Get to Know NIH

Are you just starting your career? Set yourself up for success in NIH’s grant application process by understanding NIH’s mission, nature, structure, and key personnel.

Mission

NIH is a steward of biomedical and behavior research for the nation. NIH aims to see fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.

Dual Nature

Intramural research: NIH is an institution of about 6,000 scientists. This makes up approximately 10 percent of NIH budget.

Extramural research: NIH supports more than 4,000 institutions and 300,000 scientists and research personnel. This makes up approximately 80 percent of NIH’s budget.

Structure

NIH has 27 institutes and centers, each with a different mission and priority, budget, and funding strategy. Read more about them on NIH’s website.

NIH Office of Extramural Research

NIH’s Office of Extramural Research (OER) preserves the public trust in biomedical research. The OER oversees:

Scientific integrity, public accountability, and program stewardship.
Policy and procedures on development, implementation, and oversight.
Services and infrastructure: systems and data, communications, admin support, and education and training.

NIH OER also provides comprehensive information about grants and funding, which you should be sure to visit.

Who you need to know at NIH — and when to contact them

Program officials: Contact program officials for scientific and administrative guidance for investigators pre- and post-award. They:

• Manage the programmatic, scientific, and/or technical aspects of a grant.
• Develop initiatives.
• Provide post-award oversight.

Scientific review officers: Contact scientific review officers during the review process. They are responsible for scientific and technical review and: 

• Ensure fair and unbiased evaluation of scientific and technical merit.
• Manage reviewer conflicts.
• Provide a summary of the evaluation.
• Review applications for completeness and conformance with application requirements.

Grant management officers: Contact grant management officers for fiscal or policy guidance pre- and post-award. They are responsible for completion of business management requirements and:

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

Adapted from NIH Office of Extramural Research. Original source: “NIH Top 10 Steps to Success.”