When to Contact an NIAID Program Officer

Find an NIAID program officer at Contact Staff for Help. Contact a PO for the following.

	To assess the enthusiasm of the Institutes about your research area and discuss potential application topics.
		To ask about RFAs and PAs the IC is participating in to discuss potential application topics. Make sure your future application would fit the funding opportunity announcement. First read the NIH Guide notice to glean basic information and learn the program officer's name.
		To ask about investigator-initiated research, including topics of interest to the program and new scientific directions. This includes existing and new priorities we may be interested in even though we cannot publish a PA or RFA (funds constrain the number of Institute-specific initiatives, e.g., a request for applications, we can publish).
		To find out if he or she knows of any relevant initiatives in another institute.
		To find out about requesting assignment to an IC or study section.
	To help you decide which grant type is appropriate for you. Not everyone is ready to apply for an R01.
	For advice on preparing an application.
		To see if you should apply in response to an RFA.
		Ask about meeting requirements for human subjects and vertebrate animals in research.
	If you have any questions about your summary statement.
		If you see a problematic code on your summary statement. To find out what the codes mean, see Research Animals Involvement Codes, Human Subjects Involvement Codes, and Human Subjects Inclusion Codes.
		To get insights into the discussion of your application at the peer review meeting, which your program officer may have attended as a nonparticipant. If you only go by the summary statement critique, you might have a hard time figuring out how much to revise before resubmitting if you did not receive a fundable score.
		To find out the latest funding status for your application.
		If the funding decision on your application is deferred till later in the fiscal year.

For more resources and advice, see the Application Tools for All About Grants.