NIH’s HEAL Initiative offers Translational Science Career Enhancement Awards for Early and Mid-career Investigators

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications from early and mid-career investigators (i.e. postdoctoral fellow/associates associate professor) who strive to expand their research trajectories through the acquisition of new knowledge and skills in the areas of therapeutic drug, biologic, or device development. The development of novel treatments for pain, addiction, and overdose is a vital component to address the ongoing opioid epidemic. This development will be most effective if performed by scientists with training in translational science. Translation is defined as the process of turning observations in the laboratory, clinic and community into interventions that improve the health of individuals and the public from diagnostics and therapeutics to medical procedures and behavioral changes, with translational science representing the field of investigation focused on understanding the scientific and operational principles underlying each step of the translational process (https://ncats.nih.gov/translation). Traditional academic training provides deep knowledge of a relatively narrow scientific discipline. While domain expertise is an important characteristic of a proficient translational scientist, a comprehensive understanding of the stages of therapeutic development is also necessary. For many trainees, acquiring needed expertise through participatory training in the various fields that are required to compile an investigational new drug (IND), investigational device exemption (IDE), or new drug application (NDA) is extraordinarily difficult given the diversity of these domains.