Celebrating the Third Annual NIH Institutional Training Grant Symposium

Alex Bui speaking at Symposium event
By Kelly Lozo
1 min read

CTSI’s Grants Submission Unit and GPB co-hosted their third annual NIH Institutional Training Grant Symposium on Friday, October 23rd. This gathering provided an opportunity for UCLA’s institutional training grant community to discuss the evolving landscape for institutional training grants, brainstorm pathways to address shared challenges, and share resources and best practices.

Speakers included Dr. Stephen Smale, Vice Dean of the DGSOM who kicked off the event, and Dr. Alex Bui, Senior Associate Dean for Bioscience Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, who led an open forum discussion around important training grant topics for training grant teams. 

Additional discussion topics included:

  • Panel discussions regarding post-award management, lessons learned from the May 2026 submission cycle, training grant reviewer guidance, and mentor/mentee capacity building
  • Consolidation of submission deadlines by NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) and the need for strategic planning to avoid application conflicts; exploration of shared evaluation resources
  • Administrative resource available for training grants including GPB’s mentor training resources, Minerva Database, and the Grant Submission Unit (GSU)’s training grant services
  • An overview recent NIH instructional changes (i.e., new biosketch common form, upcoming letters of collaboration, and consolidation of K-series NOFOs

For more information, a copy of the event’s meeting minutes, or to schedule a consolation about an upcoming submission, please contact the Grant Submission Unit’s training grant team at GSUTraining@mednet.ucla.edu.