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 approximately 350 fellows. The Annual NIMH/DIRP Scientific Retreat, organized by the DIRP Fellows'Committee with the guidance and support of the OFT staff, for the past 15 years was suspended due to budget constraints and new NIH meeting guideline governing off-campus meetings. This year the OFT organized a joint international conference with the Institute of Neuroscience (ION), Shanghai, China. The intent of the 2-day meeting was to foster relationships and collaborative research and training opportunities between institutes. The scientific symposium was attended by 14 faculty, and 20 graduate students from ION as well as 157 NIMH/NINDS PIs, fellows and graduate students. The symposium consisted of lectures by faculty from both institutions and 30 poster presentations by NIH and ION graduate students. After the first day of the symposium, there was a dinner attended by ION guests and NIMH/NINDS faculty;certificates of participation were given to the ION guests. OFT continued the DIRP professional development activities for the fellows and staff which entailed major teaching commitments. The DIRP grantwriting training program was continued 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 38 NIMH/DIRP fellows, 28 NINDS fellows, and 9 fellows from NEI, NIAAA and NIDCD. Twenty fellows participated in Phase II of the training which 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 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 approach, candidate information, biosketch, facilities, and abstract. This year, one DIRP fellow was awarded a K99/R00 grant. Twelve Fellows have submitted a NARSAD Young Investigators grant application for the September 2011 cycle. In addition, 9 NIMH fellows received the NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence (FARE). We anticipate that about five NIMH fellows will be applying for the K99/R00 award this October. 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 60 high school students, college undergraduates, and medical and graduate students. Twenty-four summer interns were from the minority educational community. This year, 27 NIMH summer interns participated in the NIH Summer Student Poster Day. In collaboration with the Office of the Clinical Director, OFT organized the 24th Annual NIMH National Outstanding Resident Awards Program, honoring 13 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, 5 psychiatric residents were recruited 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 45% of the students in this year's Summer Research Program derived from underrepresented minority educational communities. 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 third year OFT provided administrative support including recruitment and interview programs for the Karolinska-NIH Program for Graduate Training in the Neurosciences. The OFT maintained 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 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 fellow 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/or 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 1200 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.
