CSR’s primary role is to handle the receipt and review of ~ 75% of the 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.
News & Policy
The latest news and policy updates from CSR. Read about our outreach programs and publications.
Study Sections
Applications are reviewed in study sections (Scientific Review Group, SRG). Review Branches (RBs) are clusters of study sections based on scientific discipline.
Review Panels & Dates
Applications are reviewed in study sections (Scientific Review Group, SRG). Review Branches (RBs) are clusters of study sections based on scientific discipline.
Dr. Marc Boulay received his Ph.D. in international health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he then served as an assistant professor in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society and as the Deputy Director for Program Evaluation in the School’s Center for…
Dr. Marcus Ferrone received his PharmD. degree in nuclear medicine/pharmacy from the University of Tennessee after completing his undergraduate and graduate studies in synthetic organometallic chemistry at Emory University. Dr. Ferrone completed his clinical residency at Columbus Regional Medical…
Dr. Maria Cardenas-Corona joined CSR following her retirement as a research professor emeritus of molecular genetics and microbiology at Duke University School of Medicine. During her academic career, her studies focused on the elucidation of the mechanism of action of the anti-cancer,…
Dr. Maria Chiara Monaco received her Ph.D. in Toxicology at the University of Bologna in Italy, where she studied the role of HIV in human tonsillar stromal cells and the function of natural killer (NK) cells in aging. She then became a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Neurological…
Dr. Maria DeBernardi is an Assistant Director in the Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR) at the Center for Scientific Review (CSR).
Prior to this position, she served as Scientific Review Officer in the Interdisciplinary Molecular Sciences and Training review group for seven years. Her primary…
Dr. Dolores Arjona earned her Ph.D. in molecular biology and biochemistry at the Universidad Autonoma of Madrid in Spain. She subsequently completed her postdoctoral training at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Neuro-Oncology Branch at NCI. Her main research efforts were focused on…
Dr. Mariam Zaka obtained her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Thomas Jefferson University, where she studied the mechanism of myelin breakdown in Krabbe disease. She received postdoctoral training in the Department of Neurology at Thomas Jefferson University and investigated the…
After receiving her Ph.D. in medical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she joined the New York State Psychiatric Institute as a staff scientist, working in PET neuroreceptor imaging to understand mental illness.In 2004, she joined the imaging department at Merck and Co,…
Dr. Brennan received her Ph.D. in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles. She continued her research on mechanisms of oxidative stress and inflammation in cardiovascular disease as a postdoctoral fellow and junior faculty at Cleveland Clinic…
Dr. Mark Caprara serves as Chief of the Molecular and Cellular Sciences and Technologies Review Branch (MCST RB).After receiving his Ph.D. in biology from Temple University, he carried out postdoctoral training in the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas, Austin.…
Mark D. Lindner, PhD, is currently serving as Acting Branch Chief of the Analysis, Informatics, and Automation (AIA) Branch within the Division of Planning, Analysis, and Information Management (DPAIM) at CSR—a role he assumed in August 2023 following seven years as leader of the Office of Planning…
Dr. Mark Vosvick is a behavioral scientist who was trained at and received degrees from Yale, Rutgers, Harvard and Stanford and completed an NRSA postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH-funded Center for AIDS Intervention Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Immediately prior to CSR, Dr.…
Dr. Maureen Shuh received her Ph.D. at Brown University in biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology, and completed her post-doctoral fellowship in molecular retrovirology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Frederick. After NCI, she was an assistant and associate professor at Loyola…