Science Series

2007

The ORWH Reentry Program

Supplements to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers

 The ORWH Reentry 

Program

Supplements to Promote 

Reentry into Biomedical 

and Behavioral 

Research Careers

 Evaluation of the 

Reentry Program

Criteria for Receiving 

Reentry Supplements

The ORWH Reentry Program

The Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) 

has, as part of its mission, the mandate to develop 

programs committed to the recruitment, retention, 

reentry, and advancement of women in biomedical 

and behavioral science careers. The National 

Institutes of Health (NIH) is committed to supporting 

the research careers of women and men in the 

biomedical and behavioral sciences from early 

investigator through senior scientist. 

To determine the barriers that women face when 

considering a scientific career, the ORWH held a 

public hearing and a workshop, Women in Biomedical 

Careers: Dynamics of Change, Strategies for the 

21st Century. At the hearing and the workshop, 

many women described the significant barriers they 

face when trying to reenter their field of research 

after taking time off from their careers for caregiving 

responsibilities. To address this barrier, the ORWH 

collaborated with NIH Institutes and Centers to 

design a reentry program to offer support for women 

and men to reenter scientific research after having 

interrupted their research careers to attend to family 

or other personal responsibilities.

After 2 years of success as an ORWH pilot program, 

the ORWH Reentry Program was expanded to a transNIH program. Currently, 23 NIH Institutes and Centers 

and the Office of Dietary Supplements have joined 

with the ORWH to support the program, Supplements 

to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and Behavioral 

Research Careers (NOT-OD-07-068) (http://

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/

NOT-OD-07-068.html).

Supplements to Promote 

Reentry into Biomedical and 

Behavioral Research Careers 

The Reentry Program provides administrative 

supplements to existing NIH research grants 

for the purpose of supporting full- or parttime research by women or men reentering 

the scientific workforce. The program is 

designed to bring the scientist’s existing 

research skills and knowledge up-to-date, so 

that, at the completion of the supplement, the 

scientist will be in a position to apply for a career 

development or research award. 

The Reentry Program includes three necessary 

components that, together, contribute to 

the process of reestablishing awardees as 

independent, competitive research scientists:

• Full participation in the research project;

• An opportunity to update and enhance research 

capabilities; and

• A carefully planned mentoring program developed 

by the mentor and the awardee.

To date, over 125 women and men have received 

Supplements to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and 

Behavioral Research Careers awards. 
Evaluation of the Reentry Program

In 1995, the first 3 years of the ORWH Reentry Program were evaluated. Both mentors and awardees found the 

ORWH Reentry Program to be an effective vehicle for increasing awardee expertise in a broad range of skill areas, 

including laboratory techniques, writing proposals and applications, and budgeting. Additionally, all awardees felt 

that the Reentry Program award advanced their long-term career goals.

All previous and current awardees of the Reentry Program were asked to participate in a 2007 evaluation of the 

Supplements to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers program. The results indicate 

that: 

• All awardees would encourage others to participate in the Reentry Program;

• More than 80 percent of awardees are still in scientific research;

• 85 percent of awardees felt that the Reentry Program advanced their scientific careers;

• All awardees found the Reentry Program to be an effective vehicle for increasing their scientific knowledge 

and most found it to be effective in increasing their expertise in laboratory techniques, computing, 

management, teaching, scientific writing, grant writing, and networking;

• More than 40 percent of awardees classified the availability of resources, in the forms of funding and 

protected time, as the most useful aspect of the Reentry Program;

• More than half of the awardees applied for research funding after completing the Reentry Program and twothirds of those received independent funding;

• 83 percent of female awardees and 75 percent of male awardees have published at least one manuscript 

since beginning the Reentry Program; and 

• Most awardees rated the mentoring relationship as excellent or close to excellent.

Criteria for Receiving Reentry Supplements

• Candidates must have a doctoral degree, such as M.D., D.D.S, Ph.D., O.D., D.V.M., or equivalent, and must 

have been in a postdoctoral or faculty position at the time they left active research. 

• The duration of hiatus of the scientist generally ranges from 1 to 8 years. The scientist should not be engaged 

in full-time paid research activities at the time of reentry.

• The supplement must be applied to an existing NIH research grant with a minimum of 2 years of funding 

remaining and must be directly related to the ongoing research of the parent grant.

• A maximum of 3 years of support can be awarded, with the awardee working either full-time or part-time.

• The scientist must be afforded the opportunity to act as a full participant in the research project and must be 

given an opportunity to update and enhance her or his research capabilities. This will allow the candidate to 

begin the process of establishing or reestablishing a career as a productive, competitive research investigator. 

For more information, visit the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health Web 

site at http://orwh.od.nih.gov/ or contact us by telephone at 301-402-1770.

Science Series

2007