Table Of ContentWriting Grant Proposals in
Epidemiology, Preventive
Medicine, and Biostatistics
Securing research funds in epidemiology, preventive medicine, and biostatistics is highly competitive,
and, at the same time, the grant application and review process at such agencies at the National Institutes
of Health (NIH) has undergone substantial revisions. Writing Grant Proposals in Epidemiology,
Preventive Medicine, and Biostatistics, Second Edition targets effective grant proposal writing in this
highly competitive and evolving environment. Covering all aspects of the proposal writing process, the
updated second edition
• Includes new chapters on Fellowship Grants and Career Development Awards designed for
graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career faculty
• Provides strategies to highlight the “overall impact” of the grant, one of the most important
aspects determining NIH funding in a new chapter on Significance and Innovation
• Provides step-by-step guidelines for grant structure and style alongside broader strategies for
developing a research funding portfolio
• Explains how to avoid common errors and pitfalls, supplying critical dos and don’ts that aid in
writing solid grant proposals
• Illustrates key concepts with extensive examples from successfully funded proposals
Written by an established NIH reviewer with inside knowledge and an impressive track record of fund-
ing, this book is an essential cookbook of the appropriate ingredients needed to construct a winning grant
proposal. The text is not only relevant for early-stage investigators including graduate students, medical
students/residents, and postdoctoral fellows but also valuable for more experienced faculty, clinicians,
epidemiologists, and other health professionals who cannot seem to break the barrier to obtain NIH funds
for their research.
Writing Grant Proposals in
Epidemiology, Preventive
Medicine, and Biostatistics
Second Edition
Lisa Chasan-Taber
Second Edition published 2022
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
and by CRC Press
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© 2022 Lisa Chasan-Taber
First Edition published by CRC Press 2014
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ISBN: 978-0-367-72530-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-72232-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-15514-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003155140
Typeset in Times
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
Preface to 2nd Edition xix
Author Bio xxi
1 Ten Top Tips for Successful Grant Proposal Writing 1
1.1 Tip #1: Start Small but Have a Big Vision 1
1.2 Tip #2: Focus on Small Grants Targeted to Early-Career Investigators 2
1.2.1 Early-Career Awards and Postdoctoral Granting Mechanisms Provide the
Highest Chances for Success 3
1.2.2 Putting Tips #1 and #2 into Action: An Example 3
1.2.3 A Pitfall to Avoid: Interdependent Aims 6
1.2.4 Plan for More Than One Potential Funding Pipeline 6
1.3 Tip #3: Look at Who and What They Funded before You 7
1.4 Tip #4: Spend Half Your Time on the Specific Aims and Project Summary/Abstract 7
1.5 Tip #5: Show That You Can Pull It Off 8
1.6 Tip #6: Your Methods Should Match Your Aims and Vice Versa 9
1.7 Tip #7: A Proposal Can Never Have Too Many Figures or Tables 10
1.8 Tip #8: Seek External Review Prior to Submission 10
1.9 Tip #9: Be Kind to Your Reviewers 11
1.9.1 Subheadings Should Match Review Criteria 11
1.9.2 Highlight Key Sentences 12
1.10 Tip #10: If At All Possible, Choose a Topic That You Find Interesting! 12
