In response to unanticipated changes in the NIH NRSA salary scale (now and in coming years), MGB will be modifying our approach to the postdoc salary scale which will go into effect on October 1^st.

BACKGROUND

The NIH recently posted their 2024 NRSA salary scale for postdoctoral fellows. While the NIH has traditionally increased their scale by about 3% every year, this year they increased the scale by 8% in recognition of the their stated goal of trying to get to starting salary of $70,000 within 5 years. The $70,000 goal is based on the recent “NIH ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE DIRECTOR WORKING GROUP ON RE-ENVISIONING NIH-SUPPORTED POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING”.

Last year, MGB mandated a new postdoc salary floor, effective October 1, 2024. The language of the announcement read: “MGB will require that postdocs be paid at market rate, which is assumed now to be 20% over the NIH/NRSA scale.” Most PIs have actively been planning for that transition, assuming that the FY25 salary floor would be based on normal escalation of the 2023 NRSA scale + 20%. Fair to say that no one planned for the NIH to increase the scale to the extent they did.  

Since last year, the market rate for postdoc salaries has continued to rise. In addition to the NIH naming the target market rate for postdocs to be $70,000 (for PGY0), HMS and other local institutions have announced salary scales that meet or exceed the $70,000 goal. 

NEW MODEL

There are many perspectives on what the appropriate MGB salary floor for October 1st should be. After much discussion with leadership, faculty members and research fellows across the system, we will be adopting the following salary scale, effective October 1^st, 2024: 

A few key points:

• It is not based, in any way, on the NRSA scale since the NRSA scale is unequal in how it escalates between each PGY level (ie. minimal bumps in salary (1%) in the earlier PGY years and higher bumps in salary (3-4%) for later PGY years;).
• This model uses $70K for PGY0 as the base salary.
• Every PGY level is a 2.5% increase from the lower PGY level (ie. PGY1 is 2.5% higher than PGY0, etc)
• In addition, year over year, the salary for all PGY levels will increase based on the cost of living adjustment determined by MGB and used for all employees.
• The salary scale is capped at PGY4 since, by policy, research fellows at MGB are limited to 5 years.

By de-coupling completely from the NRSA scale now, we will insulate ourselves from the instability of the NRSA scale over the next several years and create a stable structure that is market competitive, equitable and predictable for budgeting purposes. 

As for every other job across the system, HR will perform periodic market assessments to ensure we continue to offer market competitive salaries for our postdocs. If we fall out of line with the market, we will revisit the salary structure and adjust accordingly. 

Also, as a reminder, this is intended to be the salary floor for postdocs. PIs do have the ability to pay more than this if they choose, so long as they do so equitably within their lab.

We’ve tried to balance many different issues and to arrive at a solution that is competitive while not deviating significantly from what we originally announced and people have been planning on – and to develop a model that will be stable, equitable and predictable for future planning. We realize salary inflation across all research jobs has created a lot of pressure on fixed research budgets. PI’s who have hardships can appeal for support from their Dept Chairs who, in turn, can appeal to their institutions for relief (preference to early and mid-career investigators who are building their programs). For all PIs, inflation of costs across all categories will continue to require careful rebudgeting, which may include reducing the number of post docs or other staff in their labs. 

We cannot ignore the financial pressures, on many fronts, confronting investigators with fixed budgets. While there is no ready answer for that incredibly challenging problem, we can assure you that leadership across the system continues to think about how best to address. In addition, the MGB Research Strategic Plan workgroups are explicitly considering as well.

Paul Anderson, MD, PhD – Chief Academic Officer (CAO), MGB; Interim CAO, BWH

Nara Gavini, PhD, MPhil – Associate Provost for Research, MGH IHP  

Michael Gilmore, PhD – Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), MEE  

Robert Kingston, PhD – CAO & SVP Research, MGH  

Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD – CSO, McLean  

Ross Zafonte, DO – President, Spaulding