How to Build a Productive Relationship with NIH

1. How to Build a Productive Relationship with NIH • Topics • Know your disease • Know the NIH and NINDS • Have realistic expectations • Advocate for stronger NIH and FDA • Know about related diseases

2. Clinical Development Phases Preclinical Development Discovery Approval Market I II lll How to Build a Productive Relationship with NIH • Know your disease • Learn about the science and the status of the research related to your disease • Provide seed funding to investigators to facilitate future NIH grant applications • Play an active role, as appropriate, in grant submissions (e.g. support letters)

3. How to Build a Productive Relationship with NIH • Know the NIH and NINDS! • Meet and work closely with your Program Director • Learn about the various NIH grant mechanisms • Stay aware of new opportunities for funding (e.g. new RFAs) which may benefit your investigators and/or industry partners • And share this information! • Attend the open sessions of NINDS Advisory Council meetings • Build relationships • Organize workshops with the NINDS and invite investigators, FDA and/or industry • Help facilitate collaborations (“play matchmaker”)

4. How to Build a Productive Relationship with NIH • Have realistic expectations (part of knowing the NIH and NINDS) • Understand NIH/NINDS constraints; how they can help and how they cannot! • “What did you expect?”

5. How to Build a Productive Relationship with NIH • Advocate • For stronger NIH and FDA budgets vs. disease specific earmarks • Join coalitions • Weight value vs. cost • Consider the NIH perspective of coalitions vs. the perspective of a given center or institute

6. How to Build a Productive Relationship with NIH • Know about related diseases (part of relationship building) • Find common mechanisms amongst diseases and use to promote discovery and translation (e.g., oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, proteinopathy, etc.)