Better at the Bench

Congratulations, you have a solid draft of your specific aims, now what? Well, I would highly recommend contacting your institute’s program officer to verify that the your research fits within the goals of the institute you are applying to.

What is a program officer?

“In a nutshell, and from the NIGMS perspective, [program officers] advise applicants and grantees, make funding recommendations, oversee the progress of funded grants, encourage scientific opportunities, and help develop NIH policy.” — Marion Zatz

What I think the program officer is: The program officer is the keeper of the keys. They make major decisions including determining if your grant fits within the scope of the institute you are applying to and help make final funding decisions. So, it is important to incorporate them in the planning of your fellowship or grant.

Videos from the Stanford Grant Writing Academy (requires a SUNet login for viewing)

• Approaching the Program Officer (15 min) by Dr. Mark Roltsch
  A presentation from the 2019 Stanford Science and Art of Grant Writing Symposium.
  Meet a program officer! Dr. Roltsch was a program officer at the NIH and is currently a program officer at the VA. Listen to this short talk to learn about what a program officer does, why you should contact your program officer early in the NIH grant writing game, and his tips for contacting a program officer.

• How to approach a Program Officer (5 min) by Jason Reuter
  Part of the grant coach and faculty videos. A quick guide that describes what a program officer is, when to contact them, and how to contact them.

Your three best friends in the NIH grant process

1. Scientific Review Officer: Upon receipt of your application, this individual makes sure that your grant is complete (i.e. that all the components are turned in), organizes the study sections, and makes sure that your grant is assigned to the appropriate study section. This is your primary NIH contact before your grant is reviewed by the study section.
   When to contact your review officer? To discuss your review assignment, to request permission to submit additional or amended materials, and to discuss review concerns.

2. Program Officer: Once your grant gets scored and a summary statement is prepared, the application goes into the hands of the program officer. The program officer is very, very powerful. The scores and summaries provided by the study section are in reality only recommendations/assessments provided by the academic community. At the end of the review process, the program officer reads these recommendations and makes the final grant funding decisions — incorporating together the score, reviews, and the ability of the grant to address the mission of the institute. This is why it’s important to contact your program officer and make sure that your proposal is a good match for the institute.
   When to contact your program officer? To help you identify which grant/funding opportunity to apply for, to verify that your proposal fits within the mission of the institute, to discuss whether your research is considered a clinical trial, and to discuss the outcome of a grant (i.e. to discuss your score and comments).

3. Grants Management Officials: After your grant gets a thumbs up from the program officer, you are assigned a grants management official. This person helps you set up your grant by making sure that you have all the proper documentation submitted. In my case, to actually green light the K99 I needed to submit to my grants management official an updated IACUC approval (i.e. animal documentation) and proof that I had terminated a grant that I was previously on. My grants management official also helped me move forward my start date from the beginning of the cycle to the end of the cycle.
   When to contact your grants management official? To help you with any financial or grants administration issues.

How to find your program officer

Finding your program officer is a surprisingly difficult task… I love the NIH, but each institute has their own directory and often times the directories are difficult to navigate. Below are three methods that you can use to find your program officer. As a test, I just used these methods to find my program officer and based on how easy it was I ranked the methods from best/easiest to worst/unsuccessful.

1. Grant writing academy method (Best!): I learned this strategy from the Stanford Grant Writing Academy. It’s a bit more work, but it got me directly to the correct person (yay!).

   • Look up or download the current Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the grant you want to apply for.

   • Scroll down and click on “Section VII: Agency Contacts.”

   • Then click on “Table of IC-Specific Information, Requirements, and Staff Contacts.”

   • Scroll down to your institute, and contact the “Scientific Program Contact.”

   • Note, there may be a few program contacts available, so pick the division contact that is most applicable to your proposal.

2. Google (Meh): After you figure out your grant and institute, with a little time, Google can work. I just typed in “Program Officer, K99, NIGMS” into Google and did not immediately locate my Program Officer. If this is the method you use, do not fret. When I first tried to contact my program officer, I accidentally contacted the wrong one! Thankfully, this other program officer kindly forwarded my email to the appropriate program officer. In short, the people at the NIH are generally very nice and helpful, just be kind and courteous in return and you will eventually get to where you need to be.

3. NIH RePORTER Matchmaker (Worst): This came recommended online, so I thought I would give it a try. While this method was able to match me up with the correct institute, my program officer was not on the list (at all). I think if there was a way to make this grant specific, then it might work. Maybe I’m using it wrong? Feel free to check it out.
   What to do: Go to the NIH RePORTER Matchmaker website, type in text that is relevant to your proposal (for example, I pasted in the first two paragraphs of my specific aims), click on “Similar Program Officials.” Done.

When to contact your program officer

Early!!! I would highly recommend making initial contact with your program officer after you write your specific aims — and hopefully many months before your application is due. In my experience, the program officer gets back to you within about a week with one of four responses:

1. Excitement about your proposal — Congratulations! You’ve successfully leaped over the first hurdle, you may proceed to write the rest of the grant now.

2. General enthusiasm, but with suggestions or concerns — Make your program officer happy. Revise your proposal and make sure that you incorporate the appropriate changes.

3. Informs you that your proposal is not within the mission of the institute — Contact another program officer to see if your proposal does indeed fit better with another institute. Alternatively, make major revisions to your proposal and check in again with your program officer.

4. Informs you that you are ineligible for the grant you are applying for and suggest others — Thankfully I have not received this response (yet?), but it is definitely a possibility. In this case figure out what other grants you can apply for. There are many grants available outside of the NIH system.

It may not be feasible, but try to stay in contact with your program officer throughout the entirety of your the grant writing process.

After the review process is over, I would also recommend contacting your program officer to discuss your score and comments in your summary statement. They will provide you critical feedback for a resubmission or be your primary point of contact to determine if your grant is funded.

How to communicate with your program officer

Program officers receive many, many emails a day. So, compose your specific aims inquiry concisely with all the relevant information: Name, reason you are contacting them, your years in the lab (so that they can assess your grant eligibility), the grant you are applying for, and the cycle you are applying for. Many people also recommend that you provide a phone number to allow for multiple avenues of contact. And be polite!

Below is the first email I wrote to my program officer (when I was initially thinking about applying for an F32). In retrospect, I think it could have been shorter, but I received a quick email response, so it got the job done. I italicized all the important information. Feel free to use this as a template for your own emails.

Hi Dr. XXXX,
My name is Jennifer, I am a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and just completed my first year in the lab. I am currently preparing a F32 NRSA application for the December 8th submission deadline.  I am interested in learning if my proposal goals are relevant to the mission of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. I have attached my specific aims to this email for your review. However, if it would be easier to briefly discuss this matter of relevance over the phone, please let me know when it would be convenient to contact you.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Jennifer
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email here
Phone number here

References

Marion Zatz. 2011. A view from the NIH bridge: perspectives of a program officer. Molecular Biology of the Cell 22(15): 2661–2663. PMCID: PMC3145542. PMID: 21799136.