CSR’s primary role is to handle the receipt and review of all grant applications that NIH receives. NIH separates the review process from funding decisions.
For Reviewers
Reviewers are critical to our mission to see that NIH grant applications receive, fair, independent, expert, and timely scientific reviews. We appreciate the generosity with which reviewers give their time.
Study Sections
Applications are reviewed in study sections (Scientific Review Groups, SRGs). Review Branches (RBs) are clusters of study sections based on scientific discipline.
Review Meetings
Applications are reviewed in study sections (Scientific Review Groups, SRGs). Review Branches (RBs) are clusters of study sections based on scientific discipline.
Evaluation Initiatives
Access data visualizations, reports, and analytical tools to track progress.
About CSR
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Dr. Yingli Fu received her Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. She completed her post-doctoral training in radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Prior to her role at CSR, Dr. Fu was an assistant professor of radiology at Johns Hopkins…
Dr. Yujing Liu received his doctoral degree in molecular genetics from Syracuse University. His research focused on lysosomal storage diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. He also investigated angiogenesis by using mouse models. Dr. Liu did his postdoctoral training in human genetic…
Dr. Chee Lim serves as Chief of the Musculoskeletal, Skin, and Oral Sciences Review Branch (MSOS RB).
Dr. Chee Chew Lim received his Ph.D. in physiology and then did his postdoctoral training in age-associated diastolic dysfunction at Boston University School of Medicine. Before joining the NIH,…
Dr. Devaiah Ballachanda earned his Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Purdue University. He was a researcher in the intramural program of the National Cancer Institute for over 15 years. Dr. Ballachanda’s…
Dr. Hernandez-Ochoa received an M.D. degree in general medicine and surgery and a Ph.D. degree in neurophysiology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. During his postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, he investigated the role of calcium signals and…
Dr. Ganesan Ramesh obtained his doctorate from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, where his dissertation focused on the role of TGF-βs in pre-implantation embryo development and its regulation by steroid hormones in the uterus. His expertise is in kidney pathophysiology and…
Dr. Jennifer Meyers earned her Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard Medical School, focusing on autoimmunity, and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at NIAID in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation, studying immune responses to HIV infection. She then served as science manager at The American…
Dr. Jian Cao received his M.D. from Zhengzhou University School of Medicine in China and an M.S. from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. He had postdoctoral training in the field of molecular and cellular biology of cancer at Kanazawa University in Japan and then at Stony Brook University (…
Dr. John H. Laity received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Cornell University. Dr. Laity then trained at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California specializing in biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) applications in structural biology. He then took a faculty position at…
Dr. Kate Fothergill earned her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, with a concentration in social and behavioral sciences. She obtained her Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina. Prior to coming to NIH, she was an assistant scientist in the…
Dr. Michelle M. Timmerman is the Associate Director/Guide Liaison Officer at the Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR) at CSR.Prior to joining DRR, she served in the Office of Extramural Research as the Acting Director and Guide Policy Officer of the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts. She also…
Dr. Jacobson currently serves as the Acting Deputy Director of CSR and the Acting Deputy Director of the NIH Office of Extramural Research. Additionally, he has been the Director of the CSR Division of Receipt and Referral since December 2024.Dr. Jacobson joined CSR in 2009 as a scientific review…
Dr. Roger Bannister began his Ph.D. studies in biology at the University of Iowa and completed his thesis at Utah State University. He received his post-doctoral training in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Colorado and was then appointed to a tenure-track faculty…
Dr. Rupali Das received her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock. Dr. Das trained at the Medical College of Wisconsin and then at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she gained expertise in topics related to immune…
Dr. Shannon Sherman received her Ph.D. from the University of South Florida and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Delaware. She then joined the J. Craig Venter Institute as the Director of Environmental Virology where her research focused on virus-host interactions…
Dr. Sharon Isern received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) where she developed viral vectors for gene therapy applications. Dr. Isern conducted her postdoctoral work at UAB and at Tulane…
Suzanne Ryan is a Scientific Review Officer in CSR’s Population Sciences and Epidemiology Integrated Review Group.
She earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a focus on family demography. Before coming to NIH, Dr. Ryan was a senior research…
Your Visit to the CSR Website is Private and SecureThis website is provided as a public service by the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) at NIH. CSR websites perform a wide range of functions, including the collection and dissemination of grant application and scientific peer review policy…
How Application Assignments Are MadeThe Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR) in the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) assigns each application to a scientific review group (study section) with the expertise to evaluate the scientific and technical merit of the application and to one or more…
Reviewers have a broad range of scientific expertise and background. They are experts in the field, but perhaps not in the exact area of your application.Once you've identified possible study sections/scientific review groups that fit your application well, look at the rosters for the review group…
Get the Latest on Scientific Jobs at CSR. Join the CSR-SRO-Jobs-L LISTSERV, which sends new job announcements and other news and information to experienced scientists seeking a rewarding career as a Scientific Review Officer or health scientist administrator at CSR.
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ENQUIRE 2019 - These reports detail the changes in scientific scope for study sections evaluated under the ENQUIRE process in 2019. ENQUIRE integrates data and input from multiple stakeholders – the external scientific community, extramural programs at NIH, and CSR staff to consider changes…
Dr. Barry Margulies received B.S. at MIT in Applied Biological Sciences, with research in controlled release technology. He earned his Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in biochemistry, cellular, and molecular biology, where he studied the G protein-coupled receptors encoded…
Dr. Eleni Liapi received her M.D. at the University of Ioannina Faculty of Medicine, Greece, and residency training in diagnostic radiology, in Greece. She completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in interventional radiology at Johns Hopkins University and was subsequently appointed as faculty…
After receiving her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Washington, Dr. Joann Wu Shortt dedicated over 15 years to prevention research at the Oregon Social Learning Center. As principal investigator and co-investigator on federally funded projects, her research focused on…