WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- The National Institutes of Health issued a reminder Wednesday that the deadline for accepting applications to its five Loan Repayment Programs is Dec. 1.
The five plans offered by NIH are the Clinical Research LRP; Clinical Research LRP for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds; the Contraception and Infertility Research LRP; Health Disparities LRP; and the Pediatric Research LRP.
The NIH is offering to repay up to $35,000 annually of the qualified educational debt of health professionals pursuing careers in biomedical and behavioral research. The programs also provide coverage for federal and state tax liabilities.
To qualify, applicants must possess a doctoral-level degree, devote 50 percent or more of their time to research funded by a domestic non-profit organization or government entity, and have educational loan debt equal to or exceeding 20 percent of their institutional base salary.
"The NIH Loan Repayment Programs offer an easy and effective way for research scientists to focus more on medical research and less on repaying student loans," said Dr. Norka Ruiz Bravo, deputy director for extramural research. "Since 2002, nearly 4,000 qualified health professionals have benefited from more than $225 million disbursed in loan repayment support."
