The NIH Applicant Assistance Program represents a new paradigm guiding the design of meaningful policy interventions for increasing equity of participation in scientific grant funding.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
US Small Business Administration. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program policy directive. https://www.sbir.gov/sites/default/files/SBIR-STTR_Policy_Directive_2019.pdf (2019).
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine et al. Assessment of the SBIR and STTR Programs at the National Institutes of Health (National Academies Press, 2022).
Committee on Capitalizing on Science et al. SBIR/STTR at the National Institutes of Health – Participation of Women and Minorities (National Academies Press, 2015).
Garland, E. R. Winning SBIR/STTR Grants: A Ten-Week Plan for Preparing Your NIH Phase I Application 4th edn (Amazon, 2023).
Korunes, K. L. et al. AAP impact. GitHub https://github.com/EGC-KKorunes/AAP-Impact (2024).
Taffe, M. A. & Gilpin, N. W. eLife 10, e65697 (2021).
Pickett, C. L., Corb, B. W., Matthews, C. R., Sundquist, W. I. & Berg, J. M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 112, 10832–10836 (2015).
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge support from contract PIID 75N91019P00767 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to administer the AAP from 23 September 2019 through 22 September 2024. We further acknowledge the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Development Center for creating the NIH AAP in 2019. We thank the POs at the NIH and the AAP coaches at Eva Garland Consulting who have contributed to and supported the program. Finally, we would like to thank the AAP participating companies for their participation in the program and their survey responses.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
K.L.K., E.C.C., T.X. and E.R.G. are employed by Eva Garland Consulting, LLC. Eva Garland Consulting, LLC was awarded contract PIID 75N91019P00767 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to administer the AAP from 23 September 2019 through 22 September 2024.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Korunes, K.L., Cissell, E.C., Xie, T. et al. NIH Applicant Assistance Program counteracts decades of underrepresentation in SBIR grant awardees. Nat Biotechnol 42, 1151–1153 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02308-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02308-x
