Awards for junior investigators wishing to “skip the post-doc” and immediately begin independent research. Budgets may be up to $250,000 in direct costs per year for up to five years.

Eligible candidates must be within one year of receipt of a terminal research degree (Ph.D., etc.) or completion of clinical residency.

All areas of research relevant to the mission of NIH welcome.  These are highly competitive awards but I encourage young neurofibromatosis investigators to apply given the  NIH's growing interest in, and support of, rare diseases research. 

The deadline for submitting Early Independence Award applications is January 30, 2012 with Letters of Intent due by December 30, 2011.  See the instructions in RFA-RM-11-007. Frequently Asked Questions about the Early Independence Award Program are answered at http://commonfund.nih.gov/earlyindependence/.