Sally Ann Amero
The National Institutes
of Health
Marcia Steinberg
The National Institutes
of Health
Responding to the
NIH Summary Statement
W
e’ve all been there, probably more times
than anyone will admit. You spent months
reading the literature, staring at your com-
puter, and imposing on your family and friends before
submitting your grant application to the National
Institutes of Health. Several weeks later, you receive a
notice from the NIH, confirming receipt of the applica-
tion and listing its assignments.^1 All seems fine, until a
few months later.
The seasoned applicant knows that the NIH sends
letters to Principal Investigators soon after a study sec-
tion meeting,^2 usually within two weeks. The letter
indicates whether the study section voted to streamline
(“unscore”) the application or to assign it a numerical
priority score^3 ; if they chose the latter, the priority score
and perhaps the percentile ranking will be given.If Your Application Got an Outstanding
Priority Score and Percentile Ranking
Congratulations, you stand an excellent chance of receiv-
ing a grant award! However, you should not make com-
mitments based on your expectation of funding support,
because your application will be further reviewed by an
NIH Institute or Center Advisory Committee for rele-
vance to established priorities and public health needs,
and the funding decision will be influenced by the rec-
ommendation of this committee and the level of funds
currently available at the given Institute or Center.
Therefore, you should wait for the summary statement
and actual notice of award, and check with your Program
Officer before making commitments.If Your Application Got an Unfavorable
Score and Percentile Ranking
If your application received an unfavorable score, you
will need to formulate an action plan that is based on
logic, sound advice and knowledge of the NIH peerCHAPTER 7 • GRANTS 203