BIOBRIEF
The "Pathways to Independence" grant has been one of the few federal awards a non citizen postdoc could win. STAT+ reports the agency will close that track.
NIH's "Pathways to Independence" award, the federal government's marquee early-career research grant for scientists moving from a senior mentor's lab to running their own, has long been one of the few federal research grants a postdoc on a visa could realistically win. STAT+ reports the agency is preparing to change that.
The Pathways to Independence award (K99/R00) gives two years of postdoctoral funding followed by three years of support once the recipient launches an independent lab. According to STAT+, which cited an internal NIH presentation it reviewed, the agency plans to limit eligibility to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and non-citizen nationals, closing the program to postdocs on H-1B, J-1, F-1 OPT, or other temporary visas.
The change has not yet appeared in a public NIH Guide notice or Federal Register entry; the current eligibility framework is already in flux under NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-26-021, a temporary extension of K99/R00 eligibility. Several institutes, including NIAID, NIMH, and NINDS, still publish program pages documenting the award's historical openness to non-citizens.
The parent K99/R00 funding opportunity announcements define the program. What new on-ramp the agency will offer visa-holding postdocs, if any, remains unclear. The most promising scholars will now struggle to find a bridge from a U.S. postdoc to an independent lab.