Understand Staff Roles

Program Officials

Responsibilities

• Develop research and research training initiatives.
• Write notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs).
• Provide scientific guidance to investigators pre- and post-award.
• Monitor the programmatic, scientific, and/or technical aspects of a grant.
• Work in partnership with grants management staff on post-award administration, including review of progress reports.

When to Contact

• To help identify an appropriate type of grant program and/or funding opportunity for you and your research​.
• To obtain input on whether your specific aims fit within the mission and priorities of an NIH institute or center.
• To discuss whether your research is considered a clinical trial.
• For approval to submit an application with a budget of $500,000 or more in direct costs for any single year or an R13 conference grant.
• To discuss the outcome of review after receiving and reviewing your summary statement.
• To talk about progress or scientific and administrative issues that arise with the grant post-award.

What POs Can't Do

• Co-write or rewrite any portion of an application by
  • Proposing copy edits to your proposal.
  • Providing specific edits to specific aims or research plan.
  • Providing specific advice on experimental design.
• Share details of an upcoming funding opportunity that has not yet been published in the NIH Guide.
• Share information that is not in the public domain.
• Direct your application to a particular study section.
• Discuss the review meeting prior to the summary statements being made available.

Tips for Reaching Out

• PO time is limited. Do your homework prior to reaching out.
  • Plan your discussion to focus on items that can't be addressed by posted resources.
    • You'll find the answer to most of your questions in the funding opportunity, How to Apply – Application Guide, the NIH Grants and Funding website, Policy & Compliance website, and FAQs.
  • Consult with your Office of Sponsored Research or similar administrative office—they often have a wealth of resources and can discuss any institution-specific procedures.
  • Reach out to colleagues and mentors for specific advice and suggestions.
• Use email to initiate the connection.
• Organize your thoughts—draft specific aims or a few paragraphs that succinctly describe your proposed research.
• Be specific.
• Use the subject line to convey your main “ask.”
• Provide grant number, funding opportunity number, mechanism or other available details.
• Explain why you are reaching out and give enough context for the PO to be prepared for a meaningful discussion.
• Don’t wait until the last minute.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions—no one will think less of you for not knowing the answers.

Where to Find Contact Information

• When getting started
  • Use our Matchmaker tool in RePORT to find NIH funded grants on topics related to yours.
    • A Program officials tab identifies the program officials associated with the matched projects and includes its own filters for Institute/Center and Activity Code.
  • Check organization charts and staff directories on NIH Institute or Center (IC) websites (see Institute and Center (IC) Contacts).
    • Search for central offices that may be able to answer general questions about training, career development, SBIR/STTR programs, etc.  
• After finding a funding opportunity of interest
  • Refer to section VII of the funding opportunity for Scientific/Research Contact(s).
     
• After application submission or award
  • Look in your eRA Commons account for the assigned program staff contact for your application or award.

Scientific Review Officers

Responsibilities

• Review applications for completeness and conformance with application requirements.
• Ensure fair and unbiased evaluation of scientific and technical merit.
• Provide a summary of the evaluation in the form of summary statements for applicants.

When to Contact

Where to Find Contact Information

• After finding a funding opportunity of interest
  • Refer to section VII of the funding opportunity for Peer Review Contact(s).
     
• After application submission
  • Look in your eRA Commons account or Notice of Award for the name and contact information for the assigned scientific review officer for your application or award.

Grants Management Officers

Responsibilities

• Evaluate applications for administrative content and compliance with policy.
• Negotiate awards.
• Interpret grants administration policies.

When to Contact

• To discuss financial or grants administration issues.
• For interpretation of grants policies.

Where to Find Contact Information

• After finding a funding opportunity of interest
  • Refer to section VII of the funding opportunity for Financial/Grants Management Contact(s).
     
• After application submission and/or award
  • Look in your eRA Commons account for the name and contact information for assigned grants management staff for your application or award.

Receipt and Referral Staff

Staff in Division of Receipt and Referral in NIH’s Center of Scientific Review

Responsibilities

• Evaluate applications for compliance with policy.
• Assign applications to institutes/centers or partner agencies for funding consideration.
• Assign applications to appropriate group for initial peer review.

When to Contact

• To identify institutes/centers at NIH or a Scientific Review Group (SRG) that might be appropriate for your application.
• To request reassignment of an application when an assignment to an institute, center or review group seems inappropriate (request from Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI) must be made in writing).
• To officially withdraw an application from funding consideration prior to review.

Where to Find Contact Information

• When exploring NIH

• To request reassignment or withdrawal of an application
  • Use the eRA Commons to withdraw an application online (see Withdraw Your Application for details).
  • Send an email to [email protected] with an attached letter including: an ink signature of an authorized organization representative, name of contact PD/PI, application number, and the details of the request.