Sleep and circadian disorders are relatively new areas of medicine. Most universities currently lack a critical mass of investigators to develop institutional T32 grants. Thus, there are, unfortunately, few such programs nationally. The Sleep Research Society has recognized this and is taking active steps to facilitate development of other T32 institutional training grants. This will not, however, help the majority ...more »

Extend trainee funding support to non‐US citizens for those that commit to serving in underserved medical areas in the U.S. for at least five years.

How can we provide better support for junior investigators who are transitioning from K Award to R Award funding?

Critical Challenge

It is clear that there are concerns about reproducibility and quality control in science in general and in obesity-related research in particular. Increased opportunities for training in rigorous scientific practices for obesity researchers and biomedical and behavioral researchers in general may be helpful to increase rigor and reproducibility.

From my discussions with scientists at other universities and my own experience the scientific community is now in crisis akin to the recent crises in the housing and finance sectors. If not stabilized the damage is likely to be severe and long-lasting. The NIH/NHLBI as the vehicle for investment of the public's money in this enterprise has a responsibility to take IMMEDIATE action. My suggestions include 1) limit salary ...more »

What trainee outcomes will best fulfill the mission of NHLBI, and what programs best promote these outcomes?

The lymphatic vascular network connects the parenchymal interstitium through the nodes to the veins. Lymph serves as the transport pathway between these compartments and via its flow, controls interstitial fluid, macromolecular exchange, lipid absorption, immune cell trafficking and is critical to edema prevention/resolution, lipid metabolism, inflammation and immunity. Knowledge of this vascular network lags far behind ...more »

Evaluating whether a particular training program is effective can be difficult if an appropriate comparison group is not available.

What are the best methods for NHLBI to contribute to reforms that make careers more attractive to people from disadvantaged backgrounds?

Basic scientists and clinicians have different training and bring different perspectives to lung disease research. Additionally, mechanisms that facilitate interactions of scientists from different fields may improve communication and facilitate novel ideas for lung disease research. I would like to see a funding mechanism that encouraged such partnerships in addressing fundamental disease questions and/or treatments. ...more »

Financial and intellectual conflict(s) of interest are common in academic medical sciences. Those conflicts could potentially bias decisions of study section members and change grant application outcomes. During the grant review process, financial and/or intellectual conflict(s) of interest disclosures of the study section members are not readily available to the grant applicants or the public. Should the NHBI increase ...more »

There is a need to create better alignment between the content of biomedical PhD programs and the careers that actually are available to those who have earned PhDs. Though available data are surprisingly weak, all the evidence suggests that only a small fraction (perhaps 15%) of current biomedical PhDs and postdocs are likely to find stable careers in academic research. Larger proportions are more likely to be employed ...more »

Recent results suggests that glycans play critical roles in human physiology and pathology. Understanding glycan protein interactions may lead to next generation of drugs. But limited research is being funded on understanding structure - function relationships on glycans. Likewise, we are training very few researchers in the glycosciences. More programs are needed to impart glycoscience knowledge at the undergraduate, ...more »

Challenge is to have revised grants reviewed by the same reviewers, rather than delayed by new sets of reviewers. Also, having points such as changing model species addressable through Program Staff rather than prolonged re-review.