Organization:Center for Scientific Review

CSR Logo

The Center for Scientific Review (CSR) is the portal for United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant applications and their review for scientific merit. The CSR organizes the peer review groups or study sections that evaluate the majority (70%) of the research grant applications sent to NIH. It also receives all grant applications for NIH, as well as for some other components of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Since 1946, its mission has remained clear and timely: to see that NIH grant applications receive fair, independent, expert, and timely reviews—free from inappropriate influences—so NIH can fund the most promising research.

CSR receives nearly 80,000 applications a year and recruits over 18,000 external experts to review its portion of them in its study sections, which often meet three times during the year. Additional scientists serve on other NIH advisory councils, which provide a second level of peer review and make funding recommendations based on priorities set by the United States Congress, DHHS, and the public.

From 1946 to 1997, the CSR was known as the Division of Research Grants (DRG).

Directors

Past directors from 1946 - present

Portrait	Director	Took office	Left office
	Cassius James Van Slyke	January 1946	December 1, 1959
	David E. Price MD	1948	1950
	Ernest M. Allen	1951	1960
	Dale R. Lindsay	1960	1963
	Eugene A. Confrey	October 1963	1969
	Stephen P. Hatchett	1969	August 1976
	Carl D. Douglass	August 1976	December 1985
	Jerome G. Green	January 1986	June 1, 1995
	Ellie Ehrenfeld	January 1997	September 30, 2003
	Brent Stanfield (acting)	October 1, 2003	June 30, 2005
	Antonio Scarpa	July 1, 2005	September 2, 2011
	Richard K. Nakamura	September 18, 2011	April 30, 2018
	Noni Byrnes	February 14, 2019	Present

Current initiatives

• Shorten the review process so applicants can revise and resubmit their applications in the next review round if necessary and NIH can more timely fund the best research. Shortening the review process by 45 days could thus reduce the time to resubmit by four months.
• Recruit and retain the best reviewers so NIH and applicants receive the best advice.
• Foster a culture more favorable to innovative applications, so that NIH can fund research that promises larger advances in science and health.
• Address the concern that clinical research is not properly evaluated, so this important research is well represented in the NIH program.
• Increase the transparency, accountability, and uniformity of NIH peer review.

See also

• United States Department of Health and Human Services
• NIH grant
• grant (money)

External links

• NIH website