ParT I Preparing to Write the Grant Proposal 13
2 Setting up a Time Frame 15
2.1 How to View the Submission Process Overall 15
2.2 Getting Started 15
2.3 Timeline for Submission of an NIH Grant 16
2.4 Get Institutional Help 16
2.5 Begin to Assemble the Research Team Early 16
2.5.1 How to Choose Collaborators 16
2.5.2 Common Pitfalls to Avoid 17
2.6 Consider a Multiple Principal Investigator Model 18
2.7 Establish Working Relationships with Coinvestigators before Submission 18
2.8 Spend Half Your Time on the Specific Aims and Project Summary/Abstract 19
2.9 Solicit the Non-Scientific Forms Early in the Process 20
2.10 Solicit Early Informal Feedback on Your Grant Proposal 20
2.11 Allow Time for External Review Prior to Submission 21
2.11.1 Chalk-Talk Forums 21
2.11.2 Mock NIH Study Sections 22
2.12 Anticipate Being Rejected 22
v
vi Contents
3 Identifying a Topic and Conducting the Literature Search 23
3.1 How Do Literature Reviews for Grant Proposals Differ from Literature Reviews for
Journal Articles? 23
3.2 How Big a Research Gap Do I Need to Fill? 24
3.3 The Literature Review Is an Iterative Process 25
3.4 Step #1: Creating a Literature Review Outline 25
3.5 Step #2: Searching for Literature (Dos and Don’ts) 26
3.5.1 Choosing a Relevant Database 26
3.5.2 What Type of Literature to Collect for Each Section of the Literature
Review Outline 27
3.5.2.1 i. Public Health Impact of the Outcome 27
3.5.2.2 ii. Physiology of Exposure–Outcome Relationship 28
3.5.2.3 iii. Epidemiology of Exposure–Outcome Relationship 28
3.5.3 Should You Collect Epidemiologic Literature That Only Secondarily
Evaluated Your Exposure–Outcome Relationship? 29
3.5.4 Collecting Literature for an Effect Modification Hypothesis 29
3.5.5 How to Start the Search 30
3.5.6 What to Do When Your Search Yields Thousands of Hits 31
3.5.7 What to Do If There Are Too Few Hits 31
3.5.8 How to Retrieve Articles (Hits) 32
3.5.9 How to Scan Articles for Relevance 32
3.5.10 Evaluating Your References for Completeness 33
3.6 Step #3: Organizing the Epidemiologic Literature—Summary Tables 33
3.6.1 What Data Should I Include in a Summary Table? 33
3.6.2 Tips to Make Your Summary Table Most Useful 35
3.6.3 Reviewing the Table to Identify Research Gaps 36
3.6.4 Should I Include the Summary Table in My Grant Proposal? 36
3.7 Example Literature Review Outline and Summary Table 37
4 Choosing the right Funding Source 41
4.1 Part I: Developing Your Grant-Funding Plan 41
4.1.1 Steps for Success 41
4.1.1.1 Step #1: Locate a Mentor for Grantsmanship 41
4.1.1.2 Step #2: Develop Your Overall Grantsmanship Goal 41
4.1.2 Plan for a Steady Trajectory of Grants from Small to Large 42
4.1.2.1 Avoid Classic Pitfall #1: Don’t Skip Straight to Large Funding
Mechanisms 42
4.1.3 Serve as a Co-Investigator on Established Teams or Consider a Multiple PI
Grant 43
4.1.4 Plan for More Than One Potential Funding Pipeline 43
4.2 Part II: Funding Mechanisms for Early-Career Grants 44
4.2.1 Focus on Grants Targeted to Early-Career Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellows 44
4.2.2 Internal University Funding 44
4.2.3 Foundation Grants 44
4.2.4 Resources for Selecting the Right Funding Source 45
4.2.5 Look at Who and What They Funded before You 45
4.2.6 Look at Who Serves as Reviewers 45
4.3 Part III: Step-By-Step Advice for Finding the Right Funding Source at NIH 46
4.3.1 Step #1: Determine Which NIH Institute’s Mission Encompasses Your Topic 46
4.3.2 Step #2: Choose a Funding Mechanism Sponsored by Your Selected NIH
Institute 47
Contents vii
4.3.2.1 Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowship Grants (F Series) “Ruth L.
