Washington, DC — Erin Mershon reports on STAT that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is implementing a new hiring protocol that could make it significantly harder for foreign scientists to find jobs and research opportunities at the agency, according to interviews and newly obtained documents.
Mershon reports that the FDA recently began directing hiring managers not to extend any employment offers — including for fellowship and contractor positions — to any individual who has not lived in the U.S. for at least three of the five previous years, according to briefing materials shared with STAT that have been presented to some agency employees.
In the documents, the FDA attributed the new hiring protocol to changes associated with the background checks that every government employee must undergo to obtain an ID card.
Mershon reports that the FDA recently began directing hiring managers not to extend any employment offers — including for fellowship and contractor positions — to any individual who has not lived in the U.S. for at least three of the five previous years, according to briefing materials shared with STAT that have been presented to some agency employees.
In the documents, the FDA attributed the new hiring protocol to changes associated with the background checks that every government employee must undergo to obtain an ID card.
It’s unclear whether other agencies are implementing similar measures.
If it is applied more broadly across the government, the policy could upend the research community at the National Institutes of Health, which annually hosts thousands of non-citizen scientists from more than 100 countries.
Other agencies, including the Agriculture Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others, also host visiting scientists and scholars.
For Mershon’s full story, click here.
Follow STAT — which reports from the frontiers of medical innovation and science — on Twitter @statnews.
If it is applied more broadly across the government, the policy could upend the research community at the National Institutes of Health, which annually hosts thousands of non-citizen scientists from more than 100 countries.
Other agencies, including the Agriculture Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others, also host visiting scientists and scholars.
For Mershon’s full story, click here.
Follow STAT — which reports from the frontiers of medical innovation and science — on Twitter @statnews.
