Does an R21 Help a New Investigator Get an R01?
Whether new investigators should start with a smaller grant, such as an exploratory/developmental research grant (R21), or jump right into an R01 is a long-standing question. Several institutes have looked into it recently with varying results. But for NIAID, the data show benefits. Here’s a sample of what we found: • New vs. new. New investigators who had an R21 in 2003 were twice as successful in getting an R01 as those who did not have a previous R21 — 32 and 15 percent, respectively. See our definition of new investigator. • New vs. established. New investigators who had an R21 in 2003 were as successful as established PIs in getting an R01 from their R21 project — 32 and 28 percent, respectively. • Successful vs. unsuccessful. New investigators receiving an R01 in 2003 were seven times more likely to have had an R21 than those who applied unsuccessfully. Of these data, perhaps the first point is the most important. An R21 seems to get new people on their way to major independent
