University of Washington  School of Public Health Department of Health Services 

Trainee Requirements

As detailed in each trainee's welcome letter to the training program, there are several reporting and training requirements.

1. Academic Progress Form

All trainees must update their Academic Progress Forms twice yearly, in October and early March.

After completing the form, trainees should arrange to meet with their mentors to discuss the form. Trainees should return their signed forms to the program coordinator (ahrqhsrt@u.washington.edu) by October 31 and March 15. The March 15 deadline is especially important as we are preparing annual progress reports for our sponsor at AHRQ.

2. Biosketch and CV

We are required to send a yearly progress report on the training grant to AHRQ. Each year we need updated Biosketches in the biosketch format that NIH accepts for their grant proposals. Trainees may visit the NIH PHS 398 forms web site to get a sample of the Biosketch form. The final two pages of this sample document illustrate the required format. We require an updated biosketch annually from each trainee by March 15.

Trainees' updated CVs should be in the format required for the UW School of Public Health. Instructions for format are given in the SPH handbook. We will need an updated CV annually from each trainee by March 15.

3. Enrollment

Trainees on the AHRQ/NRSA Health Services Research Training Program grant who are pursuing a graduate degree must maintain full time enrollment (a minimum of 10 academic credits) during autumn, winter, and spring quarters and 2 credits during the summer. The training grant and University contributions cover tuition; however, by Federal law we are unable to pay for some student fees (such as the student activities fee). These are the trainee's responsibility and currently amount to approximately $200 per quarter.

4. Research and Work in Progress (WIP) Presentations

All trainees are required to be involved in conducting or teaching health services research and policy. All trainees are required to present Works in Progress (WIP): post-doctoral trainees must present twice per year, and pre-doctoral trainees must present once per year (after having passed the preliminary PhD examination). We ask that each trainee send a copy of completed WIP presentations to the program coordinator (ahrqhsrt@u.washington.edu) for our files.

5. Human Subjects Training

Human subjects training is required of ALL trainees and should be completed by March 15 of the first year of funding. Anyone working on a project involving any human subjects (including surveys, interviews, the review of datasets, etc.) MUST complete the required Human Subjects Training before engaging in the project.

Training is available either as an in-person course or as an online course. Trainees may visit the Human Subjects Division Training web site for details and a schedule of upcoming training sessions.

We ask trainees to let the program coordinator know as soon as they have completed their human subjects training: ahrqhsrt@u.washington.edu.

We also ask that trainees keep a list of ALL projects they are working on, independently or with mentors, recording the IRB number, the Protocol title, the review date, and the PI. This will be submitted with the annual progress report to AHRQ and is required information for grant sponsor. Trainees should send this information to the program coordinator (ahrqhsrt@u.washington.edu) by March 15 each year.

6. Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research

Trainees will receive formal and informal instruction in the responsible conduct of research, including scientific integrity and ethical principles of research. Trainees are required to attend the "Biomedical Research Integrity Series" over the summer, offered by the UW School of Medicine. This series is designed to satisfy the Public Health Services's (PHS) research responsibility requirement for pre- and post-doctoral trainees, and over 300 trainees from all over the University of Washington health sciences disciplines participate annually in this series. Attendance is recorded and reported to departments, which monitor their trainees' participation. Trainees pay no fees to attend the series. If a trainee must miss one or more sessions of the summer training, he or she must contact Diane Martin, Program Director, to make arrangements for alternate training or to view the video-taped sessions.

7. Miscellaneous

Meetings and Reporting:Trainees meet regularly as a group with the Program Director, usually on a quarterly basis, to discuss progress. These meetings are arranged with the aim to accomodate trainee schedules. Trainees may also be asked for updates on progress, research, publications, short histories or biographies, and so on, at other times when reports are being prepared for the grant sponsor.

No ASE Union Status: Because this training appointment is considered a no-service appointment (meaning that no specific work is assigned to trainees other than to make progress on their academics and research), trainees, unlike TAs and most RAs, are NOT required to maintain, nor eligible to maintain, ASE union membership in the UW/UAW Local 4121, and should not be asked to pay ASE dues based on the training appointment, as this union does not bargain collectively on behalf of trainees in the 0864 job category.

8. Termination of Appointment Forms

All trainees will be asked to fill out and sign a Termination of Appointment form at the end of the training period, detailing their research, academic progress, publications, etc., completed during the training period. This NIH form can be previewed at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/416/phs416-7.pdf.

9. Alumni Tracking Information

We report periodically on the research activities, employment, and publications of past trainees. Please keep your address up to date with the program Coordinator: (206) 616-2977 or ahrqhsrt@u.washington.edu. Alumni activities and accomplishments are tracked for life by the sponsoring agency.

10. Post-Doctoral Fellows Only: Payback Agreement and Reporting

All postdoctoral trainees must complete an NRSA Payback Agreement Form stipulating service requirments. After the service requirement has been met, postdoctoral trainees must complete an NRSA Annual Payback Activities Certification Form:

National Research Service Award Payback Agreement Form (PHS 6031)
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/416/phs6031.pdf

National Research Service Award Annual Payback Activities Certification Form (PHS 6031-1)
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/416/phs6031-1.pdf