The Short-Term Scientist Exchange program promotes collaborative research between established U.S. and foreign scientists from developing countries by supporting, in part, exchange visits of cancer researchers to foreign laboratories. Visits of U.S. scientists to overseas laboratories in developing countries may also be considered for support. The visits may be from one week to six months in duration.
Candidates must have a minimum of three years postdoctoral experience in cancer research and have an invitation from a qualified sponsor. Sponsors or exchangees from the U.S must be NCI-supported principal investigators (PI's), in either the intramural or extramural research programs. Foreign sponsors must be established scientists recognized in the international peer reviewed literature. Foreign candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English. Persons holding U.S. permanent resident status ("green card"), or any work visa, are not eligible for this program.
In the case of U.S. exchange PI's, the foreign host institution covers the in-country expenses of the U.S. visitor. In the case of foreign visitors, a foreign source pays for the airfare, while OIA provides a subsistence allowance.
The subsistence allowance is generally the monthly equivalent of $41,700 per year (split equally by OIA and the sponsor). Cost sharing of the subsistence allowance by the sponsoring American laboratory is required. The program provides health insurance coverage for the awardee only and does not cover pre-existing conditions.
The program's objective is to facilitate interactions between American and foreign scientists, expecting that the first visit to the U.S. is productive enough as to generate funding for future visits through the regular peer review process. Second and subsequent visits to the U.S. will, in general, not be considered.
