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NIHVFC NIH Visiting Fellows Committee |
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NIHVFC Agenda |
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What is the NIHVFC? The NIH Visiting Fellows Committee (NIHVFC) represents the interests of the numerous international postdoctoral fellows at the NIH. It is a self-governing body, composed of NIH postdoctoral visiting fellows (VFs) from all over the world, and serving the interests of VFs in their transition to life after NIH.
What does the NIHVFC do? Career Fair. In partnership with the Fogarty International Center (FIC) and the Office of Intramural Training and Education (OITE), the NIHVFC holds the Annual Career Fair for NIH Visiting Fellows. This Fair, held every year since 2004, provides VFs information on global employment and funding opportunities in science and technology. For more information, please visit our webpage for the NIH Career Fair for Visiting Fellows..
Science Voices from Home. A program that brings VF’s together with scientists from their home county when the latter visit NIH. For more information, please visit our webpage for Science Voices from Home.
NIH Alumni Association Chapters. The NIHVFC works with the FIC and the NIH Alumni Association (NIHAA) to establish Chapters in developing countries under the sponsorship of a leading local scientific organization. A NIH Alumni Association Chapter has been established in Brazil and work is in progress to establish chapters in China, Thailand, India, Mexico, South Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia. These Associations assist VFs in: · Improving access to information on scientific job and grant opportunities by interacting with local non-governmental and governmental bodies · Overcoming isolation on their return home · Promoting collaboration among returnees to increase capacity building · Publicizing the Fellow’s NIH work upon his/her return home.
NIHVFC newsletter (published quarterly). The newsletter disseminates information on issues of interest to VFs. The “In Profile” section of the newsletter highlights the career trajectory of past NIH VFs after they have left NIH. Previous newsletters can be in the “What’s new?” section—select the year of publication and scroll down to choose newsletter.
Alumni Database: Creating a database of present, future, and eventually, past Visiting Fellows (VFs) at NIH.
Grant Writing Workshops. The FIC conducts several Grant Writing Workshops for VFs every year. The NIHVFC helps the FIC and other NIH offices in organizing these Workshops. These annual training sessions prepare VFs to apply for Global Health Research Initiative Program for New Foreign Investigators (GRIP). GRIP is a program initiated by FIC to help VFs re-enter the scientific community in their home countries upon completion of their training at NIH. For more information, please visit the webpage on the FIC website (GRIP).
Note: NIHVFC had worked closely with Dr. Sharon Hyrnkow, who was the Acting Director of FIC at that time, to make training awards open to foreign applicants. In addition to the GRIP, the Transition Career Development Award (K22) was created to enable outstanding individuals with a research or health professional doctorate or its equivalent to obtain mentored postdoctoral research training at NIH and following completion of their training, to secure a tenure-track or equivalent position at a US academic institution. Researchers will be supported for up to 2 years for an independent research project at these academic institutions. In addition to a T- (NRSA) component, it includes an R- (research) component and thus can support foreign students and postdocs.
Visa and tax information. The NIHVFC works with the Division of International Services to facilitate the timely dissemination of information on visa and tax issues to VFs. Currently the NIHVFC plans to create a resource handbook that would inform VFs on various issues pertinent to their visas, e.g. information on when to renew their J-1 visas and whom to contact on how to start the renewal process. employment and funding opportunities in science and technology. |
