- National Institutes of Health (NIH) is largest funder of biomedical research in the world ($45 billion, 2022); 10% for the Intramural Research Program (IRP)
- NIH is in the top 15 global (& top 5 in USA) research institutions (Nature Index): https://www.nature.com/nature-index/annual-tables/2023/institution/all/all/global
- 19 Nobel prize winners: https://irp.nih.gov/about-us/honors/nobel-prize
- Augustin Luna’s interest areas:
- Cancer therapy prediction and biological mechanisms of response
- Machine learning, network biology
- H-Index 51 (2023); 51 articles cited at least 51 times: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=u2dgLp8AAAAJ&hl=en
- Cancer therapy prediction and biological mechanisms of response
- Augustin Luna has a dual appointment at the:
- NIH National Library of Medicine, Computational Biology Branch
- NIH National Cancer Institute, Developmental Therapeutics Branch
- Augustin Luna has mentored students for ~10 years from high school to PhD level
- Augustin Luna has been a post-baccalaureate fellow, graduate student, and investigator at NIH that informs his mentorship of NIH trainees
- Intramural Research Program (IRP): https://irp.nih.gov/
- 23 institutes across health areas: https://irp.nih.gov/about-us/our-programs
- ~50 buildings on the NIH campuses: https://irp.nih.gov/about-us/what-is-the-irp
- Biowulf Cluster: https://hpc.nih.gov/systems/hardware.html
- Clinical Center: Largest hospital in the world focused on clinical research
- ~10K patients per year; 800 clinical trials: https://www.cc.nih.gov/sites/nihinternet/files/assets/about/pdf/2022CCDataReport.pdf
- 17 categories of core facilities: https://ostr.ccr.cancer.gov/resources/all
- Annual operating budgets (instead of grants) to investigators aid in lab stability: https://oir.nih.gov/sourcebook/tenure-nih-intramural-research-program/resources
- 3 large nearby airports (DCA, IAD, BWI)
- Rapid & affordable access to cities on the East Coast (e.g., by cheap bus NYC or hourly flights to Boston)
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/travel/busreview/ (~$50 round trip)
- https://www.google.com/travel/flights/flights-from-washington,-d-c--to-boston.html (~$200 round trip)
- Good, affordable subway system in DC area
- Mid-Atlantic weather (DC, Virginia, Maryland) does not rank in US places with the worst weather: https://travel.alot.com/themes/us-cities-with-the-least-pleasant-weather--9227
- Activities and attractions of Washington DC:
- Free Smithsonian museums and zoo: https://www.si.edu/visit/hours
- Weekend activities (07/31/2023): https://dcist.com/story/23/07/27/weekend-events-07-27-2023/
- Areas north of the main NIH campus (e.g., Rockville, MD) tend to be affordable and connected to NIH via subway
- NIH subsidizes commuting costs: https://ors.od.nih.gov/pes/dats/Transhare/Pages/transhare.aspx
- Stipend salary ranges:
- FAES Housing provides private, single occupancy bedrooms close to the NIH main campus; apartments include 1) affordable and flexible stay agreements, 2) fully furnished, 3) utilities included: https://faes.org/housing
- Demographics (1000+ investigators, 2000+ postdocs, ~400 graduate students): https://oir.nih.gov/sourcebook/personnel/irp-demographics/intramural-research-program-personnel-demographics-end-fy22
- Graduate student resources: https://www.training.nih.gov/trainees/grads
- Graduate student symposium: https://www.training.nih.gov/gsc/symposium
- 2023: 100+ students presented from various universities
- NIH graduate students represent ~100 universities worldwide
- Scientific Interest Groups (SIGs); 100+ areas of research: https://oir.nih.gov/sigs
Note: Considerations from: https://gradschool.duke.edu/admissions/how-choose-right-graduate-school/what-look-graduate-program/