Scientific Reviewer

Job Description

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Axle is a bioscience and information technology company that offers advancements in translational research, biomedical informatics, and data science applications to research centers and healthcare organizations nationally and abroad. With experts in biomedical science, software engineering, and program management, we focus on developing and applying research tools and techniques to empower decision-making and accelerate research discoveries. We work with some of the top research organizations and facilities in the country including multiple institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Axle is seeking a Scientific Reviewer to join our vibrant team at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supporting the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) located in Bethesda, MD.

• 100% Medical, Dental & Vision Coverage for Employees
• Paid Time Off and Paid Holidays
• 401K match up to 5%
• Educational Benefits for Career Growth
• Employee Referral Bonus
• Flexible Spending Accounts:
  • Healthcare (FSA)
  • Parking Reimbursement Account (PRK)
  • Dependent Care Assistant Program (DCAP)
  • Transportation Reimbursement Account (TRN)

The purpose of this position is to support the NIGMS Scientific Review Branch (SRB) as a Scientific Reviewer.

• Subsequent to one review cycle ending, evaluate incoming applications for completeness and accuracy.
• Generate accurate and succinct summary statements that reflect the discussion of each application under review, including major score-driven strengths and weaknesses.
• Ensure that post-meeting reports and documents are compiled and edited to produce high-quality documents.
• Work with staff to identify and coordinate the participation of reviewers for applications received by the SRB.
• Identify and select reviewers by matching the expertise of the reviewer with the applications' content while also balancing appropriate demographic considerations such as gender, minority, geographic region, and institution type distributions among the review panel.

• Complete the administrative review of grant applications for completeness and compliance with the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) 1.
• Schedule review meetings; prepare materials for reviewers. 2.
• Interact and coordinate review activities with SRB staff, such as preparing review meeting materials and accomplishing tasks in an orderly and efficient manner. 3.
• Performs administrative review of research grant applications.
• Provide the application, reviewer, and meeting-specific recommendations for consideration by the Scientific Review Officer and staff.
• As requested, correspond with potential reviewers and complete recruitment of the review panel.
• Implement administrative flexibilities under the supervision of the SRB Section Chief, for example, by managing the process of splitting Special Emphasis Panels (SEPs), if needed.
• Identifies specific areas of expertise for the peer review panel, searches databases and resources, and prepares lists of potential reviewers.
• Evaluate grant applications to identify areas of expertise required for peer review.
• Prepare clear written meeting documents and materials that contain accurate information, such as deadlines, review policies, materials, and instructions for reviewers.
• Prepares preliminary drafts of summary statements.
• Use systems such as Committee Management (CMM), Peer Review, QVR, and Internet Assisted Review (IAR) to perform review-related tasks such as adding reviewers to rosters, enabling reviewers, preparing summary statements, adding meeting and post-submission material, and setting up meeting phases.
• Work with the review meeting's SRO/Designated Federal Official (DFO) to ensure an appropriate understanding of the review meeting status and topics that need special attention, such as managing reviewer attendance, late critiques and preliminary scores, potential Conflict of Interest (COIs), reviewer assignments and workload, and issues that may impact the discussion order of applications.
• Draft Resume/Summary of the discussion based on the discussion notes from the meeting.
• Format critiques to SRB standard practices.
• Validates and enters information into databases.
• Collaborate with staff on the preparation and evaluation (pre-publication) of NOFOs to ensure internal NIGMS and SRB consistency and adherence to both NIH policy and NIGMS programmatic requirements.
• Work with staff on the entry of reviewer and meeting data into the CMM, Peer Review, QVR, and IAR Systems.
• Identifies involved persons who must be on a conflict of interest list and identifies deficiencies which must be addressed prior to review.
• Assess reviewers against applications for potential conflicts of interest.
• Attends peer review meetings to take notes for use when preparing a final summary of the documentation of meeting proceedings.
• Schedule and facilitate pre-review meetings to orient reviewers and NIH staff to the policy, procedures, expectations, and requirements of…