NIH Biosketch Example: Build a Role-to-Evidence Draft

My role in this fictional project is to lead measurement-quality checks. My training in measurement methods and contribution to an earlier instrument-validation project prepare me to design the checking workflow. In that work, I was responsible for documenting discrepancies between repeated measurements. For the proposed project's unfamiliar statistical model, I will work with the team's designated statistical lead.

This is an invented teaching scenario, not a real investigator's record. Build your own statement from accurate information and verifiable products. The first sentence establishes the project role; the second supplies relevant experience; the third separates individual work from team output. The last sentence makes a dependency visible rather than claiming expertise the person does not have. A real statement must identify the actual work and collaborator where appropriate; the example intentionally avoids invented names and citations.

Do not add a publication merely because its title resembles the new project. Explain the relevant contribution in the appropriate narrative field and check the publication record independently. This example deliberately supplies no invented paper, award, institution, or performance statistic.

Read the draft alongside the project's staffing plan. If the application assigns someone analysis leadership while their statement describes only recruitment, resolve that mismatch. Check that dates, appointments, names, and products agree across the records you control. Ask each individual to review their own information instead of assuming a reused document is current.

NIH says information transferred from an older SciENcv document needs review for accuracy and completeness. Its guidance also identifies ORCID and eRA Commons linking requirements. Use the current instructions in the official interface when completing the actual form; this worksheet does not establish field limits or replace certification.

Use the NIH grant proposal example to check whether the team evidence supports the work the proposal promises. If you need feedback on the manuscript that informs the project, request a manuscript review. A manuscript review does not certify NIH form compliance or predict funding.

Evidence basis: At Manusights, our analysis for this worksheet starts with the proposed responsibility and works backward to a checkable piece of evidence. We compared the current NIH Common Form and supplement descriptions with the fictional drafting scenario above. We did not analyze funded applications or calculate funding outcomes. This worksheet cannot predict funding decisions. The purpose is to help authors detect a role-to-evidence mismatch before writing a persuasive but unsupported personal statement.

Responsibility without evidence. A draft says the person will lead a complex analysis, but gives no relevant training, contribution, or collaboration plan. The repair is to identify actual supporting experience or narrow the assigned responsibility. Adding adjectives such as “extensive” or “leading” does not resolve the gap.

Team achievement presented as individual work. A draft describes what a laboratory accomplished without identifying what this person contributed. Rewrite the sentence around the person's actual task. If that contribution cannot be established, do not make it the basis of the qualification claim.

A recycled statement points at the wrong project. The accomplishments may be accurate while the final sentence still describes an earlier proposal. Compare the draft with the current aims and personnel responsibilities line by line. A factual record can still be a poor explanation of current fit.

The NIH supplement guidance describes those three data elements and the shared interface. Accessed September 13, 2026. SciENcv is available through My NCBI; use its official help for account or interface questions rather than adapting a downloaded example to imitate the form.

Proceed to form preparation when the individual can verify the underlying records and the proposed project responsibility is agreed. Think twice if the team is still assigning work, the narrative depends on an unverified product, or someone else's contribution is doing the explanatory work. Resolve those issues with the person and institutional research office before export.

For a different sponsor's narrative structure, see the NSF project summary example. That example is not an alternative NIH form: keep sponsor-specific requirements separate.

This is a drafting example, not a completed federal disclosure form. Consult the current NIH supplement instructions and your institutional research office before submission.