The challenge I write about is the significant lack of funding for science in NHLBI. There are currently programs to increase the funding of early career investigators and many senior faculty are obtaining continuing renewal.

How will NHLBI keep those in their middle of their career years from dropping out of the biomedical workforce?

The strategic vision to enhance translation and to enhance the workforce both require training that spans the scope of basic science, pre-clinical development, clinical trials. We lack coherent mechanisms for training the next generation of translational researchers, some of whom may be MDs, and some PhDs. A program should provide cross-training of Clinical Fellows and Postdocs to reflect the needed interactions between... more »

Although the NCRR and NIGMS used to have a mechanism to train new generation of clinical & translational scientists, this program was stopped. Why?

What is the possibility of other institutes to come up with the priority of funding resources in this regard?

As seen by ~ 40% steady decline in number of K-08 grant applicants over 2005-2014 period, early career physician scientists who can do both basic-translation research and take care of patients are dwindling. Lack of institutional support, lack of ACGME support, increasing demands of clinical training, increasing compliance requirement, and disadvantaged position (i.e., significantly less preparation time and continued... more »

Maintaining the pipeline of clinician scientists via early and mid-career awards. Promote the development of collaborative teams.

This is critical to avoid having experienced researchers fall off the edge, so to speak, due to gaps in funding. There is a need for continued career support beyond the currently truncated K24.

How can we insure that there are sufficient numbers of clinical scientists over the next 20 years?