Funding Opportunity Number: PA-22-251
Submission Deadline: April 8, 2025, August 8, 2025, December 8, 2025
Description
The purpose of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality-sponsored Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship is to support promising applicants during their mentored postdoctoral training under the guidance of outstanding faculty sponsors. The integrated program of research and training should enhance the individual’s potential to develop into a productive, independent researcher. The training plan should document the need for, and the anticipated value of, the proposed mentored training in relationship to the individual’s research career goals. The training plan should also facilitate the fellow’s transition to the next stage of their career.
Applications for research fellowship grants must be responsive to AHRQ’s mission, which is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable and affordable, and to work within HHS and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to focus on topical areas unique to AHRQ, demonstrating how expected results can be used or made available for use to improve healthcare outcomes and quality. Results should be directly relevant to customers, such as providers and practitioners, administrators, payers, consumers, policymakers, and insurers.
Fellows must focus their research development and projects on health care delivery in the United States.
It is expected that the mentored training experience will provide:
- A strong foundation in research design, methods, and analytic techniques appropriate to the proposed research;
- Enhanced ability to conceptualize and think through research problems with increasing independence;
- Experience conducting research using appropriate, state-of-the-art methods, as well as presenting and publishing the research findings as first author;
- The opportunity to interact with members of the scientific community at appropriate scientific meetings and workshops;
- Skills needed to transition to the next stage of the applicant’s research career; and
- The opportunity to enhance the applicant’s understanding of the health-related sciences and the relationship of their research to health and health care delivery.
Promoting equity is an important societal goal. AHRQ intends that research funded by the agency contribute to this goal by addressing equity. Fellowship applicants are encouraged to include a focus on the reduction of disparities in healthcare outcomes and quality underserved populations in their research training.
Applicants with a health professional doctoral degree may use the proposed postdoctoral training to satisfy a portion of the degree requirements for a master’s degree, a research doctoral degree or any other advanced research degree program.
The NRSA F32 award may provide up to three years of support for postdoctoral research training. The AHRQ encourages applications from individuals sufficiently early in their postdoctoral training period that they can benefit from the mentored research and training opportunities of an individual fellowship award.
For more information, please see the opportunity webpage.