Extramural Policy and Review Activities

Receipt, Referral, and Review

NIDA received 1594 applications, including both primary and dual assignments for which the Office of Extramural Affairs (OEA) managed the programmatic referral process during this Council cycle. Of these, NIDA received the primary assignment on 934 applications.

OEA arranged and managed 17 grant review meetings in which 386 applications were evaluated. OEA's reviews included applications in chartered, standing review committees and Special Emphasis Panels (SEPs). In addition, OEA's Contracts Review Branch (CRB) arranged and managed 14 contract proposal reviews and 2 concept reviews and 144 applications to the Loan Repayment Program.

NIDA's chartered committees consist of NIDA-E (Treatment Review Committee), NIDA-F (Health Services Review Committee), NIDA-L (Medications Development Committee), and NIDA-K (Training Committee). In addition to meetings of each of these committees, OEA staff held 13 Special Emphasis Panels for a variety of reasons:

Conflicts with the chartered committees
Center Grant Applications
The Minority Institutions' Drug Abuse Research Development Program (MIDARP)
Program Project Grant applications
Mechanism For Time-Sensitive Research Opportunities
Behavioral Science Track Award for Rapid Transition (B/START)
Cutting Edge Basic Research Awards (CEBRA)
Imaging Science Track Awards for Research Transition (I/START)
Conference Grants (R13)
Loan Repayment Programs
1 Special Emphasis Panel that reviewed RFA submissions

OEA managed the following RFA reviews:

• DA06-001: Enhancing Practice Improvement In Community-Based Care for Prevention and Treatment of Drug Abuse or Co-Occurring Drug Abuse and Mental Disorders

Completed Contract Reviews from the Contracts Review Branch since the last Council are as follows:

Contract Reviews (R&D and non-R&D)

Phase I SBIR Reviews

• N43DA-6-7758 (Topic 064): Nanoscience-based Design of Therapies for Substance Abuse Treatment
• N43DA-6-1127 (Topic 076): Development of Science Literacy Materials or Programs
• N43DA-6-4404 (Topic 077): Development of Serious Games for Neuro-Rehabilitation of Drug-Induced Cognitive Deficiencies
• N43DA-6-4405 (Topic 078): E-Health Applications of Empirically Supported Therapies in English and/or Spanish
• N43DA-6-5533 (Topic 079): Development of State-of-the-Art Mechanisms for Epidemiological Research
• N43DA-6-5534 (Topic 080): Training and Infrastructure Development for Community Coalitions
• N43DA-6-8862 (Topic 082): Development of Novel Drug Delivery Systems for Treatment of Drug Addictions
• N43DA-6-1128 (Topic 084): Develop Methods for Stimulating International Collaborations

Phase II SBIR Reviews

• N44DA-6-5531 (Topic 028): Dissemination of an Evidence-based Drug Prevention Program for High School Health Providers (NHPA)
• N44DA-6-1121 (Topic 029): Simulations for Drug Related Science Education
• N44DA-6-5530 (Topic 073): Online Buprenorphine Practice Manager for Physicians
• N44DA-6-1124 (Topic 070): International DA Research E-Learning
• N44DA-6-1126 (Topic 029): Science Education for Deaf High School Students
• N44DA-6-7754 (Topic 075): Wearable Wireless PDA Peripheral

R&D Concept Reviews

• N01DA-6- 8867: Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Studies for Medication Development
• N01DA-6-8859: Preclinical Medication Discovery and Abuse Liability Testing for NIDA

Certificates of Confidentiality

Dr. Paul Coulis manages the processing of Certificates of Confidentiality. Between December 13, 2005 and April 27, 2006, 119 new certificates, 41 extensions, and 17 amendments were processed.

Extramural Outreach

Dr. Eliane Lazar-Wesley, OEA, presented "The Grant Application Enterprise at the NIH" to the NIDA INVEST Drug Abuse Research Fellows (NIDA International Program) on March 3, 2005.

Dr. Meenaxi Hiremath, OEA, participated in several NIH-wide meetings dealing with the use of public/consumer members participating on peer review activities.

Dr. Levitin, Director, OEA, continues to serve as the NIDA liaison to the NIH Director's Pioneer Award Implementation Committee, one of the NIH Roadmap activities.

In March 2006, Dr. Levitin co-chaired two discussion hours at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence: 1) Get Schooled: NIDA Funding for Adolescent Research and 2) NIH Research Grants 101: A Survival Guide for Application, Referral, and Review.

Dr. Levitin has accepted an appointment to the Society for Research on Adolescence Social Policy Committee.

Dr. Levitin continues to serve on various committees related to her membership on the NIH-wide Extramural Program Management Committee (EPMC). For example, she is currently assisting in the development of a plan to evaluate the CSR pilot study on shortening the review cycle for new investigators and is on the Multiple-Principal Investigator Initiative evaluation committee.

Dr. Gerald McLaughlin, OEA, serves as the NIDA Liaison to the NIH-wide committee dealing with all aspects of the transition to electronic grant submission. He presented a talk on this topic to the 2006 HMO Research Network Conference. He is also a member of the trans-NIH workgroup tasked with implementing the electronic transition of the R01 and U01 grant mechanisms.

Dr. Gerald McLaughlin is a member of the trans-NIH workgroup that addresses issues related to public or community members in peer review meetings, and attended a COPR meeting in which related issues were discussed with the NIH OD.

Dr. Gerald McLaughlin is a member of the trans-NIH workgroup to improve technologies and SOP's associated with contract-provided reviewer lodging and review meeting room arrangements. He is also the NIDA representative to this group's parent trans-NIH PSA Review User Group transition team.

Ms. Loretta Beuchert, OEA, serves on a trans-NIH workgroup responsible for implementing the time line for electronic receipt of applications and working out procedures for converting existing grant mechanisms into the electronic 424 format.

Dr. Mark Green, OEA, serves on the NIH-wide Contingency Planning Workgroup dealing with electronic submission of grant applications.

Dr. Mark Green serves on the NIH-wide workgroup developing the transition of the R18 and R25 grant mechanisms to electronic submission format.

Dr. Mark Green presented an overview of the grant receipt, referral and review process as well as issues in electronic submission of grant applications, on April 19, 2006 at the NIDA Research Training Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland.

Staff Training and Development

The OEA Symposium Series, a forum for staff training and sharing of ideas and information, continued through the winter and spring. Topics addressed have included presentations on the new Pathway to Independence Awards and the NIH initiative to have multiple principal investigators on grants.

Other Activities

Dr. Gerald McLaughlin participates in the D.C. area Iowa Alumni Club. In 2006 he represented the University of Iowa at two College Fairs in the greater Washington DC area.

The Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) conducted a review on February 3, 2006 via teleconference. The board reviewed the performance of two study protocols: Protocol CTN 0013 (Motivational Enhancement Therapy to Improve Treatment Utilization and Outcome In Pregnant Substance Abusers) and Protocol CTN 0014 (Brief Strategic Family Therapy for Adolescent Drug Abusers -BSFT).