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.
Dr. Baskaran Thyagarajan received a master’s degree in pharmacy with a specialization in Pharmaceutics from Banaras Hindu University, India, and pursued a Ph.D. in molecular physiology and pharmacology from Karl-Franzen’s University of Graz, Austria. He completed his post-doctoral training at the…
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. Louis Rosenthal received his Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Pennsylvania with a focus on retrovirus-induced leukemogenesis and tumor immunology. After obtaining postdoctoral training in parasite immunology and cytokine signaling at Temple University and the Food and Drug…
Dr. Murali Ganesan received his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the University of Madras, India. After his postdoctoral work at the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, he became an assistant professor of…
Dr. Noton Dutta earned his Ph.D. in microbiology from Jadavpur University, India, and subsequently completed postdoctoral research fellowships at Seoul National University, Tulane University, and Johns Hopkins University. He then joined the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins…
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. 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. Raquel Velazquez-Kronen earned her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. She completed a predoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, where she evaluated health risks associated with occupational radiation exposures. Prior to joining CSR…
Dr. Seyhan Boyoglu-Barnum earned her Ph.D. from Alabama State University and completed postdoctoral training at Emory University, where she specialized in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine development. She contributed to the MERS outbreak response within the CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases…
Dr. Sung-Wook Jang received his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from University of Wisconsin-Madison with his interest in Schwann cell myelination whose defects are known to be associated with many human diseases including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Subsequently, Dr. Jang had postdoctoral…
Dr. Tina Tang received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the NIH Graduate Partnerships Program jointly hosted by the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and the NIH Intramural Program. She conducted her graduate research at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke studying…
Dr. Vanessa Sherk received her Ph.D. in exercise physiology from the University of Oklahoma. She received post-doctoral training at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she focused on how nutrition affects bone metabolism. During that time, Dr. Sherk was also an assistant…
Dr. Wei-Qin Zhao serves as Chief of the Aging and Neurodegeneration Review Branch (AN RB).
Dr. Wei-Qin Zhao received her medical training from Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences in China, and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from LaTrobe University in Australia. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow…
Dr. Yanming Bi received her Ph.D. in bone biology from Case Western University, School of Medicine. Her graduate work on orthopaedic implant loosening received the William Harris Award for outstanding research related to the hip and the Kappa Delta Award for excellence in orthopaedic research.…
Dr. Feng received her Ph.D. in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University and completed postdoctoral training in genetics and developmental biology at Harvard Medical School. She took faculty positions at Northwestern University and then at Uniformed Services University. During her academic research…
Dr. Zhuqing Li received a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the Medical University of Ohio, Toledo, Ohio. Following postdoctoral training at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Dr. Li joined the National Eye Institute (NEI) as a staff scientist and then the head of the Clinical Immunology…
Dr. Helen Huang received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She obtained postdoctoral training first at Stanford and then at the NIH Intramural Research Program. Prior to joining CSR, she was a scientific review officer at the National…
Dr. Jason Hoffert received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He obtained post-doctoral training in renal salt and water transport at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in the Laboratory of Kidney and Electrolyte Metabolism. For 12…
Dr. Jessica M. Smith came to CSR from the Common Fund within the NIH Office of the Director, where she served as a scientific program analyst. She provided scientific expertise and analytical skills to facilitate review for Other Transaction Authority (OTA) awards, program management, strategic…
Dr. Karine Jegalian received her Ph.D. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she used molecular biology techniques to study the evolution of gene pairs on the mammalian X and Y chromosomes. She worked as a science writer for the National Human Genome Research Institute…
Dr. Kathryn Koeller is an Associate Director in the Division of Receipt and Referral and the Research/Review Integrity Officer at the Center for Scientific Review.Prior to assuming this position, she was a Scientific Review Officer in the Biological and Macromolecular Biophysics Integrated Review…
Dr. Kenneth A. Roebuck received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and San Diego State University, where he studied the transcriptional regulation of small nuclear RNA genes. As a postdoctoral fellow at UCSD, Dr. Roebuck began research on HIV gene…
Dr. Aleksey Kazantsev received his Ph.D. in biochemistry, molecular biology and biotechnology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; his mentor was Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Dr. Aziz Sancar. Dr. Kazantsev conducted his postdoctoral training at Massachusetts Institute of Technology…
Dr. Alexei Yeliseev received his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He then trained in enzymology as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at Philipps University in Marburg, Germany, in molecular biology at Cambridge University, UK, and in microbiology and molecular…