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NIH Grants and Funding
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
National Institutes of HealthDescription
An Institutional Business Official (IBO) represents the LRP applicant's employing institution in an official capacity. Common position titles for IBOs can be, but are not limited to, the following:
- Director (or Dean) of Grants;
- Director (or Dean) of Research Administration;
- Director (or Dean) of Research Administration;
- Grants Adminstrator;
- Manager of Human Resources; or
- Manager of Faculty Affairs.
Responsibilities
An IBO will be asked to certify by the published deadline that:
- An applicant is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or permanent resident of the U.S.;
- An applicant is not a federal or for-profit employee;
- An applicant is employed to conduct research for an average of at least 20 hours a week per quarter (13 weeks) by a domestic, non-profit organization;
- An applicant has protected research time for the length of the award; and
- The research is not prohibited by Federal law.
Registration
IBOs will receive a DLR email containing instructions on how to certify an LRP applicant. To certify an applicant, IBOs must log into their eRA Commons account with their eRA Commons ID. IBOs should contact the eRA Helpdesk at (866) 504-9552 for assistance if they do not have an eRA Commons ID. IBOs should contact the LRP Information Center at (866) 849-4047 if they need assistance with the certification process.
About the NIH Loan Repayment Programs
The NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) are a set of programs established by Congress and designed to recruit and retain highly qualified health professionals into biomedical or biobehavioral research careers. The escalating costs of advanced education and training in medicine and clinical specialties are forcing some scientists to abandon their research careers for higher-paying private industry or private practice careers.
The LRPs counteract that financial pressure by repaying up to $50,000 annually of a researcher's qualified educational debt in return for a commitment to engage in NIH mission-relevant research. Since tomorrow's medical breakthroughs will be made by investigators starting in their research careers today, the LRPs represent an important investment by NIH in the future of health discovery and the wellbeing of the Nation.
Eligibility requirements for applicants include:
- U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident;
- Doctoral-level degree (except the Contraception and Infertility Research LRP);
- Domestic, non-profit research funding (Extramural) or NIH employment (Intramural); and
- Qualified research for an average of at least 20 hours per week during each quarterly (13 weeks) service period of the award.