NIH to bar visa-holders from key research funding pathway
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- NIH plans to limit eligibility for its "Pathways to Independence" award (K99/R00) to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and noncitizen nationals, according to an internal presentation viewed by STAT.
- The K99/R00 award has historically been one of the few NIH programs to offer funding to international scientists on visas, covering two years of postdoctoral research plus three years of independent lab head support.
- Experts warned the change would leave even the most promising international scholars struggling to find footing to establish themselves in U.S. biomedical research.
- STAT obtained the details from an internal NIH presentation, marking the policy shift as an exclusive ahead of formal announcement.
- The eligibility restriction would effectively close the door on a career-launching grant that has long been a rare on-ramp for visa-holding researchers aiming to run their own U.S. labs.
Why it matters: The K99/R00 is one of the only NIH grants where visa status did not disqualify applicants, and it funds the critical postdoctoral-to-independent-faculty transition. Cutting international researchers out of this pipeline removes a key talent pathway into U.S. academic biomedicine.
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