Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Complying With New NIH Biographical Sketch Requirements

In the August issue of its Extramural Nexus, NIH provides great advice regarding the preparation of biosketches under the new guidelines. In this brief article, OER suggests that you start early when requesting biosketches from key personnel. This is quite important now that the guidelines have changed. Though the biosketch requirements were modified earlier this year, many individuals including veteran researchers are unaware of the changes. The biosketches are the last thing that should be holding up your proposal!

Under the previous guidelines, investigators needed to include education and work experience, publications, and current and completed (within 3 years) research support. Though it was suggested that publications included on biosketches be tailored to particular proposals, in reality most investigators used the same biosketch for many different types of proposals. The revised guidelines require a new Section A : Personal Statement. This statement must include information about the individual's expertise and how he or she will contribute to the proposed project. Now, investigators who previously did not put much time into their biosketches are being required to write this section for each and every proposal. This takes some time, so you should plan early and be sure that your collaborators are aware of this change in requirements.

For a sample biosketch under the new guidelines, visit this link and scroll down to the biosketch sample.

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