Introduction to the National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), part of the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), is a federal agency consisting of 27 institutes and centers (ICs), of which 24 make external grants. Each has its own budgets and priorities. The vast majority (84%) of NIH’s $30 billion budget supports external research at institutions like Stanford, making NIH the leading funding agency in the US for biomedical research. NIH funds a broad array of awards—from small training awards for students and postdoctoral fellows to large awards for comprehensive centers. Follow the links below to learn which award types or “grant mechanisms” are relevant to the Department of Anesthesia and your interests. Useful references at NIH, Stanford, and the Department of Anesthesia are also listed below.
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These awards are for pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships, as well as training for experienced scientists who wish to change career directions. |
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These awards are for career development. Although most mechanisms are for junior investigators, there are a few for mid-career and senior investigators. |
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These awards are for program projects or centers, which are large, multi-project efforts that generally include a diverse array of research activities. (Coming soon.) |
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These awards are for research projects. There are also resource grants such as the R24 and R25 mechanisms. |
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These awards are for training pre-doctoral and post-doctoral researchers and for conferences. (Coming soon.) |
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These awards are cooperative agreements, used when there is a substantial programmatic involvement between the awarding Institute and Center at NIH and the investigator’s institution. (Coming soon.) |
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The NIH also supports a variety of broad-reaching, cross-institute programs, such as the “NIH Roadmap Initiatives” and the DP1 and DP2 mechanisms. (Coming soon.) |
Useful References at NIH
- NIH homepage
- Find grant opportunities and basic information on applying for grants at the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER), which makes policies for NIH’s external grant programs. Visit the OER homepage »
- Search for funding opportunities and notices »
- Susan Grove at NIH sends out weekly e-mails with new funding opportunities and other notices. Subscribe to her e-mail distribution list ("LISTSERV") »
- Confused by all the terms and acronyms used by NIH? See its glossary and list of acronyms.
- Search for already funded grants using NIH’s new RePORT tool, which replaces the CRISP database.
- Find basic information on grants and how to apply for them at OER and NIGMS.
- Search Grants.gov for funding opportunities at NIH and other federal agencies.
Useful References at Stanford
- The Research Management Group (RMG) at Stanford helps School of Medicine faculty apply for and manage grants.
- Use RMG’s e-submit system to submit your proposals to RMG 5 working days before the sponsor’s deadline.
- Contact the Research Process Manager at RMG (currently Luke Delong) to register as a PI in eRA Commons. All PIs must be registered in eRA Commons to receive awards from NIH.
- Find the Department of Anesthesia’s RMG contacts »
Department of Anesthesia contacts
Michael Helms [mkhelms]
(650) 721-6119
Patricia Rohrs [rohrs]
(650) 483-7584