Kirschstein Individual National Research Service Award” (NRSA) 47
4.3.2.2 Training Grants (T Series) “Ruth L. Kirschstein Individual National
Research Service Award” 48
4.3.2.3 Career Development Awards (K Series) 49
4.3.2.4 Loan Repayment Programs 50
4.3.2.5 Research Supplements 50
4.3.2.6 Research Awards (R Series) 51
4.3.2.7 Choosing between an R03 and an R21 52
4.3.2.8 Early-Stage Investigator Advantages 52
4.3.3 Step #3: Choose the Corresponding Funding Opportunity Announcement
Number 52
4.3.3.1 Read the FOA Carefully! 54
4.4 Examples of Choosing the Right Funding Sources 54
4.4.1 Example #1: A Postdoctoral Researcher Transitioning to Early-Career Faculty 54
4.4.2 Example #2: An Early-Career Faculty Member 56
5 Scientific Writing 57
5.1 Tip #1: Consider Your Audience 57
5.2 Tip #2: Omit Needless Words 57
5.3 Tip #3: Avoid Professional Jargon 58
5.4 Tip #4: Avoid Using the First-Person Singular 59
5.5 Tip #5: Use the Active Voice 60
5.6 Tip #6: Use the Positive Form 60
5.7 Tip #7: Avoid Using Synonyms for Recurring Words 61
5.8 Tip #8: Use Transitions to Help Trace Your Argument 61
5.9 Tip #9: Avoid Direct Quotations Both at the Beginning and within the Research
Strategy 62
5.10 Tip #10: Avoid Saying The Authors Concluded … 62
5.11 Tip #11: Place Latin Abbreviations in Parentheses; Elsewhere Use English
Translations 63
5.12 Tip #12: Spell Out Acronyms When First Used; Keep Their Use to a Minimum 63
5.13 Tip #13: Avoid the Use of Contractions 64
5.14 Tip #14: Spell Out Numbers at the Beginning of a Sentence 64
5.15 Tip #15: Placement of References 64
5.16 Strive for a User-Friendly Draft 65
5.17 Take Advantage of Writing Assistance Programs 65
5.18 Solicit Early Informal Feedback on Your Proposal 66
5.18.1 Solicit Feedback on Content, Not Just Style 66
5.19 Who Must Read Your Proposal 66
5.20 Incorporating Feedback 67
5.21 How to Reconcile Contradictory Feedback 67
5.22 Annotated Example: Needs Improvement 68
ParT II The Grant Proposal: Section by Section 69
6 Specific aims 71
6.1 Purpose of the Specific Aims Page 71
6.2 A Word of Caution 71
6.3 Outline for the Specific Aims Page 72
viii Contents
6.3.1 Goals of the Specific Aims Page 72
6.3.2 Paragraphs #1–#2: Significance and Innovation 73
6.3.2.1 A. Importance of the Topic 73
6.3.2.2 B. How Previous Research Is Limited 73
6.3.2.3 C. The Overall Goal of Your Proposal and How It Will Fill This
Research Gap 73
6.3.3 Paragraph #3: Highlights of the Approach (Methodology) 74
6.3.4 Paragraph #4: Specific Aims and Corresponding Hypotheses 75
6.3.5 Paragraph #5: Summary of Significance and Innovation 76
6.3.5.1 Significance 76
6.3.5.2 Innovation 76
6.3.5.3 An Important Caveat 77
6.4 When to Consider Discarding Your Original Aims and Hypotheses 77
6.5 Should You Aim to Conduct Analytic or Descriptive Studies? 78
6.6 Aims Involving the Use of an Existing Dataset—Pros and Cons 78
6.7 How to Decide Whether to Include Exploratory or Secondary Aims 79
6.8 Tip #1: How to Deal with the One-Page Limitation for the Specific Aims Page 80
6.9 Tip #2: Do Not Propose Overly Ambitious Specific Aims 80
6.9.1 Recommendation for a Feasible Topic for a First Grant 80
6.10 Tip #3: Avoid Interdependent Aims 81
6.11 Tip #4: Avoid Including Too Many Specific Aims 81
6.12 Tip #5: If You Plan to Evaluate Effect Modification in Your Methods,
Include It as a Hypothesis 82
6.13 Tip #6: Remember That All Aims Should Be Accompanied by Hypotheses 84
6.14 Tip #7: Consider Including a Figure in Your Specific Aims Page 84
6.15 Annotated Examples 85
6.15.1 Example #1: Needs Improvement 85
6.15.2 Example #2: Does Not Need Improvement 88
7 How to Develop and Write Hypotheses 91
7.1 Need for Hypotheses 91
7.2 More about the Distinction between Hypotheses and Specific Aims 92
7.3 Hypotheses Should Flow Logically from the Background and Significance Section 92
7.4 How to Write Hypotheses If the Prior Literature Is Conflicting 93
7.5 How to Write Hypotheses If the Prior Literature Is Null 94
