The Chosen ONES: Awards Fund Young Investigators

A major goal of the 2006 NIEHS Strategic Plan encompasses the institute's desire to " recruit and train the next generation of environmental health scientists. " To begin to achieve that goal, the NIEHS has unveiled a new annual grants program called the Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) Award. The five-year grants are designed to identify, encourage, inspire, and support outstanding investigators early in their careers, who have not yet received their first R01 grant. The first ONES grants, totaling $3.6 million, were awarded in September 2006 to eight promising young scientists chosen from more than 70 applicants through a rigorous application, review, and interview process. The program is the brainchild of NIEHS director David Schwartz, who has been concerned for some time about the loss of promising young scientific talent from the field for lack of support. " As a faculty member at Duke, " he says, " I found that the individuals who were particularly vulnerable in terms of their career development were those at that transitional stage between mentored and independent research, and that many very bright, creative people simply were not supported in ways that enhanced their career development. " Schwartz says the awards are also intended to help attract innovative young investigators to the NIEHS and the environmental health sciences, as well as to support the institutions that are helping new scientists develop their careers. The program's long-term impact on the field, in terms of both the science and the scientists , could be significant. " These individuals represent very promising early career trajectories that are likely to have a substantial effect on environmental health sciences, and hopefully will evolve into the leaders in the field in the future, " says Schwartz. To ease that tricky early-career transition , ONES grantees are encouraged to establish and meet annually with an advisory committee comprising senior experts in their disciplines. According to Pat Mastin, chief of the NIEHS Cellular, Organ, and Systems Pathobiology Branch, who helped coordinate the initial ONES process, the grants represent a hybrid between mentored career development awards and independent R01 grants. " We think the young investigators should continue to be mentored, " Mastin says. " So we encouraged them to identify not a specific mentor, but an advisory committee, to give not only scientific advice but also career path advice. " The grantees recognize and appreciate the value of this hybrid approach …