The Office of Education delivers workshops, programs, and individualized opportunities to a population averaging 250 trainees, including postdoctoral, visiting, and research fellows; clinical fellows and medical students; graduate students; and postbaccalaureate fellows, as well as summer trainees. The activities include, typically: public speaking workshops, job interviewing, writing and editorial services, grantsmanship workshops, career presentations and counseling, teaching opportunities through our annual NICHD postbac course and a training program with the University of Maryland, and lab management programs. An annual retreat for fellows and graduate students is held each spring to address scientific developments and careers, which includes two keynote addresses, fellow presentations, NICHD alumni leading career round tables, and a poster presentation by each attendee. The program is developed and run by a fellow-student steering committee. Among the office's accomplishments from the past year: Dr. Yvette Pittman took on a new role in the Office of Education as Acting Director while expanding our staff with Dr. Jenny Blau as the Associate Director and Carol Carnahan as the Program Coordinator. Our TmT (Three-minute Talks) competition, now in its fourth year, is held in conjunction with NIDCR and NHGRI. Dr. Arup Chakraborty in the laboratory of Dr. Melvin Depamphilis received the third-place award. The office developed an online Annual Progress Review for fellows, launched in 2016, to track scientific and career development and progress. As part of investigators' assessments of mentoring, these fellow reports are also provided for the BSC site visits. The database of NICHD alumni from 2008 to the present continues to be updated, and we have compiled a valuable list of organizations that accepts grant applications from NIH intramural fellows, both NIH and non-NIH funding mechanisms. In September 2017, the Division of Intramural Research will give its tenth Mentor of the Year awards to Tamas Balla, Ph.D., in the investigator category; and Amber Stratman, Ph.D., fellow. For NICHD, twenty-nine FARE awards were made for the 2018 competition. In addition to the Fellows Intramural Grants Supplement (FIGS) continuing to recognize and stimulate grant applications among fellows, we launched a new competitive internal funding opportunity for NICHD postdoctoral and clinical fellows, our Intramural Research Fellowships (IRFs). Its ultimate goal is to promote grant writing and enhance their awareness of various components for an NIH grant. Our institute have also established an exchange program with Inserm, the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale in France, which provides a unique opportunity for US and French scientists to obtain postdoctoral training with French and US mentors, respectively. The Fellows Recruitment Incentive Award (FRIA) continues to support investigators who recruit postdocs from populations traditionally underrepresented in science. The alumni of our NICHD Scholars program, in its seventh year, has expanded to ten individuals; our two new alumni are starting medical school at the University of Kansas and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill while two graduated from medical school in May 2017, and one from an MD/PhD program, plus two new postbacs have joined the program. The Scholars program focuses on developing talent and supporting trainees' academic and career progression. Lastly, the NICHD Connection monthly newsletter continues its focus on mentoring, careers, and academic programs for young scientists, publishing its 87th issue in August 2017 and reaching all members of the intramural division and our alumni.
