OER's Commitment to Effective Stewardship through Service and Transparency

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It is clear that the American public has great trust in NIH, not only in terms of setting the direction for and finding new discoveries in biomedical and behavioral research, but also in terms of the billions of dollars that we annually invest and manage. Being effective and efficient stewards of this trust can be quite challenging, given the range and diversity of science at NIH, as well as transitions and issues being faced in US government. This is where the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) plays a key role by providing the services and supports of extramural policy and electronic research administration that serve as the critical architecture for effective stewardship, thereby laying the foundation for the ICs to pursue their scientific missions to the fullest potential.

We have found that the best way to create sound policy for the grant making and monitoring process is to listen, respond, and work with our internal NIH and external research community stakeholders. This is why you consistently see NIH and OER unveiling new services and policy changes, such as the new Reviewer Reimbursement System profiled in this issue of the Nexus. In many cases the creation of new services and policy changes is a direct response to needs expressed by either our external research community or by you who, here at NIH, work in extramural. To lessen your need to constantly adjust to new or different policies, we also attempt to cluster such changes.

In addition to being attuned and responsive to our stakeholders, OER strives to be entirely transparent in communicating the reasons for change and to provide well reasoned guidance for adapting. This is why you find us offering services such as a new process for providing detailed NIH funding information to the Public, also introduced in this issue of Nexus. We believe strongly that only by making our activities entirely transparent can we be sure that we offer our stakeholders the highest quality of service. This becomes especially true during periods of significant change, such as we are in now.

Through numerous leadership and service activities with other Federal grant-awarding agencies and departments, I and all involved OER staff make every effort to solicit and synthesize the best ideas and suggestions to improve, develop, and implement effective and efficient extramural policy and tools. In future columns, I plan to explain more fully our roles and interactions with other Federal grant-award agencies and committees and how these activities affect and shape your work at NIH. Until then be assured that I am committed to listening to you, responding to you, and working with you to further shape and ensure extramural stewardship for fulfilling the NIH mission.

– Sally Rockey, Ph.D.
Acting NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research