of the full length Annual Report is provided below The Office of Fellowship Training (OFT) organized and managed several educational events and programs for the DIRP and the extramural research communities. These events, geared to service the needs of a multidisciplinary basic and clinical training program, encompassed the participation of nearly 400 fellows. The Annual NIMH/DIRP Scientific Retreat, organized by the DIRP Fellows'Committee with the guidance and support of the OFT staff, was held at a new venue, the Marriott Lancaster at Penn Square in Lancaster, PA. The fundamental goal of the retreat is to foster collaborations and scientific exchange among the diverse basic neuroscience laboratories and clinical branches of the intramural program, and to provide an opportunity for fellows to interact with their mentors in an informal, social setting. OFT continued the DIRP professional development activities for the fellows and staff which entailed major teaching commitments. The DIRP grantwriting training program continued its development in conjunction with Grant Writers Seminars and Workshops. Training was provided in three phases, gradually transitioning from didactic introductory material (Phase I) to an intensive grant-writing experience in the form of an individualized tutorial (Phase III). Phase I provided extensive training in Grantsmanship to 45 NIMH/DIRP fellows, 20 NINDS fellows, and 28 fellows from NEI, NIAAA and NIDCD. Phase II of the training focused on the development of an innovative research idea and the formulation of a compelling set of Specific Aims. Phase III provided an intensive grantwriting experience to a subset of more senior fellows. This tutorial, conducted over the course of 10 weeks, encompassed small, weekly group meetings with the OFT Director and covered all components of the grant application including the experimental plan, candidate information, biosketch, facilities and other resources, and abstract. This year, one DIRP fellow was awarded a K-99/R00 grant. Three DIRP fellows received the 2010 NARSAD Young Investigators Award. Twelve Fellows have submitted a NARSAD Young Investigators grant application for the September 2011 cycle. In addition, 10 NIMH fellows received the NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE). As mandated by the NIH, the NIMH provides yearly ethics training. The OFT Director conducts the training in January/February in the form of a 90-minute brown bag lunch seminar called Ethics for Lunch. The topic for 2011 was authorship; 269 DIRP investigators, trainees, and staff attended this year's 14 seminars. The DIRP Investigator Seminar Series, designed to familiarize DIRP fellows and faculty with their colleagues'research, featured six DIRP investigators and was well attended. The OFT provided weekly orientations and administrative support for students coming to the NIMH to participate in the NIH Summer Research Training Program. The NIMH DIRP accommodated 83 high school students, college undergraduates, and medical and graduate students. Ten of the 32 summer IRTAS were from the minority educational community and 51 students participated as Special Volunteers. This year, 40 NIMH summer interns participated in the NIH Summer Student Poster Day. In collaboration with the Office of the Clinical Director, OFT organized the 23nd Annual NIMH National Outstanding Resident Awards Program, honoring 8 PGY-III residents selected from leading academic psychiatry departments. The award honors psychiatry residents who show outstanding scientific and leadership potential. The program provides a vehicle to recruit the """"""""best and brightest"""""""" to the DIRP Clinical Research Training Program. The two-day award program consists of presentations by the clinical faculty, tours of the Clinical Center and DIRP facilities, interviews with branch chiefs and investigators, lunch with the DIRP clinical fellows and an awards dinner honoring the award recipients. This year we recruited 5 psychiatric residents into the Clinical Neuroscience Training Program. Aggressive efforts to enhance the diversity of the DIRP training program continued with staff attending as an exhibitor and/or providing talks at several national student conferences. One indicator of the success of these efforts is that approximately 31% of the students in this year's Summer Research Program were under-represented minorities. Moreover we recruited 12 minority students into the training program as postbaccalaureate and postdoctoral IRTAs OFT organized the recruitment program and interview process, and provided administrative services for the University College London-NIMH/NINDS Joint Doctoral Training Program in Neuroscience: two additional students were recruited into the program, filling all the available positions. For the second year OFT provided administrative support including recruitment and interview programs for the Karolinska-NIH Program for Graduate Training in the Neurosciences. The OFT developed interactive websites for both programs. The OFT also continued management of the PhD program between the NIMH/DIRP and the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. At present, there is one student participating this new graduate program A key function of the DIRP/OFT is to provide a vehicle for fellow/mentor grievance resolution and career counseling. This year the OFT Director participated in the successful resolution of two fellow/mentor disputes and provided formal career counseling for 20-30 fellows. The OFT Director also provided consultation services for DIRP investigators on topics related to training and/or career development. The Office affected the laboratory transfer of three fellows in response to investigator retirements, departures or supervisor-trainee incompatibilities. One DIRP fellows sought alternative career paths through placements in the NCI Extramural Program. OFT staff continues to meet with all fellows to evaluate their fellowship experience as they leave for PhD programs, medical schools, academic positions and industry. From an administrative perspective, the OFT continued its collaboration with the Administrative Services Branch (ASB), providing quarterly training to DIRP laboratory/branch secretarial and administrative support staff in personnel case management. This training has proven advantageous since the OFT reviews and works with ASB and administrative staff in preparing nearly 1300 personnel cases annually. The OFT Specialists continue to provide orientations to all newly appointed trainees. The ASB, the SD and the OFT coordinated these orientations to coincide with the bi-monthly NIH HR orientations. The orientation covers information relevant to the NIH and NIMH organization, function, and mission, and provides fellows with reference materials on ethical conduct and mentorship. All materials presented during the summer and bi-monthly orientations were provided on a memory stick in an effort to """"""""go green"""""""" in the OFT. In its second year, the Special Volunteer and Student IRTA online application and the subsequent processing and online approval continues to work smoothly. All new and current fellowship cases passing through the OFT are now scanned and stored in SharePoint. As of the spring of 2011, all OFT fellowship cases are stored electronically. In June 2011, the OFT move to a new office location adjacent to the Scientific Directors office.
