Program Officers
Some links will work for NIAID staff only.
Standard Operating Procedure Table of Contents
Purpose
To administer NIAID's scientific programs, oversee grant portfolios, set priorities for committing federal funds, and act as an advocate for a scientific area.
Procedure
Program officers, also called program officials and program administrators, are staff scientists who administer grant portfolios in the Institute's extramural program divisions: Division of AIDS, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, and Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation.
Each program officer is associated with one or more program class codes, which are scientific areas with assigned grants. See the Program Officers Listed by Program Class Code spreadsheet for a list.
To find an NIAID program officer, go to Contact Staff for Help in the Strategy for NIH Funding.
(For contracts, see the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) SOP.)
Applicants and Principal Investigators
- Contact a program officer to do the following:
- Discuss whether your proposed topic would fit into his or her program, or whether another NIAID program or NIH institute has initiatives suited for your research.
- Find out about the funding status of your application after receiving your summary statement. Check your eRA Commons account for application information.
- Learn more about the initial peer review of your application, after receiving your summary statement in case you need to revise and resubmit.
- Get information on scientific and programmatic matters concerning your grant.
- Ask questions about NIH policies, including:
- Obtain details on managing your grant. Read Strategy for Your Grant in the Strategy for NIH Funding.
- Discuss prior approval requirements. See the Prior Approvals for Post-Award Grant Actions SOP.
- Discuss issues that may affect progress on your research aims.
For more, see When to Contact an NIAID Program Officer and our Finding Help and NIAID Staff Roles questions and answers.
Program Officers
- Interact with the extramural grantee community to assess research needs and opportunities.
- Provide scientific expertise to NIAID and other NIH components and federal agencies.
- Develop research concepts, requests for applications, and program announcements.
- Facilitate investigator-initiated research by advising investigators on funding opportunities and how to apply for support.
- Administer scientific portfolios of grants and cooperative agreements from application receipt through assignment and peer review to selection for award and subsequent monitoring of performance.
- Attend peer review meetings. See Conflict of Interest in Peer Review SOP. For more about how staff interact in a peer review context, read NIH Policy Manual Chapter 54514.
- Protect the confidentiality of reviewer comments during meetings. Do not take notes that would identify reviewers, and do not discuss individual reviewer comments with investigators.
- Work with scientific review officers and grants management staff as appropriate.
- Uphold government regulations on the appropriate use of federal grant funds.
- Take required in-house and NIH training. See our Extramural Staff Training Overview and Program Officer and Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) Training for more information.
- Know how to useExtramural Systems and Tools.
- For an in-depth look at the program officer role, see Program Officer Responsibilities.
Contacts
To find an NIAID program officer, go to Contact Staff for Help in the Strategy for NIH Funding.
If you have knowledge to share or want more information on this topic, email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base.
Links
IMPAC SOP
Grants Timeline for Fiscal Year
Extramural Scientist Administrator training page
NIH Manual Chapters
Program Leadership Committee