The Career Development and Outreach Branch (CDOB) organized and supported a myriad of research and career development activities this year. CDOB developed and implemented educational curricula and training plans via one-on-one consultations to synthesize Independent Development Plans (IDPs) for each research, postdoc, visiting, pre-doc, post-bac, and summer fellow. Our customized training programs are dedicated to mentoring and training a new generation of scientists. Weve initiated policy to ensure trainees (2nd year and beyond) complete IDPs as a requirement of their intramural training responsibilities. Individual consultations are provided to assist with this training. Annually, CDOB organizes and supports a number of research and career development activities to include: (1) Making the Right Moves, a seminar to guide scientific management for postdocs, research fellows and staff scientists; (2) organizing and moderating the Annual Biomedical Research Ethics Training Course; (3) planning and sponsoring independent and collaborative NIH Grant Writing Seminars (including sessions on the NIH grant Review Process); (4) coordinating seminars on navigating the Postbac program, with an emphasis on applying and interviewing for professional programs; (5) organizing seminars (The Path to Academia, Biotech, and Science Policy/Writing) and collaborative networks to foster potential pipelines for our fellows with academic, industry and other government partners; (6) career counseling; (7) CV/resume writing; (8) offering a scientific writing course through a trans-NIH collaboration; and (9) managing the NIAMS IRP Scientific Travel Award for Research Assistants (STAR Award) program. NIAMS has teamed up with other institutes to provide information on programs that are beneficial to our trainees to include: NIH-Wellcome Trust Program, NIH-Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program, Karolinska Institute Neuroscience Partnership, NIH Graduate Partnership Program, Duke-NIH Masters Program in Clinical Research and the NIH Stadtman Investigator recruitment program. A major point of emphasis this year in CDOB has been on grant writing and the grant submission process. In this effort, CDOB has organized independent and trans-NIH grant writing seminars and workshops to provide resources to all trainees for NIH/non-NIH funding opportunities.. CDOB participated in the Emergency Management/Continuity of Operations Planning (EM/COOP) group, which plans and coordinates emergency transitions on the NIH campus. In addition, CDOB took the lead in administrating the NIH Loan Repayment Program for NIAMS fellows, organized and moderated the mandatory Annual Biomedical Research Ethics Training, organized the Annual Scientific Research Training event, and represented NIAMS on the NIH-wide Training Directors Committee. CDOB organized resources for the NIAMS Intramural Research Program Annual Scientific Retreat, led NIAMS outreach and recruitment efforts through the following: NIH National Graduate Student Research Festival (planning); NIH Community College Day (creation and development); Trans-NIH Scientific and Medical Recruitment Forum (oversight); the NIAMS Adopt-a-School Partnership Programs (organizer), with school partners including Woodrow Wilson Senior High School's SciMaTech Academy (Washington, DC), Wheaton High Schools Academy of Biosciences and Health Professions (Wheaton, MD), Bell Multicultural Senior High School (Washington, DC), and Schools for Educational Evolution and Development (SEED), in particular The SEED School of Washington, DC; Science Fairs in the community (workshop development and judging); NIH Hispanic Heritage Month Program (planning); and lastly, participation in national conferences to promote diversity in biomedical research careers, including Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). To continue our outreach and recruitment efforts, CDOB played a major role in NIH campus events for a variety of organizations, including the National Youth Initiatives for Biomedical Research, the National Native American Youth Initiatives, the National Hispanic Youth Initiative, the National African American Youth Initiative, and other similar non-profit organizations. For these events, CDOB hosted visiting students, presented oral presentations, and coordinated campus and laboratory tours. Through these events, CDOB raises the nationwide awareness among students today of the exciting potential offered by a career in science, and all that CDOB and NIH can offer them along that career path. Continuing to promote diversity and inclusion is expected to contribute significantly to the ability of the NIH and NIAMS IRP to sustain its capacity to make distinctive contributions to biomedical research. NIAMS is actively working with several NIH groups, including NIH Training Directors, Training Grant Populations, Special Populations and Diversity Program Coordinators, Office of Research on Womens Health, Scientific Interest Affinity Groups, and Demographic Affinity Groups (Women Scientists Advisors Committee, SACNAS and Black Scientist and Friends Network). Weve initiated a pilot program to sponsor postdoctoral and post-baccalaureate trainees with an emphasis to the underserved minorities populations (per the NIH guidelines) that continues to support the biomedical research workforce. Continuing with national and local efforts to increase diversity, weve established a working collaboration with the Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County Meyerhoff Scholar Program, Trinity University, University of Maryland, Howard University, Morgan State University, and others to host their scholars for campus tours and scientific demonstrations as a recruiting tool to spark the interest and participation in the ongoing research in NIAMS. Finally, NIAMS CDOB initiated a new working collaboration with the United Negro College Fund Merck Scholars, to provide both scientific and career training.
