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. 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. Schueler received her Ph.D. in genetics from Case Western Reserve University under the mentorship of Huntington Willard. Her thesis proposing a novel evolutionary model for the expansion of centromeric satellite sequences was published in Science. Before joining CSR, Dr. Schueler was a senior…
Dr. Tatiana Cohen obtained her Ph.D. in pharmacology at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, where she studied transcriptional regulation of muscle-specific genes.
She continued her postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute, where she developed transgenic mouse models of human…
Dr. Zachary Bailey earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Virginia Tech where he studied the interactions of blast overpressure waves with biological systems. He pursued his post-doctoral training at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) through the National Research Council,…
Dr. Kathy Partlow received her Ph.D. in molecular cell biology from Washington University, St. Louis. She conducted her graduate and postdoctoral work in laboratories that specialized in imaging (e.g., ultrasound and MRI) and organic chemistry, respectively. Dr. Partlow’s research experience has…
She came to CSR from the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH, where she was a staff scientist for the last ten years. Prior this, she worked at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Topol is a graduate of the Moscow State University with a bachelor degree in physiology, and she has a Ph.D…
Dr. Gagan Pandya serves as Chief of the Basic Neuroscience Review Branch (BN RB).Before coming to CSR, Dr. Gagan Pandya was a staff scientist and a team leader for the comparative genomics program within the Pathogen Functional Genomics Resource Center at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville…
Dr. Izabella Zandberg received her Ph.D. in mass communications at the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to joining CSR, she served as a social scientist at the Food and Drug Administration, Center for Tobacco Products. During her tenure at FDA, Dr. Zandberg designed and implemented…
Dr. Andrew Wolfe received his Ph.D. in neurobiology and physiology from Northwestern University, where he studied regulation of reproductive neuroendocrine function. His post-doctoral training at Boston Children’s Hospital focused on understanding the cell-specific regulation of the gonadotropin…
Dr. Nywana Sizemore received her Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University for her work on the interactions of human papillomavirus and epidermal growth factor signaling in human ectocervical epithelial cells. Her postdoctoral work focused on the role of growth factor signaling in Ras-mediated…
Dr. Victor Panchenko holds a Ph.D. in biological sciences from the National Academy of Sciences, Ukraine. Prior to joining CSR Dr. Panchenko was a Tech Transfer Project Manager at Amgen, Inc and worked on their first anticancer program small molecule KRAS inhibitor. Before that he worked as a…
Dr. Willard Wilson received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Rochester, where he studied auditory neurophysiology. After postdoctoral training, he moved to industry, where he directed SBIR-funded research and development on hardware and software products for neurophysiology research…
Ms. Carla Ward is an Ethics Program Specialist located in the Office of the Director. She, along with other Ethics Specialists, are responsible for being the first line of contact for employees. Ms. Ward assists CSR’s Deputy Ethics Counselor with handling the day-to-day functioning of…
Dr. Richard Ingraham received his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry at the University of Iowa. His graduate work focused on biophysical aspects of skeletal muscle regulatory proteins. His post-doctoral work was at the University of Alberta and involved examination of additional aspects of muscle…
After obtaining a D.V.M. degree from the University of Agriculture, Dr. Shah received a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from Boston University, where his research focused on the neurotransmitter expression in the embryonic neurons. Dr. Shah conducted postdoctoral studies on the regulation…
Dr. David E. Pollio received his Ph.D. in social work and psychology from the University of Michigan. He came to CSR after serving as a distinguished professor, chairing the department of social work at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Prior to that he was the Hill Crest Foundation Endowed…
Dr. Ekaterina (Katia) Nestorovich holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from St. Petersburg State University and a Professional Certificate in project management from Stanford. Her postdoctoral research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development focused on the…
Dr. Heidi Friedman received her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Friedman began her career at NIH working on the epidemiology of AIDS in the Epidemiology and Biometry Branch of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).…
Dr. Jimok Kim received his Ph.D. degree in neuroscience from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University studying neurophysiology and cannabinoid receptor pharmacology. Thereafter, Dr. Kim moved to the Medical College of Georgia, where his…
Dr. Joonil Seog received his Sc.D. in polymer science and Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then performed his postdoctoral research on conformational regulations of cell adhesion molecules under force at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Seog joined the University of…
Dr. Baskaran “Baski” Thyagarajan received his Ph.D. in molecular physiology and pharmacology from the Karl-Franzen’s University of Graz, Austria. He completed his post-doctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, MD, and then at the New Jersey Medical School, NJ. Before…
Suzan Nadi received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Indiana University in Indianapolis, where she worked on the identification of neurotransmitters in cerebellar neurons. In her postdoctoral training at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in Nutley, NJ, she focused her research on the…
Dr. Schauwecker received her Ph.D. in the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program at the University of Southern California, where she studied age-dependent modulation of lesion-induced axonal sprouting and hippocampal synaptic plasticity. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of…
Dr. Raul Rojas received his Ph.D. in molecular cell biology and physiology at the School of Medicine of the University of Pittsburgh. There he investigated the role that small G proteins play in the regulation of vesicular trafficking and polarity establishment/maintenance in epithelial cells. He…
Dr. Uma Basavanna received her Ph.D. in biochemistry at University of Mysore, India where her graduate work was focused on characterizing snake venom toxins, along with testing and the production of antivenom therapeutics. She continued her postdoctoral trainings at the University of Maryland and…