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1 The National Institutes of Health and Biomedical Funding THE NIH MISSION Probably the best overview of purpose of the National Institutes of Health is given by the mission statement: Begun as a one-room Laboratory of Hygiene in 1887, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) today is one of the world’s foremost medical research centers. An agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, the NIH is the Federal focal point for health research. NIH is the steward of medical and behavioral research for the Nation. Its mission is science in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to extend healthy life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability. The goals of the agency are as follows: (1) foster fundamental creative discoveries, innovative research strategies, and their applications as a basis to advance significantly the Nation’s capacity to protect and improve health; (2) develop, maintain, and renew scientific human and physical resources that will assure the Nation’s capability to prevent disease; (3) expand the knowledge base in medical and associated sciences in order to enhance the Nation’s economic well-being and ensure a continued high return on the public investment in research; and (4) exemplify and promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science. In realizing these goals, the NIH provides leadership and direction to programs designed to improve the health of the Nation by conducting and supporting research: in the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and cure of human diseases; in the processes of human growth and development; in the biological effects of environmental contaminants; in the understanding of mental, addictive and physical disorders; in directing programs for the collection, dissemination, and exchange of information in medicine and health, including the development and support of medical libraries and the training of medical librarians and other health information specialists. 1 2 WRITING THE NIH GRANT PROPOSAL BASIC NIH FACTS1 Location: NIH headquarters are located in Bethesda, Maryland, and the surrounding areas. Some of the offices and institutes, however, are located elsewhere; for example, the National Institute on Aging is located in Baltimore, Maryland. Organization: The NIH comprises the Office of the Director (OD) and 27 institutes and centers. The OD is responsible for setting policy for NIH and for planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components (see Figure 1.1). Leadership: NIH Director is, at this writing, Francis Collins, MD, PhD, a geneticist and physician who spearheaded the Human Genome Project. Dr. Collins—who ran the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute for 15 years before he left the organization in 2008—was nominated for the position by President Barack Obama. Funding: $30,395,098 in fiscal year (FY) 2009 Congressional appropriations. NIH funds most of the biomedical research conducted in the United States and a great deal more conducted in other countries. Most of the institutes are organized around a specific set of physiologic systems and the disorders that affect these systems. HINT HINT It may seem like an obvious point, but it is important that you identify the institute (from this point onward, I shall refer to the NIH institutes and centers as “I/Cs”) that you think will be most interested in funding your research. And although it is usually fairly obvious, there are exceptions. For example, if you have a hypothesis concerning the role of inflammatory markers in depressed patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), is the emphasis of your study on depression (and the CHF population is just one model that allows you to pursue this question), or is the emphasis on CHF itself? If you focus on the psychiatric outcomes, that is, depressive status, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) may be interested in your proposal; but it is more likely, based on the title, that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is the potential source of funding for such a project. Thus, it is important that, beginning with the title of your project (see Chapter 7 for more detail), you make your research focus clear. You should go to the NIH website to check out the funds available from each candidate institute; there is a great deal of disparity. NHLBI has a considerably larger budget for external funding. This should not determine what sort of project you undertake; that should be dictated by your interests and expertise. However, if you find yourself in a situation in which two or more Institutes might be appropriate, this may be a consideration. Figure 1.1 shows an overview of the NIH organization, and Table 1.1 shows the names and URLs of the NIH Offices, Institutes, and Centers. NIH FUNDING ALLOCATIONS It’s a good idea to be familiar with how NIH distributes its money, and this changes somewhat from year to year. Figure 1.2 shows the budget distribution proposed for FY2010.2 Chapter 1 The National Institutes of Health and Biomedical Funding 3 Office of the Director Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Office of Disease Prevention Office of Research on Women’s Health Office of AIDS Research National Institute on Aging National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease National Cancer Institute National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases National Institute on Drug Abuse National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Eye Institute National Institute of General Medical Sciences National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute National Human Genome Research Institute National Institute of Mental Health National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Institute of Nursing Research National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Fogarty International Center National Center for Research Resources National Library of Medicine Clinical Center Figure 1.1 Center for Information Technology Center for Scientific Review The Offices, Institutes, and Centers that Comprise NIH Table 1.1 NIH Offices, Institutes, and Centers (alphabetical order),* Acronyms, and URLs Office, Institute, or Center Acronym URL Clinical Center CC http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/ Center for