The Power of a Good Idea

Dr. Alan Spector is a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience in FSU's Department of Psychology.

“Don’t try to sound complicated,” Spector said. He explained that the point of the Research Plan section of the R01 proposal is to get the reviewer to understand and buy in to your research idea. To do that, he admonished the audience to “focus the reader on the importance of your specific problem, try to avoid jargon, and be sure to define abbreviations …. If you overuse them, it can be really difficult to read the document, so use them judiciously.”  

Spector’s presentation was a part of the Office of Research Development’s half-day webinar for faculty and other researchers at FSU interested in applying for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 award. What is an R01? It’s the O.G. of NIH funding. According to NIH’s Research Projects Grant Program, the R01 is “the original and historically oldest grant mechanism used by NIH. The R01 provides support for health-related research and development based on the mission of the NIH.” R01s are solicited by the NIH’s various institutes and centers. Unlike many grants and awards, an investigator can actually initiate an R01 application outside of a specific program, as long as it aligns with the mission of one of NIH’s institutes or centers. 

Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Spector is guided by strong ideas and exciting research possibilities. He encouraged his audience to find what excites them in their research. “Is the science exciting to you? If it's not, it's going to be difficult to write a proposal that excites others,” Spector said. Spector is no stranger to R01s. He is the Primary Investigator on three active R01 awards. Two from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and a third from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.  

Spector pulled double duty at the webinar after his presentation by sitting in on the NIH Reviewers Panel with Drs. Pamela Keel (Psychology) and Michelle Arbeitman and Mohamed Kabbaj (both from Biomedical Science and Neuroscience). Each has served as an R01 proposal reviewer for various NIH institutes and centers. They encouraged their fellow researchers to serve on review panels as a way of giving back to the scientific community, reading up on cutting edge health-related research, and learning to distinguish the mediocre from the great proposals. 

The final panel of the day featured NIH R01 Recipients. Panelists Drs. Linda Rinaman (Psychology), Aaron Wilber (Psychology and Neuroscience), and Frankie Wong (Nursing) shared their experiences of writing, submitting, and, more often than not, resubmitting their R01 proposals. Resubmission is the name of the game for the R01 proposal. Most R01s are not funding on the first try, and resubmission requires the applicant to address the reviewers’ criticisms in a constructive way. It requires humility. 

The R01 also requires fortitude. Spector’s final slide was a blank white canvas with large black lettering that simply said: "Be Relentless." Even Spector has had to resubmit. “My heart’s been broken many times over the years. It’s always a bummer and devastating when you get scored (and) it’s not funded.” But the battle doesn’t end there, he says. “You just turn around, and you address the criticisms, and you send it back.” That’s how the R01 is won. It’s a long game that takes passion, skill, humility and, as Spector said not too jokingly, “some luck.”