The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (usually referred to as NRSA) are a family of grants provided by the United States National Institutes of Health for training researchers in the behavioral sciences and health sciences. They are a highly selective and very prestigious source of funding for doctoral and postdoctoral trainees. The grants are awarded based on lengthy proposals submitted by applicants in which original experimental plans are described. The proposals are evaluated and given an impact score reflecting scientific merit by a study section at the Center for Scientific Review at the NIH. Only applications with very good impact scores are funded, based on budget cutoffs determined by each individual institute. US citizenship or permanent residency is required.