Change Request Memo

1

^{DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES National Institutes of Health}

Fogarty International Center

16 Center Drive, Building 16

Room 207, MSC 6705

Bethesda, MD 20892-5650, USA

Tel: +1301-594-7857

Fax: +1301-496-8496

February 23, 2016

TO: Stephanie Mok ,OMB

Through: Darius Taylor, DHHS

Mikia P. Currie, NIH

Celia Wolfman, FIC

FROM: Jeanne McDermott

Division of International Training and Research

Fogarty International Center, NIH

SUBJECT: Amendment to the Pre-Award Application Forms and Instructions, (OMB No. 0925-0001, Exp 10/31/2018)

This is a request for OMB to approve a modification of the Data Tables and instructions that were recently approved under OMB No. 0925-0001 on 10/2015. These tables and instructions are currently written and used to document the intended trainee appointment and monitoring of institutional research training, career development and research education awards at United States (U.S.) institutions for U.S. citizens, noncitizen nationals of the U.S., or individuals who have been lawfully admitted for permanent U.S. residence at U.S Institutions.

The NIH also needs to capture the same kind of information for trainees and research training/research education awards focused on strengthening the research capacity in other countries, particularly low-and middle-income countries. However, these international research training/education programs are designed so that more flexibility is allowed for the type, length and location of research training than what is typically found among the traditional NIH training programs. As a result, the existing Data Tables are not able to capture all of the information needed by peer reviewers and program staff to evaluate the merit of a proposed international research training program or to monitor progress in achieving its aims.

The NIH reviewed the available Data Tables and determined that the set of tables and instructions designed for Undergraduate Programs could be easily modified to create a set of International Training Data Tables that would capture the needed information for the international research training/education programs. Elements that needed to be adjusted to fit the unique needs of the international research training experience are explained below:

• Any references to “undergraduate(s)” have been replaced with “international trainee(s)” to indicate that these tables are for reporting on the international research training programs.

• The information about source of research training and research support available to participating faculty was expanded from “federal” to include other sponsors, as the international funder community is large and diverse. When funding an award in an international setting, it is critical to know, beyond the NIH, what other funders are at the institutions, funding the investigators and/or supporting research training/education. As such, the instructions now explicitly state to identify sponsors within and outside of the NIH.

• In many cases, research training and research education programs for international trainees involve training experiences at institutions other than the applicant institution. The identity of the institution, if not the applicant institution, is requested, where appropriate.

• One of the main goals of international training programs is to build research capacity in other countries. Knowing the country of citizenship or residency for trainees supported through an award is imperative to achieving this mission.

• NIH is required to report data related to graduation rates from doctoral training programs supported though NIH grants. This requirement has been tailored for the international training programs as seen in Table 8 of the Data Tables (Part IV Program Statistics).

The modifications requested will ensure that the information collected through the Data Tables is useful and practical to the peer reviewers and program staff responsible for international research training/education awards at the NIH. As they currently stand, the Data Tables are U.S.-centric and do not incorporate the unique features of the international research training/education experience. The modifications to the instructions and title headers described here and in the attachment will ensure that the information received will be valuable to the NIH.

A copy of the modified tables and instructions is provided as a separated attachment.

We estimate that the total burden hours currently associated with OMB No. 0925-0001 will not change as a result of adding these new instructions and headers to the tables.

We request prompt evaluation of this change so that we may begin to use the modified tables and instructions. OMB approval will allow the NIH to collect more accurate information for peer reviewers and program staff to evaluate new applications to the international research training programs and to better monitor progress of existing awards.

Attachment 11B: Approved Training Tables w/Track Changes

Attachment 11G: Revised Training Tables