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NHLBI will give new investigators a break on R01s and R21s

At the Sept. 16 meeting of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Advisory Council, Director Elizabeth Nabel explained two new approaches that NHLBI is putting into immediate practice to give new investigators a bit of a break in competing for their first competitive research project grant.


First, NHLBI will maintain a separate payline that is 5 percentile points above the regular RPG payline, and will fund new investigators for all years recommended. Based on the FY2005 Funding and Operating Guidelines published by NHLBI in June 2005, the payline for regular investigators on R01s and R21s would be 19.0 percentile, and 24.0 percentile for new investigators.

The NHLBI defines "new investigator" as someone:

  • Not previously a PI of an R01 or a project director on a PPG, SCOR, or SCCOR Program/subproject
  • Previously a PI on no more than one R21 or R03
  • Currently holding a position at a domestic institution


Second, NHLBI will conduct an expedited Council review of responses to study section concerns submitted by new investigators whose applications are 5 to 10 percentile points above the existing payline. In other words, new investigators with R01 or R21 scores between the 24.0 and 29.0 percentiles will be able to simply revise their applications with a three to five page response to the reviewers' critiques, rather than go through the standard, full drill resubmission process.

As presented to the Advisory Council, the process for revising applications between the 6th and 10th percentile above the payline would involve the investigator sending his or her response to NHLBI staff, who would review the response to see if it adequately responds to the issues raised by the peer review study section reviewers. The response would then be sent directly to the NHLBI advisory council.

For more information, read the NHLBI FY2005 Funding and Operating Guidelines, and then read the Brief Summary of the September 16, 2005, meeting of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council (NHLBAC). Then, if you have a proposal that might benefit from the new procedures, you should contact the program officer assigned to your application.


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