The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new program that supports the careers of researchers through student loan debt forgiveness.

NIH is now accepting applications for its extramural Loan Repayment Programs (LRPs), which repay up to $35,000 of educational loan debt annually for individuals who commit to conducting at least two years of qualified biomedical or behavioral research at a nonprofit institution of their choice. There are five extramural LRPs: clinical research, pediatric research, health disparities research, contraception and infertility research, and clinical research for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The application deadline for all five LRPs is December 1, 2008. Log on to www.lrp.nih.gov for more information and to apply.