NIH Director's Early Independence Award
Funds a scientist to skip the postdoc entirely and run their own lab straight after the doctorate — ten awards of $350,000 each.
The normal route into independent research runs through years of postdoctoral work in someone else's lab. This award exists to let a small number of people skip it.
NIH funds exceptionally creative scientists to start their own independent research programme soon after finishing a doctorate or clinical training, without a postdoc first. Any topic fitting the NIH mission is accepted.
Ten awards o…
An independent research programme in any area of NIH's mission, run by a scientist who has recently completed a doctoral degree or clinical training and is bypassing postdoctoral training to start it.
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