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. Tami Kingsbury received her Ph.D. in biology at Johns Hopkins University, studying yeast genetics and molecular biology. During her post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins University, she studied calcium signaling in yeast and discovered a novel family of calcineurin regulators transferred from…
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. 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. 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…
Dr. Melinda Harrison Krick received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Duquesne University, where she studied heavy metal-binding proteins using quantum and molecular modeling and spectroscopic techniques. Dr. Krick then studied biosensors at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Prior to joining CSR, she…
Dr. Methode Bacanamwo received his Master of Science degree from Clemson University and his doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Following post-doctoral trainings at the Universities of Arkansas and Missouri, he joined the faculty at the Morehouse…
Dr. Michael Bloom’s career began at the Jackson Laboratory, where he completed his Ph.D. thesis in hematology and genetics. After leaving Maine, he was a postdoctoral fellow and staff scientist at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute intramural program where he studied aplastic anemia and…
Dr. Mike Eissenstat received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Harvard University and did postdoctoral work in organic synthesis at the University of Pittsburgh. He then joined Sterling Drug as a medicinal chemist, where he worked in many therapeutic areas and was co-project leader of the…
Dr. Michael Knapp earned his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of California, San Diego, specializing in magnetism and spectroscopy of polynuclear metal complexes. He carried out postdoctoral training at UC Berkeley on H-atom tunneling in enzymes. He then spent 22 years on the…
Michael McQuestion received a B.S. degree from the University of Notre Dame, an M.P.H. from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and a Ph..D in sociology from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Prior to joining NIH, Dr. McQuestion was an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins…
Dr. Michael O'Connell received his Ph.D. in developmental origins of health and disease (cell and molecular biology) from the University of Southampton School of Medicine in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania. He further trained in the areas of metastatic…
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…