---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 283o"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "283o"
heading: "Next generation of researchers"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/283o"
units:
  - "Chapter 6A — Public Health Service"
  - "Subchapter III — National Research Institutes"
  - "Part A — National Institutes of Health"
---

# §283o. Next generation of researchers

- (a) **Next generation of researchers initiative—** There shall be established within the Office of the [Director](/usc/42/11851.md?p=5) of the National Institutes of Health, the Next Generation of Researchers Initiative (referred to in this section as the “Initiative”), through which the [Director](/usc/42/11851.md?p=5) shall coordinate all policies and [programs](/usc/42/274l–1.md?p=4) within the National Institutes of Health that are focused on promoting and providing opportunities for new researchers and earlier research [independence](/usc/42/242q–4.md?p=1-B).
- (b) **Activities—** The [Director](/usc/42/11851.md?p=5) of the National Institutes of Health, through the Initiative shall—
  - (1) promote policies and [programs](/usc/42/274l–1.md?p=4) within the National Institutes of Health that are focused on improving opportunities for new researchers and promoting earlier research [independence](/usc/42/242q–4.md?p=1-B), including existing policies and [programs](/usc/42/274l–1.md?p=4), as appropriate;
  - (2) develop, modify, or prioritize policies, as needed, within the National Institutes of Health to promote opportunities for new researchers and earlier research [independence](/usc/42/242q–4.md?p=1-B), such as policies to increase opportunities for new researchers to receive funding, enhance training and mentorship [programs](/usc/42/274l–1.md?p=4) for researchers, and enhance workforce diversity;
  - (3) coordinate, as appropriate, with relevant [agencies](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1), professional and academic associations, academic institutions, and others, to improve and update existing information on the biomedical research workforce in order to inform [programs](/usc/42/274l–1.md?p=4) related to the training, recruitment, and retention of biomedical researchers; and
  - (4) carry out other activities, including evaluation and oversight of existing [programs](/usc/42/274l–1.md?p=4), as appropriate, to promote the development of the next generation of researchers and earlier research [independence](/usc/42/242q–4.md?p=1-B).

## Source credit

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title IV, § 404M, as added Pub. L. 114–255, div. A, title II, § 2021(a), Dec. 13, 2016, 130 Stat. 1051.)