Science training abroad: The US National Institutes of Health

(Second of two parts)

In my second year as a graduate student in Nagasaki University, my Japanese professor Dr. Hirayama already told me to prepare to apply for a postdoctoral research fellowship in the United States. During my third year, he took me to the US to visit the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland (just at the border of western Washington DC and Maryland). He asked me to deliver a presentation of what I was doing in his laboratory in the Pulmonary-Critical Care Medicine Branch (PCCMB) of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI).  The branch chief then was Dr. Joel Moss, who would become my mentor when I did my fellowship. The reason I mention this early is to highlight the importance of scientific collaboration or networking. Being accepted as a fellow in NHLBI became easier (no interview) because we were already working together while I was in Japan.

The NIH is the centerpiece of biomedical research of the US. It is under the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and is entrusted with disbursing billions of federal dollars to fund biomedical research from cancer to infectious diseases, from bio-imaging to genetics, from non-communicable diseases to aging. The centerpiece unit of the NIH is the National Cancer Institute (NCI) with over half of the total budget going to it. The second in line used to be the NHLBI, with a mission of studying cardiovascular diseases. But with the recent advent of bio-terrorism, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has expanded and taken over as number two. There are 21 centers and institutes under NIH, including one for nursing research, aging, dental research, and even a center for alternative medicine.

Each institute has an extramural and intramural branch. The extramural branch’s task is to distribute the money budgeted by the US Congress to different scientists scattered across the US and its territories who submit research proposals to the NIH. The extramural program managers convene a review panel of experts and rate the proposals with the top scorers getting the money depending on the budget of the NIH on a specific fiscal year.

I was with the intramural branch. Each institute is given a budget and does the research unencumbered by the rigorous scoring of the extramural branch, but every five years or so the external panel of experts reviews the intramural branch. Each laboratory’s research output (publications), budget, personnel, and research thrusts are evaluated and a recommendation is issued.

The NIH also funds clinical trials. Medicines are tested in different phases to prove they are effective as well as safe for human use.

For a Filipino trained in Japan, my arrival at NHLBI was quite disconcerting. Everyone was very direct and on a first-name basis. I was used to the strict hierarchical structure of the academe in the Philippines and Japan (where I addressed my professor as “Hirayama sensei” or “teacher”). In NHBLI, I called my branch chief “Joel.” I also had a lot of freedom to do my research under the guidance of my mentors.

One thing that was similar about Nekken and NIH is the international flavor of the laboratories. In PCCMB, just as in Nekken, the foreigners outnumber the native-born. NIH is more diverse as there are now more Europeans and South Americans. My experience in dealing with the Japanese and other international students in Nekken and NIH proved very valuable in my life. I am more diversity-conscious. I have learned to respect other cultures. And surprisingly, I have sharpened my skills in Japanese because the lab was full of Japanese fellows.

When I arrived in NIH, the Filipinos working there were not even acquainted with one another. The medical fellows did not know the basic scientists. Since I knew the MDs as well as the PhDs, I got them together and until today the Filipino scientists in NIH are intact as a group.

One thing that struck me when I arrived was the miniscule number of Filipino scientists being trained in NIH. At any one time, there was just an average of seven to eight Filipino scientist fellows. Compare that number to around 400 Japanese and 300 Chinese fellows. What could be the reason for this small number? I don’t really know but I speculate that we don’t have enough scientists qualified to train in NIH (PhD grads). And those who are qualified do not even know such opportunities exist unless they were educated in the US or other universities abroad.

The NIH offers its trainees a plethora of opportunities. It has long-term courses on bioethics, introduction to clinical research, animal research ethics and protocols, and access to the database of the National Library of Medicine. It has also its own graduate school: the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES), which offers courses on statistics, biochemistry, biology, languages and short-term training in the latest in molecular biology protocols and techniques.

For those who are interested in training in NIH, go to the website www.nih.gov and click on “fellowship” or “training.” Write the investigator and communicate with him/her your interest and scientific career plan. My almost seven years of NIH training prepared me for my eventual role as physician-scientist in UP Visayas.

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Dr. Philip Ian Padilla is a graduate of the UP College of Medicine, Class 1992. He recently returned to the University of the Philippines Visayas in Miag-ao, Iloilo as an associate professor. He would like to thank Prof. Rosela Padilla-Zarragoza for editing this article. He can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].