Featured Panelists for the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award:

Melissa L. Kemp, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering.  She took her Ph.D. from University of Washington in 2003. Dr. Kemp was a Postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2003 to 2006.  She received her B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997.  Dr. Kemp’s areas of research include systems biology in the context of cancer immunology, computational modeling of intracellular metabolic and signaling pathways.

Manu O. Platt, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering.  He took his Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University in 2006.  Dr. Platt then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2006 to 2008.  He received his B.S. from Morehouse College in 2001.  Dr. Platt’s areas of research encompasses tissue remodeling in arteries due to sickle cell disease or HIV-infection, roles of proteases in tumor metastasis, and bone marrow-derived stem cell based therapies.

Christine K. Payne, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in Chemistry & Biochemistry.  She received a NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, 2009.  She took her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2003.  Dr. Payne then completed an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University from 2003 to 2006.  She received her B.S. from the University of Chicago in 1998.  Dr. Payne’s research is to understand the mechanism of intracellular reactions in relation to the cellular environment. Their research focuses on two aspects of cellular regulation; spatial localization of enzymes in vesicles and diffusion within the crowded environment of the cytosol. 

The NIH Director's New Innovator Award addresses two important goals: stimulating highly innovative research and supporting promising new investigators. Many new investigators have exceptionally innovative research ideas, but not the preliminary data required to fare well in the traditional NIH peer review system. As part of NIH's commitment to increasing opportunities for new scientists, it has created the NIH Director's New Innovator Award to support exceptionally creative new investigators who propose highly innovative projects that have the potential for unusually high impact. This award complements ongoing efforts by NIH and its institutes and centers to fund new investigators through R01 grants and other mechanisms.

The NIH Director's New Innovator Award program is different from traditional NIH grants in several ways. It is designed specifically to support unusually creative new investigators with highly innovative research ideas at an early stage of their career when they may lack the preliminary data required for an R01 grant. The emphasis is on innovation and creativity; preliminary data are not required, but may be included. No detailed, annual budget is requested in the application. The procedure for evaluating applicants' qualifications is distinct from the traditional NIH peer review “study section” process and will emphasize the individual’s creativity, the innovativeness of the research approaches, and the potential of the project, if successful, to have a significant impact on an important biomedical or behavioral research problem.

NIH Directors New Innovator Award Application Due Date: October 14, 2011 

Read RFA-RM-11-005 for detailed instructions on how to apply.