Ensuring Quality in Research
Three years ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) began an overhaul of its peer-review process. Panels or study sections of scientists judge the merits of submitted research grant applications and recommend the most worthy projects for funding.
As chair and a permanent member of the Risk, Prevention, and Intervention for Addictions study section, Dr. Steven Schinke has had an insider’s perspective of the revamped review process.
“NIH is committed to funding innovative, sustainable, high-impact research that will improve the nation’s public health,” says Dr. Schinke. Shortened grant applications and more responsive and relevant review criteria are some of the changes NIH enacted to encourage scientists to find major research discoveries, relationships, and solutions.
Social work researchers can be at the forefront of these developments, says Dr. Schinke, as they are looking at such pressing issues as poverty, family violence, and substance abuse, among many others. “Our field is addressing big questions,” he says. “The answers to these questions will exert a major influence in policy and practice, and will ultimately lead to public health improvements in America and the world.” Dr. Schinke’s own research involves preventing substance abuse (alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs) among adolescents. His studies develop and test behavioral interventions, including computerized tools, to help equip adolescents with skills to avoid risky behavior.
In his years as a grant reviewer, Dr. Schinke has witnessed a growing number of social workers on NIH study sections. “Indeed,” Dr. Schinke says, “a good many CUSSW faculty serve as NIH grant reviewers, either as permanent members or in an ad hoc capacity. The acknowledged research expertise and scientific status of our field is on the rise,” he concludes.
“NIH is committed to funding innovative, sustainable, high-impact research that will improve the nation’s health.”