ABSTRACT
After you (the applicant) complete your grant proposal according to the grant application instructions, your institution’s office of grants and contracts submits the application to NIH (Figure 19.1). You will then be able to log onto the NIH website (Electronic Research Administration (eRA) Commons [https://commons.era.nih. gov/]) and see that it has been assigned to both of the following:
1. A Scientific Review Officer (SRO) of a specific Scientific Review Group (study section) at the Center for Scientific Review (CSR)
2. A program official(s) at a primary NIH institute and possibly one or more secondary NIH institutes
The first stage of the review is performed by the study section. The study section evaluates the application in terms of its scientific and technical merit only. In fact, the use of the term funding at this stage is forbidden and considered a four-letter word!
