National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Programs

Description

Presenters: Dr. Ericka Boone and Matthew Lockhart

Ericka Boone, Ph.D. is the Director of the NIH Division of Loan Repayment.  In this role, Dr. Boone is responsible for administering and providing leadership for the NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs) as well as representing NIH on matters related to the operations, policy development and evaluation of the LRPs.  Prior to this position, Dr. Boone served as a Health Scientist Administrator in the Office of Science Policy and Communications at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) where she developed and targeted science-based publications, outreach initiatives and other activities to educate a variety of audiences about the science of drug use, abuse and addiction.   Before coming to NIH, Dr. Boone conducted research at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Emory University.  Dr. Boone’s academic background includes a B.A. in Biology from Talladega College and a Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Health from The Pennsylvania State University.

Matthew Lockhart, M.B.A. is a Program Analyst in the NIH Division of Loan Repayment (DLR), where he serves as an advisor to the DLR Director on issues related to loan repayment policies, guidelines, and regulations.  Prior to his current tenure at the NIH, Mr. Lockhart spent five years as a Senior Policy Specialist in the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (a USDA agency) where he played the lead role in developing the policy and regulatory underpinning of the Veterinary Medical Loan Repayment Program, a program dedicated to the task of filling priority shortage areas serving underserved species of food animals.  Mr. Lockhart received his B.A. in Mathematics from Gallaudet University and his M.B.A. in Organizational Management from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Overview: Dr. Ericka Boone and Matthew Lockhart will discuss loan repayment opportunities available to medical other health professionals. The presentation will cover a comprehensive overview of the NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs). The purpose of the LRPs is to attract and retain promising early-stage investigators in research careers by helping them to repay their student loans. High levels of student loan debt – amassed during long periods of education and clinical training – are forcing some newly-trained scientists to abandon productive research careers for higher paying private sector or private practice professions. The LRPs counteract that financial pressure by repaying up to $70,000 in educational debt over two years in return for a commitment to conduct research in NIH mission-critical areas.