By IDSE News Staff
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) increased interim paylines, or funding cutoff points, for research grants for fiscal year 2025.
The agency increased paylines for all fellowship award (F) grant types. Of note, paylines for the Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award (K01) and Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08) programs jumped from 20 to 28 and 29, respectively—the highest levels for K awards since 2011. These grants support early-career ID researchers and encourage recruitment into ID research careers.
This increase marks a significant win for the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s long-standing efforts to strengthen the pipeline of ID physician-scientists. In joint comments submitted last year on the NIAID strategic plan, IDSA and HIV Medicine Association stressed that strengthening the ID clinical and research workforce should be a priority.
“We are thankful for NIAID’s action on paylines as a step to support the next generation of ID specialists, who will help lead research on some of the biggest challenges in public health and health care, including combatting antimicrobial resistance, addressing emerging global outbreaks and developing avenues to provide care to communities that are often overlooked,” said IDSA President Tina Tan, MD, FIDSA, FPIDS, FACP. “Support for early career ID professionals is critical to build and sustain a sufficient cadre of ID physician-scientists for the future.”
IDSA said in a statement that the society will continue to work with federal partners to maintain or increase NIAID paylines and continue implementing broader strategies to strengthen ID recruitment and retention as well as educate the public and policymakers on the value of ID physician-scientists.
