Recruiting post-doctoral fellows into global health research: selecting NIH Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellows

Abstract

From 2008 to 2012, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellows Program (FICRF) provided 1-year mentored research training at low- and middle-income country sites for American and international post-doctoral health professionals. We examined the FICRF applicant pool, proposed research topics, selection process, and characteristics of enrollees to assess trends in global health research interest and factors associated with applicant competitiveness. The majority (58%) of 67 US and 57 international Fellows were women, and 83% of Fellows had medical degrees. Most applicants were in clinical fellowships (41%) or residencies (24%). More applicants proposing infectious disease projects were supported (59%) than applicants proposing non-communicable disease (NCD) projects (41%), although projects that combined both topic areas were most successful (69%). The numbers of applicants proposing research on NCDs and the numbers of these applicants awarded fellowships rose dramatically over time. Funding provided to the FICRF varied significantly among NIH Institutes and Centers and was strongly associated with the research topics awarded.

Figure 1.

Distribution of FICRFs across the globe in the FICRF Program from 2008 to 2011. Gray shading identifies the numbers of Fellows enrolled by site country.

Figure 2.

FICRF (A) applicant pool and (B) Fellows supported by major topic area and year.

Figure 3.

Support provided by NIH ICs compared with applicant and Fellow research topic interests in the FICRF Program from 2008 to 2011. Support provided (black bars) by NIH ICs for the FICRS and FICRF Programs (both pre-doctoral Scholars and post-doctoral Fellows) compared with topics of interest to enrolled Fellows (dark gray bars). NIH ICs to which the Fellow's research proposal has relevance are shown by the percentage of projects with relevance (light gray). Topics may be double counted when a research proposal has relevance to more than one IC. Amounts were normalized to total 100%. NEI = National Eye Institute; NHLBI = National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; NIDA = National Institute on Drug Abuse; NIMH = National Institute of Mental Health; ORWH = Office of Research on Women's Health; NICDR = National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. *FIC indicates direct funding from the FIC. By definition, all applications were relevant to FIC.