The Impact of Postdoctoral Fellowships on a Future Independent Career in Federally Funded Biomedical Research

This paper reports the results of research and analysis undertaken by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) staff, consultants, and contractors. We acknowledge generous support and feedback from Sherry Mills, Kay Lund, Lisa Evans, Henry Khachaturian, Ryan Pfirrmann-Powell, Walter T. Schaffer, Jennifer Sutton, and Ying Zeng within the NIH Division of Biomedical Research Workforce Programs, as well as participants from the 2015 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) fall research conference, the 2016 Society for Government Economists (SGE) annual meeting, and seminar participants at Iowa State University. We appreciate the time and candor given to us by various NIH institute program officers and training directors who so graciously agreed to be interviewed in an effort to help us truly understand the NRSA funding process on the ground. We also give very special thanks to Pierre Azoulay, Hyungjo Hur, Ming Lei, Jon Lorsch, Julie Mason, Michael Spittel, and Jonathan Wiest for taking the time to provide critical feedback. This analysis began while Misty L. Heggeness and Frances Carter-Johnson were employed at the National Institutes of Health. Donna Ginther and Maria I. Larenas acknowledge financial support from NIH Division of Biomedical Research Workforce (DBRW) (Contract No. HHSN276201300089U) to NETE Solutions. Any errors in this paper are the sole responsibility of the authors. The views presented here do not necessarily reflect any official position of the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Census Bureau, World Bank, or the University of Kansas. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.