Education

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The Office of Education delivers workshops, programs, and individualized opportunities to a population averaging 400 trainees, including postdoctoral, visiting, and research fellows; clinical fellows and medical students; graduate students; and postbaccalaureate and technical fellows. The activities include, typically: public speaking workshops, job interviewing, writing and editorial services, grantsmanship and study section observerships, career presentations and counseling, teaching opportunities through the NICHD Becoming an Effective Scientist course for postbacs and skills workshops, and management programs. An annual retreat for fellows and graduate students is held for 100 people each spring to address scientific developments and careers, which includes fellow presentations and a poster presentation by each attendee. The program is developed and run by a fellow-student steering committee. To emphasize the importance of mentoring, Guidelines to Support the Training Relationship between Postdoctoral IRTAS, Visiting Fellows, and Clinical Fellows and Their Mentors were approved and are made available to prospective and new trainees. The new intramural website also offers guidance on how to select a mentor. In May 2008, the Division of Intramural Research gave its first two Mentor of the Year awards, one to an investigator, Richard J. Maraia MD, and another to a fellow, Itai Tzchori PhD, in recognition of the importance of sustained, high-quality mentoring to the development of scientists. An orientation DVD was also created, focusing on postbac and summer students, that addresses how to make the most of a laboratory experience at the NIH. The DVD and office publications capitalize on the creative talents of fellows in the IT division. In FY2008, the first two participants in the graduate student exchange with Peking University Health Science Center arrived; four new students will join the institute in fall 2008. The graduate exchange with the Chinese University of Hong Kong was renewed for a second five-year period. The first meeting of exchange program mentors was held, evaluation systems were formalized, and the first DIR graduate student research seminar was held in spring. Increasingly, fellows are applying for K awards and outside funding, for which editorial and grants coaching is available, as part of a personalized approach to supporting intramural trainees needs. In 2008 an NICHD postdoc received one of six new Diversity Fellowships. The institute had a record number of FARE award recipients. A formalized program of extramural details for fellows was established to support those with an interest in HSA and SRA careers, and several placements were supported in NICHD, with one in NCI. At least one career and one educational program with a particular emphasis on the needs of clinical fellows is scheduled. The average of all programs for which formal evaluations are conducted was, at time of writing, 4.43 on a 5-point scale. A system of feedback from institute postdoctoral and clinical and postbac representatives ensures that the office is responsive to trainee needs, which also include personal guidance, support, and referrals.