NIH Biosketch and Other Support Guidance

NIH provides a template as well as detailed instructions on how to complete the Other Support form.

Yes, CHOP Research Institute has developed a sample Other Support document.

You can also utilize NIH's sample Other Support Page.

Per NIH, there are no longer separate instructions for competing applications and the RPPR. Please use the same form for both JIT and RPPR.

You should only include the current and future periods as NIH is concerned about present and future commitment. CHOP recommends including the full award period dates (MM/DD/YYYY – MM/DD/YYYY) as awards cycles do not often align with the calendar year and can cause confusion for the reviewer.

As above, CHOP recommends the "MM/DD/YYYY - MM/DD/YYYY" format.

The NIH's guidance is as follows: "It is calendar year (e.g., the grant budget period). If PD/PIs are reporting person-months that span two calendar years, they should enter the latter year. For example, if the budget period runs from June 2019 through May 2020, the PD/PI should enter “2020” for the year and include the corresponding person months."

Mark project period with asterisk or (NCE). The last budget period in effort table should reflect the extension period.

Since the Other Support disclosures include all support with or without effort you must disclose any clinical trials you are part of. Examples of how to report it in your Other Support.

• "Per patient reimbursement for XYZ. Minimal commitment effort only with no salary support requested"
• "In addition to the grants listed above, Dr. [Name] is involved in clinical trials. The cyclic and unpredictable nature of the activities in these trials makes it impossible to assign a precise percent effort for each trial. Dr. [Name] has reviewed his/her clinical study obligations and confirms that the aggregate effort on all trials listed below does not exceed [#]% of institutional effort.”

You do not need to report internal funding on your Other Support unless it was from a competitive grant funded by CHOP (e.g., Foerderer, Cell and Gene Therapy Program grants, OMICS grants).

No, you do not need to report these.

No. Salary is not the same as commitment. You may be working on a project without salary, but you must show commitment effort of at least 0.12CM (1%) if you are listed as Key Personnel.

No, you should not include any completed research support. Select, relevant completed support from the last three years can be listed in Section A of the NIH biosketch.

You must list the total award amount for the entire project, not just the amount awarded to CHOP or the annual direct costs.

From NIH: "For subprojects, recipients should provide the project number and PD/PI name for the overall project. All other information, including total award amount and person months, for the subproject only."

Research Support for K Applicant mentors is not the same as Other Support. Effort tables and Overlap statements are to be deleted, and the 3-page limit adhered to. If space becomes an issue, mentors should include sources of support that are most relevant to the K proposal. Mentors are still required to digitally sign the document.

Submission of mentors’ Other Support is not required with JIT nor RPPR submissions for mentored K award mechanisms.

Yes. Even though internal funding does not have to be reported, the post-doc is a resource made available to your research and should be reported as an in-kind resource as noted below:

Research Scientist/ Trainee Dr. XX, who conducts research on the NAME project. Salary supported by the NAME Endowed Chair/ T32# at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Calendar Year (YYYY) Person Months (##.##) 2021 6.0

In-kind (i.e., non-monetary) resources that meet all the following criteria:

• Are uniquely available to the researcher
• Were provided by a non-CHOP entity (either domestic or foreign), and
• Were provided in the past three years, and
• Are not being used on the proposed project, and
• Aside from the proposed project, they are being actively used in support of any of an investigator’s other research endeavors.

In-kind resources include, but are not limited to:

• Personnel (e.g., visiting scholars, visiting students, supported by a non-CHOP entity)
• Space
• Equipment
• Materials
• Supplies

Note: In-kind resources intended for use on the proposed project should be included as part of the 'Facilities and Other Resources' or 'Equipment' section of the application and not 'Other Support.' Examples of In-Kind Support are listed on the Sample Other Support created by CHOP. When in doubt – err on the side of disclosure.

You must still include the sections in your Other Support but note "None."

If you are working on a research consulting agreement you should disclose if you meet any of the following criteria:

• What is the agreement type? Is it a Research Consulting Agreement or does it explicitly mention clauses related to research? If yes – you should include it.
• Will your collaboration potentially result in a research publication with you as an author? If yes, you should include it.

No. As this support is not ongoing, it does not need to be included on your Other Support document.

NIH requires PIs to use electronic signature software of their choice, and in alignment with their institutional practices. A typed name or an image of a signature is not an electronic signature and is not acceptable.

In conjunction with peer institutions, CHOP requires the Other Support documents have a digital timestamp generated by the electronic software (e.g., DocuSign, SignNow, AdobeSign) or a transaction ID. See examples of acceptable and non-acceptable signatures.

CHOP has prepared a job aid that provides instruction for PI Delegates to obtain signatures by routing the Other Support to a PI allowing them to sign via a browser. The second job aid provides instructions on how PIs can digitally sign by creating a digital certificate in Adobe.

If there have been no changes since the last digital signature, CHOP will accept submission of Other Support generated and signed within 120 days of submission

When a digital signature creates a blue bar in the pdf (see below), you must make sure that the printer selected is “Microsoft Print to PDF”, not “Adobe PDF” to flatten the document. Complete instructions for flattening a pdf file are available on Page 5 of the Digital Signature guide.