The NIH requires Reference Letters for Fellowships (Fs), mentored Career Development Awards (Ks), and other programs. They are often confused with Letters of Support, but they have a completely different purpose and should be approached in a structured way to ensure that they provide a trainee applicant with the best possible support for their fellowship.

Purpose

The purpose of a Reference Letter (see the NIH’s downloadable instructions) is to provide evidence that the candidate is ready and able to benefit from the type of training or experience that the funding opportunity they are applying to will provide. In the case of an Individual Fellowship like a F32, the goal is to “to help the committee to understand the candidate’s preparedness and likelihood for success in the proposed research training plan and defined career path”. For a Career Development Award like a K01, it is assumed that any candidate has already “demonstrated strong potential and commitment” to a research career, but that they still “require additional supervised research experience in a productive scientific setting as they seek to further develop their research capabilities and career goals”.  The letter serves as documentation in support of these assumptions.

Structure

These letters should be highly structured to facilitate easy review, and comply with all NIH requirements for Reference Letters. Applicants should check both the general Reference Letter guidelines from NIH as well as specific NOFOs, as some may list additional requirements. Letters should be on institutional letterhead and signed.

Introductory Paragraph

The first sentence or two of the letter should clearly identify the candidate by name, indicate their eRA commons ID, include a clear indication of support (or not), and indicate the specific funding opportunity the candidate is applying for. For example, “I am writing to provide my full support for First Last, PhD (eRA Commons ID LAST123) in their F32 application entitled “Application Title” (funding opportunity number). The referee should then include a sentence or two stating who they are, their area of expertise, and their relationship to the candidate.

Recommendation Paragraphs

The Instructions for Referees provided by the NIH include bolded topics for the referee to respond to. Use these sections as headers, responding specifically to each prompt in a concise but specific paragraph. For example, the Fellowship instructions request “Examples of personal characteristics that are likely to contribute most significantly to further advancement in the candidate’s defined career path”. As a referee, you should bold “personal characteristics” in your letter, and then proceed to describe a few key characteristics the candidate possesses including examples of them displaying that characteristic. “First name displays many personal characteristics that will aid them in her goal to become a clinician-scientist. I was initially struck by her scientific curiosity. I was demonstrating blah blah blah”.  Do this for each of the sections indicated in the Instructions for Referees.

Concluding Paragraph

At the end of the letter, you should repeat your overall assessment of the candidate in the context that the letter requests. Make your comment specific and quantifiable so that there is no ambiguity when reviewers are assessing the candidate’s application package. Contextualize your recommendation in your specific expertise, for example your experience mentoring trainees and your knowledge of the field the candidate is working in, to establish yourself as a credible source of information about the candidate.

Submitting the Letter

Unlike Letters of Support, the letter writer submits a Reference Letter directly to the NIH. The candidate cannot submit the letter on your behalf. The letter is due on the due date of the application, though as with anything with the NIH, it is best to submit early in case you run into any technical issues. To submit the letter, you will need the candidate’s Name, Institution, email, and department affiliation, along with your own eRA Commons ID and the funding opportunity number. Once the letter has been successfully submitted, both the candidate and the letter writer will get a confirmation email from NIH.