NIH Biosketch Example: A Complete 2026 Common Form Sample

An NIH biosketch is the required biographical document for every senior or key person on an NIH application. For applications due on or after January 25, 2026, it is no longer a single five-page document. It is two forms built in SciENcv: the Biographical Sketch Common Form, which several federal agencies share, and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement, which carries the personal statement, honors, and contributions to science. Below is a complete worked example in that format, followed by notes on what each field is being read for.

The example is fictional: an early-stage investigator applying as principal investigator on an R01 (the same project as the R01 in our annotated Specific Aims examples). Names, institutions, and publications are invented.

Field limits at a glance

Neither the personal statement nor the contributions may contain citations. You refer to products listed on the Common Form instead. Scholastic Performance, which the old format required for some fellowship applicants, no longer exists.

The worked example: Common Form

Name: Okonkwo, Adaeze N. ORCID iD: (the investigator's ORCID iD, linked in SciENcv) Position title: Assistant Professor of Pharmacology Organization and location: Westbrook University School of Medicine, Westbrook, State

Professional preparation Nordham University, BS, Biochemistry, 2010 Calloway University, PhD, Pharmacology, 2016 Nordham Institute, Postdoctoral Fellowship, Clinical Pharmacology, 2016 to 2019

Appointments and positions 2022 to present, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, Westbrook University School of Medicine 2019 to 2022, Instructor, Department of Pharmacology, Westbrook University

Products closely related to the proposed project

1. Okonkwo AN, Bailey RT, Fenwick S. Hepatic OCT1 expression predicts metformin pharmacokinetics in a stratified cohort. J Clin Pharmacol. 2024.
2. Okonkwo AN, Vargas D. A three-gene peripheral signature for early metformin response. Pharmacogenomics J. 2025.
3. Vargas D, Okonkwo AN, Lin H. Primary hepatocyte models of transporter-mediated uptake. Drug Metab Dispos. 2023.
4. Vargas D, Okonkwo AN. Peripheral expression tracks hepatic transporter status. Pharmacogenomics J. 2024.

Other significant products 5. Okonkwo AN, et al. Hepatic uptake as a determinant of metformin variability. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2023. 6. Okonkwo AN, Reyes C. A reproducible protocol for hepatocyte uptake assays across donors. Drug Metab Dispos. 2021. 7. Lin H, Okonkwo AN. Validation of a multi-donor uptake protocol. J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods. 2022.

Certification: completed in SciENcv by the investigator.

The worked example: NIH Supplement

Personal statement

I am applying as Principal Investigator on this project, which tests whether peripheral blood transporter expression predicts early metformin non-response. My laboratory works at the intersection of drug transporter biology and clinical pharmacogenomics, and I have spent nine years characterizing organic cation transporter variation in hepatic tissue (products 1 and 5).

The project requires three capabilities: mechanistic transporter work in primary hepatocytes, prospective clinical cohort design, and translation of a laboratory assay to a deployable format. I have led published work in the first two (products 1, 3, and 6). For the third, I have assembled co-investigators with established records in dried blood spot assay development, described in their biosketches.

My contribution to the preliminary data was direct: I designed the retrospective cohort analysis, supervised the expression profiling, and led the modeling that produced the three-gene signature this application proposes to validate (product 2). I have maintained the clinical partnership with Meridian Health since 2022, the source of the prospective cohort in Aim 1.

Between 2020 and 2021 my research output was reduced while I was primary caregiver during a family illness. Publication resumed in 2022, and my laboratory has published eleven peer-reviewed papers since.

Honors 2025, Early Career Investigator Award, a national clinical pharmacology society 2018, NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32)

Contributions to science

1. Establishing hepatic transporter variation as a determinant of metformin response. When I began this work, variation in metformin response was attributed largely to renal clearance and adherence. My group showed in a stratified cohort that hepatic OCT1 expression accounts for a substantial share of the variance in metformin pharmacokinetics independent of renal function (products 1 and 5). This reframed non-response as partly a hepatic uptake problem and has since been cited in two clinical pharmacogenomics guidelines. I designed the study and led the analysis.

