Welcoming the Inaugural Director of the NIH Division of Biomedical Research Workforce Programs

July 31, 2015

I am pleased and excited to announce that in August, Dr. Kay Lund will join NIH as the inaugural director of the NIH Division of Biomedical Research Workforce Programs. As you might recall, the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director‘s Biomedical Workforce Working Group recommended that NIH recruit a leader and establish a dedicated office to guide NIH’s training and development of a well-prepared biomedical workforce….

Interested in Entrepreneurship? Attend the NIH SBIR/STTR Conference

July 31, 2015

Have an entrepreneurial itch? Don’t miss the 17th Annual NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Conference in Seattle, Washington on October 27-29. This interactive three-day conference is the largest NIH SBIR/STTR event of the year.

With over $780 million available for small businesses, the NIH SBIR/STTR programs are one of the largest sources of capital for early-stage technology development in the United States. Attend this conference to learn how to receive funding for your innovative technology and to gain tips on developing a competitive SBIR/STTR application. ….

New Informed Consent Requirements for Research on Dried Blood Spots Obtained Through Newborn Screening

July 31, 2015

Researchers using or proposing to use newborn blood spots must be aware of some recent regulatory changes related to informed consent and human subjects involvement for research using these materials. A new provision of the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-240), which was signed into law in December 2014, requires that….

Understanding the Capacity of NIH’s Peer Review System

July 30, 2015

My office devotes a lot of effort to evaluating its grants policies and practices. Since the introduction of the Enhancing Peer Review changes, NIH has sponsored an ongoing evaluation of peer review, involving formal surveys about the peer review process, as well as other types of analyses. We are keenly interested in your responses to our surveys, so if you receive an invitation to take a peer review survey, I hope you can find the time to respond. The importance of participating in these surveys is nicely illustrated ….

Get To Know OER

July 22, 2015

My office, the Office of Extramural Research (OER), works closely with the extramural research community to support NIH’s mission of funding science that will enhance our knowledge of living systems, improve health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. While frequent readers of Rock Talk may be familiar with OER through the topics I blog about, there is much, much more that my office provides in support of NIH’s extramural program….