By Heidi Toth, Texas Tech News Release
LUBBOCK – A Texas Tech University researcher recently started a six-year term on a committee that evaluates grants submitted to the National Institutes of Health.
Naima Moustaid-Moussa, a professor of nutritional sciences and director of the Obesity Research Cluster, started July 1 as a member of the Clinical and Integrative Diabetes and Obesity Study Section for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH study sections are composed of experts who provide reviews of the grant applications, discuss their merits and rank the applications. These recommendations are then discussed by the NIH council and director. Moustaid-Moussa will participate in this twice a year for the next six years.
It’s familiar territory for Moustaid-Moussa, who has studied obesity and diabetes for years, focusing on adipocytes, or fat cells, and the way the activity of those cells contributes to obesity and various side effects. She has been on similar study sections for the American Heart Association (AHA), including as peer review committee chair, and has been a temporary and ad hoc member of other NIH nutrition and obesity study sections. She also has written numerous grants to federal agencies such as NIH and the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as foundations like the AHA and American Diabetes Association.
“It’s an honor to be invited to serve in an NIH study section as it means you are recognized as an expert in your field where you’re known and trusted for your research,” she said.
This study section also is the best section to review her grants, a common issue for all the members, who are required to recuse themselves from evaluating and discussing grants related to their institution or any grant where they are collaborators or consultants. Moustaid-Moussa will be able to submit any grants through this study section during her tenure but not during cycles in which she is participating.
Her responsibilities will include going to Washington, D.C., twice a year for two to three days at a time. Each member will be assigned 10-12 grant applications for either a primary, secondary or tertiary critique; they will critique the science, look at the expertise of the researchers and the budget, ask if the hypothesis is reasonable and justified, consider if the grant request is consistent with the NIH mission and ask whether the research will produce meaningful results that will advance and generate new scientific knowledge and discoveries in disease treatment. After all of the applications have been reviewed by at least three members, the primary reviewers will present the grant to the rest of the study section, with the secondary and tertiary reviewers contributing any additional ideas.
From there, non-conflicted members of the study section will score each grant based on the reviewers’ presentations and discussion. Meeting discussions and scores are forwarded to an NIH council, then the NIH director, who makes the final decision on funding.
Moustaid-Moussa’s participation in this study section speaks to her expertise and standing in the diabetes and obesity research community, said Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar, chairman of the Department of Nutritional Sciences.
“NIH is the biggest federal source of biomedical research funding in the U.S. Receiving this highly competitive funding is considered prestigious mainly due to the extremely rigorous review process,” he said. “Highly respected, dedicated and talented reviewers volunteer their time to provide careful reviews of submitted grants. Due to the responsibility involved in reviewing projects that would potentially have a high impact on society, the reviewers are handpicked for their expertise and scientific acumen. Therefore, invitation to be a reviewer for NIH is often an acknowledgement of one’s scientific expertise and prominence in one’s research field.”
Moustaid-Moussa also was elected as a member-at-large in the 2016-2017 Governing Committee of the American Society for Nutrition’s Nutritional Science Council and previously served as council member for The Obesity Society.
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