42 U.S.C. § 288–2 — Extramural loan repayment program

(a) The program. The Director of NIH must, as appropriate and based on workforce and scientific priorities, run a program using the subcategories listed in subsection (b) to make contracts with qualified health professionals. Under these contracts, the professional agrees to do research, and the federal government agrees to repay up to $50,000 of the principal and interest on that person's education loans for each year of research. (b) Subcategories of research. In running the program, the Director must keep focusing on: contraception or infertility research; pediatric research, including pediatric pharmacological research; minority health disparities research; clinical research; and clinical research done by qualified health professionals from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Director may also focus on an area of emerging scientific or workforce need. The Director can eliminate one or more of these listed subcategories if workforce or scientific needs change, and can create other subcategories based on workforce and scientific priorities, as long as the total number of subcategories never goes above the number originally listed. (c) Who qualifies. The Director cannot make a contract with a health professional unless that person has a substantial amount of education loan debt relative to their income, measured by guidelines the Director issues. (d) Related service rules apply. Certain existing federal provisions about obligated service apply to this program in the same way they apply to the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, except where they conflict with subsection (a). (e) How long the money stays available. Money set aside to run this section stays available until the end of the second fiscal year after the fiscal year it was originally provided for.