7.6 How to Write Hypotheses If the Prior Literature Is Sparse or Nonexistent 94
7.7 Guideline #1: A Research Hypothesis Should Name the Independent and
Dependent Variables and Indicate the Type of Relationship Expected between Them 94
7.8 Guideline #2: A Hypothesis Should Name the Exposure Prior to the Outcome 95
7.9 Guideline #3: The Comparison Group Should Be Stated If You Have a
Categorical Exposure 96
7.10 Guideline #4: When Your Study Is Limited to a Particular Population, Reference to
the Population in Your Specific Aims and/or Hypotheses 97
7.11 Guideline #5: Hypotheses Should Be as Concise as Possible and Use Measureable
Terms 98
7.12 Guideline #6: Avoid Making Precise Statistical Predictions in a Hypothesis 98
7.13 Guideline #7: A Hypothesis Should Indicate What Will Actually Be Studied—Not
the Possible Implications of the Study nor Value Judgments of the Author 99
7.14 Guideline #8: Writing Hypotheses for an Effect Modification/Interaction Aim 99
7.15 Stylistic Tip #1: When a Number of Related Hypotheses Are to Be Stated, Consider
Presenting Them in a Numbered or Lettered List 101
Contents ix
7.16 Stylistic Tip #2: Because Most Hypotheses Deal with the Behavior of Groups, Plural
Forms Should Usually Be Used 101
7.17 Stylistic Tip #3: Avoid Using the Words Significant or Significance in a Hypothesis 102
7.18 Stylistic Tip #4: Avoid Using the Word Prove in a Hypothesis 102
7.19 Stylistic Tip #5: Avoid Using Two Different Terms to Refer to the Same Variable
in a Hypothesis 103
7.20 Stylistic Tip #6: Remove Any Unnecessary Words 104
7.21 Stylistic Tip #7: Hypotheses May Be Written as Research Questions—But
Use Caution 104
7.22 Hypothesis Writing Checklist 104
8 Significance and Innovation 107
8.1 Refer Back to Your Literature Review Outline 107
8.2 The Significance and Innovation Section Should Be Made Up of Subsections
Corresponding to Each Hypothesis 108
8.2.1 Consider Inserting a Figure at the Beginning of the Significance and
Innovation Section 109
8.3 Section A: Importance of the Topic 109
8.3.1 Section A.i.: Public Health Impact of the Outcome 110
8.3.2 Section A.ii.: Physiology of the Exposure–Outcome Relationship 110
8.3.3 Section A.iii.: Epidemiology of the Exposure–Outcome Relationship 112
8.3.3.1 Summarize the Prior Epidemiologic Literature 112
8.3.3.2 Choosing Categories That Highlight the Research Gap 113
8.3.3.3 Note the Relationships between Study Methods and Their
Corresponding Findings 114
8.3.3.4 What Should You Do if the Prior Literature Is Conflicting? 114
8.3.3.5 Highlight Key Studies 114
8.4 Section B: How Previous Research Is Limited (Research Gap) 116
8.4.1 Highlight the Limitations of Prior Studies That Your Proposal Will Be Able
to Address 116
8.4.2 Express Your Own Opinions about a Prior Study’s Limitations 117
8.4.3 You May Refer to Comments from a Review Article 117
8.5 Section C: Summary of Significance and Innovation 117
8.6 Stylistic Tips for Writing the Significance and Innovation Section 118
8.6.1 Tip #1: Summarize Key Sentences in Bold 118
8.6.2 Tip #2: Avoid Broad and Global Statements 118
8.6.3 Tip #3: Be Comprehensive and Complete in Citations 119
8.6.4 Tip #4: Citations Should Directly Follow the Studies That They Relate To 119
8.6.5 Tip #5: If You Are Commenting on a Time Frame, Be Specific 119
8.7 Annotated Examples of the Significance and Innovation Section 120
8.7.1 Example #1: Section A. iii.: Epidemiology of Exposure–Outcome Relationship 120
8.7.2 Example #2: Section I.: Significance and Innovation 121
8.7.3 Example #3: Section I.: Significance and Innovation 123
9 Preliminary Studies 125
9.1 What Are Preliminary Studies? 125
9.2 Where to Place Preliminary Studies in an NIH Grant Proposal 126
9.3 Start by Describing Your Research Team 127
9.4 How to Describe Preliminary Data 127
9.5 Link Each of Your Preliminary Studies to Your Proposed Specific Aims/Hypotheses 128
9.6 Preliminary Studies Should Not Fully Answer Your Proposed Research Questions 129
