Perspectives on Peer Review at the NIH

November 12, 2015

In today’s New England Journal of Medicine, Richard Nakamura, the director of NIH’s Center for Scientific Review (CSR), and I published an essay titled “Reviewing Peer Review at the NIH.” As the competition for NIH research grants has become increasingly stiff, review scores often are pointed to as the reason for failure to obtain funding. Indeed, over the past few years, peer review has come under increasing scrutiny. Critics have argued that peer review fails in its primary mission – to help funding agencies make the best decisions about which projects and which investigators to support. ….

New Podcast on Certificates of Confidentiality

November 9, 2015

All About Grants is back with a new podcast episode on certificates of confidentiality (CoCs). Dr. Ann Hardy, NIH’s human subjects research protection officer, talks about how CoCs can enhance your human subjects research, as well as protect and benefit research participants …..

Lab Size and Strategic Support of Science: Thoughts on Finding the Right Mix

November 6, 2015

Suppose a funding agency happens to have some extra money and needs to decide how to invest it. Should it invest that extra money in a large, highly productive laboratory, so that laboratory can expand a bit more? Or should it invest that extra money in a small to moderate size laboratory? Given our inability to predict the future with great certainty, which approach represents the smarter investment strategy? Jon Lorsch, the director of the National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), has posted an interesting video on just this question. ….