Scientific Review CSR http://www.csr.nih.gov/ Center for Information Technology CIT http://www.cit.nih.gov/ Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development NICHD http://www.nichd.nih.gov/ John E. Fogarty International Center FIC http://www.fic.nih.gov/ National Cancer Institute NCI http://www.nci.nih.gov/ National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine NCCAM http://nccam.nih.gov/ National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities NCMHD http://ncmhd.nih.gov/ National Center for Research Resources NCRR http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/ National Eye Institute NEI http://www.nei.nih.gov/ National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute NHLBI http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/ (Continued) 4 WRITING THE NIH GRANT PROPOSAL Table 1.1 (Continued) Office, Institute, or Center Acronym URL National Human Genome Research Institute NHGRI http://www.genome.gov/ National Institute on Aging NIA http://www.nia.nih.gov/ National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism NIAAA http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease NIAID http://www.niaid.nih.gov/ National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases NIAMS http://www.niams.nih.gov/ National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering NIBIB http://www.nibib.nih.gov/ National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research NIDCR http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/ National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease NIDDK http://www.niddk.nih.gov/ National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences NIEHS http://www.niehs.nih.gov/ National Institute of General Medical Sciences NIGMS http://www.nigms.nih.gov/ National Institute of Mental Health NIMH http://www.nimh.nih.gov/ National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke NINDS http://www.ninds.nih.gov/ National Institute of Nursing Research NINR http://ninr.nih.gov/ninr/ National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders NIDCD http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/ National Institute on Drug Abuse NIDA http://www.nida.nih.gov/ Office of AIDS Research OAR http://www.oar.nih.gov/ Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research OBSSR http://obssr.od.nih.gov/ Office of Disease Prevention ODP http://odp.od.nih.gov/ Office of Research on Woman’s Health ORWH http://orwh.od.nih.gov/ Office of the Director OD http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/ *See http://www.nih.gov/icd/ for a brief description of each. Other Research 6.0% Research Management and Support 4.6% Research Centers 9.9% Research Training 2.6% R and D Contracts 11.0% Figure 1.2 Research Projects, Grants 52.9% Intramural Research All Other 10.4% 2.6% Distribution of Proposed NIH Budget, FY2010: $32.239 Billion Chapter 1 The National Institutes of Health and Biomedical Funding 5 OTHER FUNDING AGENCIES The NIH is not the only federal agency that provides research funding. There are several other agencies, centers, and programs that may be relevant to your research interests. Not all of these are funding agencies; however, you would benefit from being familiar with the programs that tie into your areas. Table 1.2 shows a list of the agencies and programs within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that are most likely to concern you and the URLs at which more information can be found. Table 1.3 provides a listing of the general research areas associated with each agency or program. Note that this is the last mention I shall specifically make of these other sources; from this point on, I will focus exclusively on NIH; however, much of the advice will be applicable to grant writing for other funding agencies. Table 1.2 Programs Within the Department of Health and Human Services Involved in Health-Related Research Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services* CMS http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ Administration for Children and Families ACF http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ Administration on Aging AOA http://www.aoa.gov/ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality AHRQ http://www.ahrq.gov/ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ATSDR http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC http://www.cdc.gov/ Food and Drug Administration FDA http://www.fda.gov/ Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA http://www.hrsa.gov/ Indian Health Service IHS http://www.ihs.gov/ National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health NIOSH http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.html National Institutes of Health NIH http://www.nih.gov/ Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities OMHD http://www.cdc.gov/omhd/ Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration SAMHSA http://www.samhsa.gov/index.aspx *Previously Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) Table 1.3 Research Areas Associated With HHS Agencies/Programs Topic AOA ACF AHRQ ATSDR CDC CMS FDA HRSA IHS NIH NIOSH OMHD SAMHSA Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, & Mental Health X Communicable Diseases X Education & Training General Health & Medical X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X (Continued) 6 WRITING THE NIH GRANT PROPOSAL Table 1.3 (Continued) Topic AOA ACF AHRQ ATSDR CDC CMS FDA HRSA IHS NIH NIOSH OMHD SAMHSA Health Services Planning & Technical Assistance X Indian Health X X X X X X X Maternity, Infants, Children X Mental Health X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Occupational Safety & Health X X Physical Fitness Prevention & Control X X X X X X X X X X NOTES 1. These and other facts are available at http://www.nih.gov/about. 2. Information on the proposed distribution of FY2010 funds can be found at http://officeof budget.od.nih.gov/pdfs/FY10/Summary%20of%20FY%202010%20President%27s%20Budget.pdf. Appendix B shows the 2009 success rates by grant mechanism for each I/C. A final note: It is worth going to the NIH website and link to sites that may have items of interest. It is important that you get as much of a feel for the organization—which has its agendas, including funding grants but there are others—as a way to help you understand the subtleties of the funding strategies of the various I/Cs.