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As you begin your search for NIH research funding, it's important to understand the structure of NIH. Figure out which NIH institutes, centers, and offices (ICOs) are most likely to support your project. Each NIH ICO has its own scientific mission, priorities, and budget.
Why and How to Find Relevant ICOs
Why? To get a grant, your proposed project must fit the mission and priorities of at least one ICO that participates in your chosen funding opportunity. You can consult the ICO's online guidance and staff contacts to identify the right program, maximizing your chance for successful funding.
How? Try both strategies to find ICOs that could support your research area:
- Use Matchmaker. Enter your project abstract or other scientific text. Choose similar projects or program officials. Click the search results to find the funding ICO, NIH program official, and more. Learn more in the Matchmaker Tool Video Tutorial.
- Check the NIH ICO Profiles below.
NIH ICO Profiles: Mission Areas, Funding Priorities, and Opportunities
The following NIH institutes, centers, and offices (ICOs) fund grant awards. Check each ICO's mission, funding website, any areas of special interest, funding strategy, and current funding opportunities.
More than one ICO may be interested in your research. We suggest that you contact multiple relevant program officials for advice on appropriate opportunities and your application ideas. Understand NIH Staff Roles and find contact information on the following websites.
Quick Links
Fogarty International Center (FIC)
The FIC Mission is to support and facilitate global health research conducted by U.S. and international investigators, building partnerships between health research institutions in the U.S. and abroad, and training the next generation of scientists to address global health needs.
Search for FIC Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
The NCATS Mission is to turn research observations into health solutions through translational science—the field that generates scientific and operational innovations to overcome long-standing challenges along the translational research pipeline.
Search for NCATS Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
The NCCIH Mission is to determine, through rigorous scientific investigation, the fundamental science, usefulness, and safety of complementary and integrative health approaches and their roles in improving health and health care.
Search for NCCIH Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
The NCI Mission is to lead, conduct, and support cancer research across the nation to advance scientific knowledge and help all people live longer, healthier lives.
Search for NCI Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Eye Institute (NEI)
The NEI Mission is to eliminate vision loss and improve quality of life through vision research.
Search for NEI Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
The NHGRI Mission is to accelerate scientific and medical breakthroughs in the field of genomics that improve human health. NHGRI does this by driving cutting-edge research, developing new technologies, and studying the impact of genomics on society.
Search for NHGRI Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
The NHLBI Mission is to provide global leadership for a research, training, and education program to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases and enhance the health of all individuals so that they can live longer and more fulfilling lives.
Search for NHLBI Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
The NIA Mission is to lead the federal government in conducting and supporting research on aging and the health and well-being of older people.
Search for NIA Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
The NIAAA Mission is to generate and disseminate fundamental knowledge about the adverse effects of alcohol on health and well-being, and apply that knowledge to improve diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of alcohol-related problems, including alcohol use disorder, across the lifespan.
Search for NIAAA Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
The NIAID Mission is to conduct and support basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.
Search for NIAID Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
The NIAMS Mission is to support research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases; the training of basic and clinical scientists to carry out this research; and the dissemination of information on research progress in these diseases.
Search for NIAMS Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
The NIBIB Mission is to transform, through technology development, our understanding of disease and its prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment.
Search for NIBIB Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
The NICHD Mission is to lead research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all.
Search for NICHD Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
The NIDA Mission is to advance science on drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual and public health.
Search for NIDA Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
The NIDCD Mission is to conduct and support biomedical and behavioral research and research training in the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.
Search for NIDCD Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
The NIDCR Mission is to advance fundamental knowledge about dental, oral, and craniofacial health and disease and translate these findings into prevention, early detection, and treatment strategies that improve overall health for all individuals and communities across the lifespan.
Search for NIDCR Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
The NIDDK Mission is to is to conduct and support medical research and research training and to disseminate science-based information on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutritional disorders, and obesity; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases, to improve people's health and quality of life.
Search for NIDDK Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
The NIEHS Mission is to discover how the environment affects people in order to promote healthier lives.
Search for NIEHS Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
The NIGMS Mission is to support basic research that increases our understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. NIGMS also supports research in specific clinical areas that affect multiple organ systems: anesthesiology and peri-operative pain; clinical pharmacology common to multiple drugs and treatments; and injury, critical illness, sepsis, and wound healing.
Search for NIGMS Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
The NIMH Mission is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure.
Search for NIMH Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
The NIMHD Mission is to lead scientific research to improve minority health and reduce health disparities.
Search for NIMHD Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
The NINDS Mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease for all people.
Search for NINDS Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
The NINR Mission is to lead nursing research to solve pressing health challenges and inform practice and policy—optimizing health and advancing health equity into the future.
Search for NINR Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
The NLM Mission is to conduct and support research in biomedical communications; create information resources for molecular biology, biotechnology, toxicology, and environmental health; and provide grant and contract support for training, medical library resources, and biomedical informatics and communications research.
Search for NLM Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide
NIH Office of the Director (OD)
The Office of the Director (OD) is the central office at NIH, responsible for setting policy for NIH and for planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all the NIH components. NIH OD includes multiple offices and programs that directly support research. (Some OD offices also co-fund research in response to requests from NIH ICOs.) Find details and opportunities for direct funding at:
- All of Us. The mission of the All of Us Research Program is to accelerate health research and medical breakthroughs, enabling individualized prevention, treatment, and care for all of us.
- The Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. The mission of ECHO is to enhance the health of children for generations to come. ECHO investigates how exposure to a range of environmental factors in early development influences the health of children and adolescents.
- The INCLUDE (INvestigation of Co-occurring conditions across the Lifespan to Understand Down syndromE) Project. INCLUDE supports scientific research, clinical trials, and cohort studies to better understand critical health and quality-of-life needs for individuals with Down syndrome.
- Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS). ODSS provides leadership and coordination on a broad range of NIH-wide data science activities to realize the Agency’s vision for a modernized and integrated biomedical data ecosystem.
- Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP). ORIP advances the NIH mission by supporting infrastructure for innovation. This support is focused on research resources, including animal models for human diseases, cutting-edge scientific instrumentation, construction and modernization of research facilities, and research training opportunities for veterinary scientists.
- Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH). The ORWH leads, develops and supports a diverse range of programs, initiatives, and policies to improve the health of all women at all stages of their life course and to support women in biomedical fields at all stages of their careers.
- Office of Strategic Coordination – The Common Fund. The NIH Common Fund supports bold scientific programs that catalyze discovery across all biomedical and behavioral research. Some of these programs include yearly funding opportunities for a variety of career stages.