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COMMENTARY
Immunology careers at the NIH, FDA and CDC: different paths that focus on advancing public health
Marta Catalfamo, Alison Mawle & Daniela Verthelyi
The NIH, FDA and CDC offer a wide spectrum of job opportunities focused on improving public health through the discovery and translation of research, the regulation of safe and effective medicines, and the protection of health security.
npg 201 5 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.
As immunologists approach the end of their training, many face the question
of their next career step. Many researchers seek careers inside academia, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and others. An attractive alternative is pursuing a scientific career in government institutions. Careers with government agencies are highly regarded and offer an interesting array of stable job opportunities for immunologists in which their work can have an effect on a diverse range of public health issues. This Commentary focuses particularly on three institutions with a long history of discovery, innovation, safeguarding and advancing public health: The US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The NIHThe NIH is the worlds largest biomedical research institution and funding agency
(http://www.nih.gov/about/
Web End =http://www.nih.gov/about/ ). It is composed of 27 institutes and centers with scientific agendas focused on specific diseases and/or biological systems in which immunologists can pursue scientific careers. The vast majority of the NIHs budget (~90%) goes to the extramural research community and funds researchers in academic and private institutions located in the United States and around the world through competitive grants1,2. The remaining 10% of the NIHs budget supports the research of its intramural laboratories at several locations in the USA. In a global world with diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, HIV-AIDS and other emerging infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmunity, allergy and rare undiagnosed diseases, these institutes and centers house a continuum of biomedical research, ranging from the most basic research to translational research for the treatment and prevention of these diseases35.
The NIH has a long tradition in immunology and infectious diseases dating from 1887 with the creation of the Laboratory of Hygiene at Staten Island. Driven by the growing need for research, immunology at the NIH has only grown. Some aspects...