Dr. Doussard-Roosevelt's own words about her NIH career:
The mission/work of NIH is important. By training in Special Education I believed I could improve the lives of one classroom of children each year. By training in Developmental Psychology and conducting research I hoped to predict and explain child behavior so as to improve the lives of many children. As a Scientific Review Officer (SRO) at NIH’s Center for Scientific Review I am contributing to NIH’s mission to improve the lives of all children.
The work of an SRO is cyclical and there are strict deadlines throughout each review cycle. In academics you can always spend more time designing the perfect study, analyzing the data, writing and rewriting manuscripts and usually the deadlines are ones you can set (and reset) on your own. To have definite deadlines associated with each aspect of review is a challenge but one that provides structure and a sense of accomplishment on a consistent basis as you meet each deadline.
Finally, the financial benefits of a stable federal position provide a great sense of comfort after years of living from grant to grant in the research environment.
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Department of Health
