Research Training in Imaging at the NIH

Abstract

Establishment of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) represented a milestone for radiology, biomedical engineering, and the imaging sciences. In the coming years, research supported by NIBIB will advance both clinical care and biomedical research. As a result, radiologists will possess an array of new tools that will enable them to detect and diagnose disease earlier and treat patients less invasively and more effectively. Similarly, investigators in the biological sciences and biomedical engineering will benefit from imaging techniques that permit observation at the cellular and molecular levels. Despite this bright outlook, the creation of NIBIB also presents radiology with major challenges. The number of top-quality imaging proposals each year will be a major determinant in both the growth of the NIBIB budget and the allocation of resources within the new institute. An increasing number of such proposals will be needed each year to sustain the growth of funding for imaging research in NIBIB. Radiology is not, at present, prepared to meet this challenge. Too few radiologists are being trained to be competitive investigators, and too much of the research in radiology fails to meet the high standards that exist in other fields supported by NIH funds. Much of the solution will lie in the expansion and improvement of extramural research training programs in the academic radiology departments that are training the next generation of radiologists. The Academy of Radiology Research Committee on Research and Research Training, under the leadership of Co-Chairs N. Reed Dunnick, MD, and Ronald L. Arenson, MD, will be working with academic leaders to develop strategies to increase the amount and quality of research training in radiology residency programs. In that regard, the recent announcement that the NIBIB is offering Individual Postdoctoral Fellowships (F32 grants) and Institutional Training Grants (T32 grants) in biomedical imaging, bioengineering, and multidisciplinary biomedical research represents an important new opportunity for radiology and imaging science. Such grants can be part of the solution to training the numbers of investigators that will be needed. Training at the NIH itself is another important part of the answer. Numerous research training opportunities exist within the intramural program at the NIH. Historically, young investigators in radiology have not had adequate opportunities for training at the NIH. Intramural training experiences constitute an important component of the research culture in other disciplines, however. According to the NIH Office of Intramural Research, more than 3,000 postdoctoral fellows train at the NIH annually in approximately 1,200 intramural laboratories (1). Over time, this produces a large group of NIHtrained investigators who have the benefit of personal contacts at the NIH and who are well versed in the NIH system and culture and well prepared to compete for extramural research grant support after they return to their home institutions. Because of the relatively small number of programs that have focused primarily on imaging, radiology has not participated to a great extent in NIH intramural training. This must change if radiology is to become a scientific discipline that can compete on an equal basis for NIH funding. Fortunately, both the availability and quality of intramural research training opportunities in imaging at the NIH are improving dramatically, primarily because of the development of the Imaging Sciences Program (ISP) at the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center. The ISP was organized by R. Nick Bryan, MD, PhD, who served as director of diagnostic radiology at the Clinical Center in the late 1990s. Dr Acad Radiol 2002; 9:750–752