우리나라 보건산업진흥원(KHIDI)과 미국 국립보건원(NIH)에서 지원하는 Korean Visiting Scientist Training Award (KVSTA)에 대해서 아래와 같이 안내드립니다. 

 

◆ Scope and Purpose of the Program

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) of the Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare share an interest in fostering collaborative biomedical and behavioral health research in mutual areas of excellence and a common goal in educating and training the next generation of research scientists. The KVSTA program is to promote and ensure that postdoctoral researchers contribute to the development of health and medical sciences through the acquirement of advanced technologies and personal exchanges and collaborations at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA. KHIDI in cooperation with the NIH, offers fellowship awards to support meritorious biomedical and behavioral research projects undertaken in NIH laboratories by young Korean early-stage postdoctoral researchers.

 

◆ Terms and Conditions

1. Number of Fellowships Awarded Annually: The number of fellowships awarded will depends on the application quality and funding availability.

 

2. Duration and Commencement of Fellowship:

The KVSTA Fellowship provides funding support for two (2) years only.

Fellowships should start at NIH between July 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024. All selected fellows must start at NIH before the end of 2024. However, this is contingent upon the applicant’s ability to receive approval by the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security of his/her entry into the United States under a work-authorized U.S. immigration status.

 

3. Financial Terms of the Fellowship:

o KHIDI will provide each fellow funding support of KWN 190,000,000 annually (total of KWN 380,000,000 for 2 years) through their Korea-based R&D host institute. The Korea-based institute will hold the KVSTA fellowship funds in reserve, and when required, will issue the funds to the fellow. The annual KWN 2 190,000,000 will be used to support personnel expenses, system expenses, trainee reserves, and research funds. Of this amount, the fellow will receive KWN 5,000,000 as their monthly stipend while training at NIH. Research funds can be used autonomously as long as relevant regulations are followed.

o Each NIH Institute/Center must add funds to supplement the KHIDI stipend in order for fellows to be designated as “Supplemental Visiting Fellows” as required by the NIH Office of Intramural Research.

o KHIDI will provide the KVSTA fellowship funds to the host Korea-based R&D institute who will then issue the funds twice a year to the fellow.

 

4. Fields to Apply: Including all fields related to biomedical and behavioral research at NIH, such as cancer, brain and neurological disease, cardiovascular, metabolic, allergy and chronic respiratory disease, reproductive and perinatal disease, precision medicine, etc.

 

5. KVSTA Stipulations for Eligibility:

o Applicants must be citizens of the ROK. Residents of ROK are not eligible to apply. U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries are also not eligible.

o Applicants can be researchers at a Korea-based organization (i.e., industry, academia, research institute, and hospital) or applicable post-doc researchers at NIH who must apply through their university in Korea where they acquired one of their degree.

o Post-docs who are currently at NIH are not eligible to apply if they do not have at least two (2) years remaining before the end of their maximum five (5) years as a post-doc Visiting Fellow at NIH on a J-1 visa when they start this fellowship program.

o Upon arriving at NIH, applicant’s Ph.D. or equivalent doctorate in appropriate field awarded cannot be more than 5 years from initial date of post-doctoral appointment (Doctoral degree must have been received between July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2024). Applicant must check the details of stipulations for eligibility in notice of Integrated R&D Information System: (https://www.iris.go.kr/contents/retrieveBsnsAncmView.do?ancmId=004053 o Applicants who acquire their whole academic degree (bachelor, master, and doctorate (Ph.D. or M.D.) at an overseas university cannot participate to KVSTA program. Korean applicant must have received at least one degree in Korea in order to be eligible to apply to KVSTA.

 

o Applicants must also meet all other NIH eligibility requirements pursuant to NIH’s Intramural Visiting Fellow Program (VFP) (https://policymanual.nih.gov/2300-320-3)

o Successful KVSTA awardee fellows are not eligible to apply again to the KVSTA program.

 

6. Obligations:

○ Fellows must devote themselves exclusively to their research at NIH during the tenure of their fellowship. Failure to do so may result in the termination of the KVSTA fellowship.

○ Selected applicant cannot stop training arbitrarily except due to exceptional reasons beyond the trainee’s control. In this case, trainees must report this to the NIH and KHIDI. * In case of early stop of the training arbitrarily, penalties may be imposed on trainees and/or Korea-based host institutes.

○ Selected applicant must train full-time during training period at NIH. They cannot be employed or work elsewhere during the training period.

○ Applicant must check the details in notice of Integrated R&D Information System (https://www.iris.go.kr/contents/retrieveBsnsAncmView.do?ancmId=004053 )

○ Applicant must check the website below for reviewing role of institution, department, field of research, etc., and complete the application form about specific research plan. NIH : https://www.nih.gov/icd/

○ Applicant must submit recommendation letters from the applicant's sponsoring NIH principal investigator (NIH mentor).

 

7. Deadlines and Selection Procedures:

○ January 30, 2024 Announce KVSTA program

○ May 9, 2024, 3 PM local Korea date/time: Deadline for receipt of original applications to 4 KHIDI

○ In June : An KHIDI review committee nominates the applicants to NIH. A Korean scientist panel convened by KHIDI will evaluate and rank the applications on the basis of the scientific quality and feasibility of the proposed research project, the applicant’s past scientific record, and the suitability of the sponsoring NIH lab.

○ In June : The candidate recommendations of the KHIDI panel will be submitted to NIH for acceptance. ICs at NIH begin to process the paperwork for accepting the awardees.

○ July 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024: Start at NIH

 

8. Application format and what to submit:

Applicant must submit the following application package electronically to the following website: https://www.iris.go.kr/contents/retrieveBsnsAncmView.do?ancmId=004053 Subsequently, the domestic affiliated institute of applicant must certify an application electronically or submit official public document to evaluation office in Korea.

○ Research plan

○ Certificate of Ph.D. or M.D. degree: Applicant also must mail out original copy of doctoral certificate to KHIDI evaluation officer in Korea (Yu-Jin Han)

○ Letter of Invitation: Submit only one letter of invitation from your NIH host researcher. The letter must clearly state a commitment in terms of both supplemental salary support and research resources by the NIH host researcher to sponsor you. The letter should confirm that the fellow will be a Supplemental Visiting Fellow at NIH. The letter must also include a brief account of the applicant's research project from the sponsor's perspective.

* Domestic affiliation institute: Applicant has to submit the application package under the name of the Korean host institute (i.e., industry, academia, research institute, and hospital). For Korea-host academic institute, it can be where applicant received one of their degrees or institute where they work.

 

9. For further information please contact:

Information regarding this training program may be requested from the following:

 

In the U.S.: Tina Chung, MPH, Program Officer

E-mail: chungt@mail.nih.gov

Telephone: 301-496-4784

Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health

31 Center Drive, Room B2C11

Bethesda, Maryland 20892

 

In the Republic of Korea: Program Officer(Yu-Jin Han)

E-mail: besthyj@khidi.or.kr

Telephone:+82-43-713-8792

Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI)

187 Osongsaengmyeong2-ro, Osong-eup, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju-si,

Chungcheongbuk-do, 28159 Korea