Research presentations sought for physician workforce conference
The AAMC is soliciting abstracts for presentations of research related to physician workforce issues. The presentations will be part of the first AAMC Physician Workforce Research Conference, to be held May 5-6 in Washington, D.C. Both quantitative and qualitative research will be considered. Abstracts must be submitted by Jan. 21. For more information, please visit http://www.aamc.org/meetings/specmtgs/pwc05/start.htm.

NIH seeks Pioneer Award program applications
The NIH is seeking applications for the second annual NIH Director's Pioneer Award Program, designed to support individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pioneering approaches to major contemporary challenges in biomedical research. The NDPA program will award grants to individuals who intend to pursue new research directions that are not already supported by other mechanisms. The program will fund between five and ten awards of up to $500,000 in direct costs per year for five years. Awardees are expected to commit the major portion (at least 51 percent) of their research effort to activities supported by the NDPA. Nominations (including self-nominations) will be accepted March 1 through April 1. For more information, please visit
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-05-021.html.

New report examines roles of vice presidents for research
The Association of Academic Health Centers issued a report last week that noted a marked trend to consolidate research administration at academic health centers and strengthen the research infrastructure nationwide. Survey results reported in, "The Organization and Management of the Research Enterprise: Vice Presidents for Research," indicate that academic health center leaders are creating vice presidents of research positions with responsibilities for directing research for the entire academic health center.

Among the AHC's findings:

• Consolidation of research management at the academic health center, rather than at the university level, occurs when most of a university's research dollars are generated by the health center.
• The majority of vice presidents of research positions report directly to the chief executive officer of the academic health center.
• Basic and clinical research responsibilities are sometimes split between two vice presidents for research.

For more information, please visit http://ahcnet.org.