§ 293b. Loan repayments and fellowships regarding faculty positions
(a)
Loan repayments
(1)
Establishment of program
The Secretary shall establish a program of entering into contracts with individuals described in paragraph (2) under which the individuals agree to serve as members of the faculties of schools described in paragraph (3) in consideration of the Federal Government agreeing to pay, for each year of such service, not more than $20,000 of the principal and interest of the educational loans of such individuals.
(2)
Eligible individuals
The individuals referred to in paragraph (1) are individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds who—
(A)
have a degree in medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, nursing, or another health profession;
(3)
Eligible health professions schools
The schools described in this paragraph are schools of medicine, nursing (as schools of nursing are defined in section
296 of this title), osteopathic medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, allied health, podiatric medicine, optometry, veterinary medicine, or public health, or schools offering graduate programs in behavioral and mental health.
(4)
Requirements regarding faculty positions
The Secretary may not enter into a contract under paragraph (1) unless—
(A)
the individual involved has entered into a contract with a school described in paragraph (3) to serve as a member of the faculty of the school for not less than 2 years; and
(B)
the contract referred to in subparagraph (A) provides that—
(i)
the school will, for each year for which the individual will serve as a member of the faculty under the contract with the school, make payments of the principal and interest due on the educational loans of the individual for such year in an amount equal to the amount of such payments made by the Secretary for the year;
(ii)
the payments made by the school pursuant to clause (i) on behalf of the individual will be in addition to the pay that the individual would otherwise receive for serving as a member of such faculty; and
(iii)
the school, in making a determination of the amount of compensation to be provided by the school to the individual for serving as a member of the faculty, will make the determination without regard to the amount of payments made (or to be made) to the individual by the Federal Government under paragraph (1).
(5)
Applicability of certain provisions
The provisions of sections
254m,
254p, and
254q–1 of this title shall apply to the program established in paragraph (1) to the same extent and in the same manner as such provisions apply to the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program established in subpart III of part D of subchapter II of this chapter, including the applicability of provisions regarding reimbursements for increased tax liability and regarding bankruptcy.
(b)
Fellowships
(1)
In general
The Secretary may make grants to and enter into contracts with eligible entities to assist such entities in increasing the number of underrepresented minority individuals who are members of the faculty of such schools.
(2)
Applications
To be eligible to receive a grant or contract under this subsection, an entity shall provide an assurance, in the application submitted by the entity, that—
(A)
amounts received under such a grant or contract will be used to award a fellowship to an individual only if the individual meets the requirements of paragraphs (3) and (4); and
(3)
Eligibility
To be eligible to receive a grant or contract under paragraph (1), an applicant shall demonstrate to the Secretary that such applicant has or will have the ability to—
(A)
identify, recruit and select underrepresented minority individuals who have the potential for teaching, administration, or conducting research at a health professions institution;
(B)
provide such individuals with the skills necessary to enable them to secure a tenured faculty position at such institution, which may include training with respect to pedagogical skills, program administration, the design and conduct of research, grants writing, and the preparation of articles suitable for publication in peer reviewed journals;
(4)
Requirements
To be eligible to receive a grant or contract under paragraph (1) an applicant shall—
(A)
provide an assurance that such applicant will make available (directly through cash donations) $1 for every $1 of Federal funds received under this section for the fellowship;
(B)
provide an assurance that institutional support will be provided for the individual for the second and third years at a level that is equal to the total amount of institutional funds provided in the year in which the grant or contract was awarded;