2. Translating transporter biology into a measurable peripheral signature. Using transporter status clinically is blocked because hepatic tissue is not obtainable in routine care. My laboratory identified a peripheral blood expression signature that tracks hepatic transporter status closely enough to be predictive, converting an inaccessible measurement into a blood draw (products 2 and 4). This work is the direct basis for the present application. I conceived the approach and supervised the analysis.

3. Methods for primary hepatocyte uptake assays at scale. Existing uptake protocols were low-throughput and poorly reproducible across donors. We developed and validated a protocol that reduces inter-donor variability and is now used by four other laboratories (products 3, 6, and 7). My role was protocol design and validation.

What the personal statement is doing

It names the role in the first sentence. A reviewer reading a dozen biosketches needs to know who this person is on this application before anything else.

It maps the project's needs to the record. It names the three capabilities the project needs, says which the applicant has led, and says who covers the rest. That answers the question reviewers are actually asking under NIH's Expertise and Resources factor: can this team do this specific work?

It establishes personal contribution to the preliminary data. Reviewers want to know whether the applicant generated the foundation or inherited it. One sentence settles it.

It handles the gap in two factual sentences. The supplement instructions allow applicants to explain factors that affected past productivity, such as family care responsibilities, illness, disability, or military service. An unexplained gap invites the reviewer to supply their own reason.

It points to products instead of citing. References in the personal statement are no longer allowed, so the statement refers to numbered products from the Common Form. Choose those products with that in mind: the closely related list should be the papers your personal statement and contributions lean on.

It fits. This statement runs well under the 3,500-character limit, which leaves room for a co-investigator's statement to be equally specific about their own role.

What contributions to science are, and are not

Section C of the old format and the contributions field of the new supplement fail the same way:

1. Metformin pharmacogenomics. We published several papers on OCT1 and metformin response, including a 2024 paper showing OCT1 expression correlates with pharmacokinetics.

That is a publication list with a heading. The worked contributions above follow four moves:

1. What was believed before. "Variation was attributed largely to renal clearance and adherence."
2. What you found. "Hepatic OCT1 expression accounts for a substantial share of the variance."
3. Why it mattered. "This reframed non-response as partly a hepatic uptake problem."
4. What changed. "Cited in two clinical pharmacogenomics guidelines."

Then one sentence on your own role, which matters more as author lists grow. Up to five contributions are allowed; three strong ones beat five where the last two are padding. Each must fit in 2,000 characters, including spaces.

Mechanics that trip people up

• ORCID first. Every senior or key person needs an ORCID iD linked in SciENcv and eRA Commons before the forms can be completed.
• Products must be findable. SciENcv pulls products from My Bibliography or the ORCID record, so update those before you build the form.
• Certification is personal. A department administrator can draft the forms as a delegate, but each person must certify their own Common Form. Build that into the internal deadline.
• Use the current forms. eRA Commons validation now rejects the old NIH biosketch format, and the same Common Form is required for Just-in-Time and progress report submissions. Old Word templates from colleagues are now a liability.
• Tailor every key person's statement. A co-investigator's personal statement should say what they contribute to this project, not echo the principal investigator's.

How the biosketch connects to the rest of the application

The biosketches and the Specific Aims page are read together and should tell one story. If the aims propose a mechanistic hepatocyte study, the biosketches should make it obvious that someone on the team does that work well. Under NIH's simplified review, Expertise and Resources is rated sufficient or not sufficient rather than scored, so a visible gap in the team's skills is a pass or fail problem. Name the collaborator who covers it.

To draft against a scaffold, use our NIH biosketch template. For the wider application, including the other 2026 policy changes, see our guide to NIH grants. If you want the biosketches drafted alongside the aims and research strategy so the whole package reads as one argument, our NIH grant writing service handles them together.