Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (Parent F31)

The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (Parent F31) is a program designed to support predoctoral students, who show great promise, in their pursuit of health-related scientific research. This is made possible through individualized training and mentorship from esteemed faculty sponsors. The research projects these students undertake form an integral part of their dissertation and are closely tied to the objectives of several participating National Institutes of Health (NIH) research institutes and centers.

The primary goal of the fellowship is to equip the individual with the necessary skills to become a productive and independent research scientist. This is achieved by enhancing their potential and providing them with an enriched research experience that aligns with their dissertation project.

Most importantly, the fellowship focuses on candidates who are not leading independent clinical trials, feasibility studies, or ancillary clinical trials. However, it does provide for candidates to gain research experience in a clinical trial that is supervised by a sponsor or co-sponsor. This information is stipulated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that specially outlines the fellowship's provisions for research proposals.