Don't Be Afraid of NIH Posted on February 15, 2006 Philip A. Fisher (bio) suggests talking to people at NIH about your research ideas.

I think one of the things I'd really emphasize is talk to people at NIH about your ideas. That may be something that other people have said, but NIH really wants to encourage investigators to submit ideas to them. They are extremely helpful at the program level in helping people craft ideas that are feasible, helping them understand what grant mechanisms exist, and it really is designed to be a partnership. NIH exists by virtue of the fact that people are submitting grants to it, so I would just encourage people to not be afraid of the institution of NIH, but really to look for opportunities to talk to people, whether it's at meetings or checking out stuff on the NIH website or just calling people up. It really is the best way to make things move forward and to increase the likelihood that what you're going to be submitting is relevant to the institutes that would fund it.

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