New and Early Stage Investigators

A Program Director or Principal Investigator (PD/PI) is considered a New Investigator (NI) if he/she has not previously competed successfully as PD/PI for a significant NIH independent research award. An independent research award is considered to be a R01 or equivalent award. R21s, R03s or K awards do not impact your New Investigator status. An Early Stage Investigator (ESI) is a New Investigator within ten years of completing their terminal research degree or within ten years of completing their medical residency. The involvement of New Investigators is considered essential to the vitality of health-related research.

Applications from NI/ESIs will be given special consideration during peer review and at the time of funding. Peer reviewers will be instructed to focus more on the proposed approach than on the track record, and to expect less preliminary data than would be provided by an established investigator. Please refer to https://www.nlm.nih.gov/ep/Payplan.html, under “Fundable Range”, to see the special provision NLM makes for R01 applications from NI/ESIs, regarding impact scores.

See //grants1.nih.gov/grants/new_investigators/index.htm for more information about the NIH NI/ESI policies.

NLM NI/ESI Webinar

The NLM Division of Extramural Programs periodically holds webinars for prospective applicants about NLM's Career Development Awards and Research Project Grant Programs. These sessions (web-based or in-person) are designed for postdoctoral trainees and recent graduates from NLM's university-based training programs, and for other NIs and ESIs. In the webinars NLM staff present an overview of these programs and answer questions from prospective applicants.

A handout of the content is available in PDF Download a PDF copy of the presentation here.

For questions, contact:

Meryl Sufian, PhD
Chief Program Officer
Supervises the work and staff of the NLM Program Management Office. Scientific contact for Public Health and Population Health Informatics research, Social and Behavioral Science and Informatics research, Health Disparities and Health Equity, and Training awards.
Phone: 301-496-4671
Email: Meryl.Sufian@nih.gov

Allison Dennis, PhD
Chief Program Officer
Scientific contact for Bioinformatics, Translational Informatics research, Personal Health Informatics, and the SBIR/STTR program. .
Phone: 301-827-9721
Email: Alison.Dennis@nih.gov

Leonie Misquitta, PhD
Program Officer
Scientific contact for Bioinformatics, Translational Informatics research, and Resource Grant awards.
Phone: 301- 827-3511
Email: Leonie.Misquitta@nih.gov

Yanli Wang, PhD
Program Officer
Scientific contact for Data Science, Bioinformatics, and the RADx-rad Data Coordination Center.
Phone: 301-827-7092
Email: Yanli.Wang@nih.gov

Helper Links for Research Grants