If your role at NEOMED doesn't involve submitting research grants, probably you haven't had an opportunity to work with Becky Hayes from the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. She communicates with principal investigators and their collaborators, and puts all information (proposal title, budgets, budget justification, scope of work, facilities, biosketch, etc.) into our administrative system. Sometimes, or maybe often, her desk is piled up with documents sent from many PIs. However, she works efficiently, putting all her efforts to submit proposals before their application due dates. Yes, she is a true multitasker.
Recently, one of my collaborators at a different university decided to submit an R01 grant to NIH. The PI asked me to join the grant as a co-investigator on very short notice. I'm a relatively new faculty member at NEOMED; therefore, the first challenge was to transfer my eRA Commons ID, which is an account username that NIH uses, to NEOMED. The second and the bigger challenge was to complete and send all documents required for the grant submission. My colleague told me that Becky Hayes was the person whom I should talk to about submitting NIH grants. I knew she was extremely busy working on other grants. However, she didn't mind handling another. She quickly transferred my eRA Commons ID to NEOMED and started working on my grant submission. She promptly communicated with the PI, her grant manager, and me to get information/documents needed. It only took her a couple of days to put all the information into NEOMED's administrative system and complete the required tasks on NEOMED's side.
I really appreciate her professional and efficient work. She is a very friendly person, so that is a bonus.
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