3 Things to Never Say in Your NIH Biosketch Personal Statement

Inspired by this article, here are 3 things you should never say in your personal statement on your NIH biographical sketch. 

1. I never planned on going into a research career.  (Even if this is true, do you want your first impression to the reviewers to be that your research career is only an afterthought?
2. I am the world's foremost expert on XXXX.  (Even if you are world-renowned, there will always be someone else out there who thinks that he or she is actually the world's foremost expert on XXXX.  And he or she is bound to be the NIH reviewer who ends up with your proposal.)
3. My expertise in XXXX makes me an excellent choice for the role of YYYY on this project.  (This is not a problem unless you are recycling from an old version of your biosketch and the subject matter or role you describe is not the role you are playing in this proposal.

More Sample NIH Funded Grant Proposals

Given the demand for sample NIH R01, R03, R21 and other proposals, here are links to more sample grant proposals:

• Sample proposals of various types and topics
• 2 R01 applications, an F31 application, and some NSF examples from Toledo

Interestingly, more and more of the previously publicly-available sample NIH grant proposals from universities around the country are becoming available only to faculty and staff.  Ultimately, funded proposals are all public materials.  You can request a copy of a funded proposal from any researcher and they should provide it to you.  Some may be more secretive about sharing this information, and others may outright try to keep it from you, but ultimately due to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) should should be able to receive a copy.  The NIH FOIA Office has more details on these requests here.  Our taxpayer dollars are paying for these research projects, and more information should be available to the people who work hard every day for the tax dollars to be taken out of their paychecks to fund research grants. 

The NIH Public Access Policy started off on the right track as it was created to make research findings more accessible to everyone.  However, the publishing industry managed to put systems in place that have still weakened this policy's effect.  I hope that more researchers will decide to be forthcoming with their research proposals and share them for the benefit of younger researchers who are new to grant proposal writing and would like to see successful samples. 

Why would we lay people off and send our money overseas?

The recent sequestration has been all over the news.  Universities, hospitals, and research institutions are scrambling to determine how they will hold on to the thousands of jobs that may be lost due to budget cuts.  For this reason, it came as more than a minor annoyance when today I saw this grant opportunity. If our country is in fiscal crisis mode and our own researchers on U.S. soil are in danger of losing their jobs, why do we need to send money to Rwanda to improve their media program?  I can understand the other opportunity posted today for a project aimed at preventing HIV in Mali. That project has the potential for saving lives.  I get it.  Improving the media and elections program in a far-away country, though?  Shouldn't the jobs of the people who are working to cure or prevent serious diseases matter more than helping with media matters when financial resources are scarce?  Are we going to set the health of our own population back because we are too busy helping other nations with other matters to worry about our own people?  Given the cuts in availability of funding, our government officials should undertake a serious review of all programs and prioritize by funding those that have the most significant impact on human life, whether in the U.S. or abroad. 

Sequestration Happened. Now What?

This sequestration thing really happened.  I don't know how to explain it other than it is the latest financial crisis since we got through the financial cliff everyone was talking about back in December.  Essentially, President Obama, the democrats, and the republicans all have different opinions regarding the way the budget and deficit should be handled going forward.  One wants to raise taxes, another wants to decrease spending, and some want to do both.  Since nobody can agree on anything, we are going to keep paying Congress to hang around and argue, and keep paying our prominent politicians and political analysts to have temper tantrums.  Paying for all of this waste of time is going to cost a lot of money.  It is going to cost so much money that funds are going to have to come out of unimportant things like cancer research and AIDS studies to fund important things like lunch meetings so more arguing can occur.  Due to the number of egos in play here, we are talking about a lot of cuts.  Unfortunately, this means that there may be less money to fund your ongoing research project, as was explained to signing officials for NIH-funded organizations today.  It's OK, politicians - we will just let more people get sick and die while you continue to mug for the cameras and hold up important research into disease cures.  Oh yeah, and all of these budget cuts are also causing major flight delays, so maybe you could hurry things along and all go home sooner.

NIH Regional Seminar- Your Only Chance This Year

Baltimore, home of the Ravens, the 2013 Superbowl Champions! 

Have you ever thought that your endless questions about NIH grant proposals could best be answered by NIH personnel, rather than the research administrator at your institution who stopped returning your calls ever since you tried to charge your lab's bar tab from tequila shots at the Christmas party to your grant?  Ever wished that your NIH fairy godmother would appear and grant your wish of becoming an NIH grants expert?  Ever wished you could visit the beautiful and historic city of Baltimore, Maryland?  Well folks, prepare to have your minds blown. 

In past years, NIH has offered two regional seminars in different parts of the country.  At these seminars, newbies and seasoned veterans come together to learn about procedures, upcoming changes, and other important extramural research information directly from NIH personnel.  Today, NIH announced that there will be only one seminar this year, presumably to keep costs down.  The seminar will be offered over a 2-day period, with an optional 1-day workshop before the seminar, and expected attendance is 600-800 people.  Given the popularity of these conferences and the fact that two seminars have now been condensed into one, this is likely to fill up quickly.  If you need to request approval to attend, do it.  This is a rare opportunity to interface with grants personnel and researchers from around the country.  If your institution does not have travel funds available to cover the costs for you, this is one of the few I would recommend paying out of pocket for.  You may even be able to get the tax write off next year as a work related expense.  Find a way to get to Baltimore in June.  You will not regret it.

To register for the seminar, visit this website.