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Building the next generation of pain and addiction researchers and clinicians
Expanding and enhancing the clinical pain management workforce requires a diverse pool of highly trained clinician-scientists, but many early-career clinical researchers are not yet competitive for a traditional career development (K) or independent research (R) award, whether due to institutional environments that cannot adequately support their goals or difficulty forming a strong mentoring team. The HEAL National K12 program addresses this gap by providing structured mentorship and career development to early-stage investigators, building the skills needed to conduct high-impact research in pain and co-occurring chronic health conditions. The program encourages multidisciplinary approaches spanning fields such as neuroscience, pharmacology, psychology, and clinical practice, and supports innovative, translational research that can lead to new pain treatments and management strategies. It also fosters a collaborative research community among scholars, mentors, and the broader HEAL Initiative, with a focus on community engaged research to ensure HEAL supported pain management and addiction research impacts communities/stakeholders that will benefit most.
Email: HEALquestion@od.nih.gov
A well-trained independent investigator workforce dedicated to pain and substance use disorder research is needed to maximize the value of the HEAL Initiative’s investments. This program supports postdoctoral researchers through a timely transition from mentored training to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions, providing up to two years of mentored research training and career development followed by up to three years of independent research support contingent on securing a faculty position. Awardees pursue rigorously designed research across the spectrum of pain and substance use disorder science, building an independent research program that helps advance the goals of the NIH HEAL Initiative. The program is intended for postdoctoral researchers early in their training who require substantive additional mentored experience before achieving research independence, rather than those already positioned to transition immediately into faculty roles.
Email: HEALquestion@od.nih.gov