NIH PRESENTER BACKGROUND INFORMATION
NIH and YOU: An Overview of Program Funding and
Grants Administration
Albany , New York – October 28, 2008
SHERI CUMMINS
Customer Relationship Manager, eRA Commons and eSubmission
Office of Research Information Systems (ORIS), NIH
Ms. Sheri Cummins recently joined NIH as a Customer Relationship Manager for the electronic Research Administration (eRA) program focusing on eRA’s external services including eRA Commons and Electronic Application Submission. In this capacity, Ms. Cummins is responsible for initiating and managing eRA projects to enhance services available to the extramural research community through the eRA Commons. Ms. Cummins previously served as the Communications Coordinator for NIH's Electronic Submission of Grant Applications Program, on contract from LTS Corporation, in NIH’s Office of Extramural Research. Prior to coming to NIH, she worked for GE Global Exchange Services for 13 years in various roles including people and project management, communications, customer support and client advocacy. She is an alumna of the University of Maryland, where she received a B.S. in Computer Science.
GEORGE GARDNER
Assistant Grants Policy Officer
Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA), NIH
Mr. George Gardner joined the Division of Grants Policy, Office of Policy for Extramural Research (OPERA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), as an Assistant Grants Policy Officer in July of 2005 bringing with him a wealth of Grants Management experience. As Assistant Grants Policy Officer, Mr. Gardner is responsible for the interpretation and clarification of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and NIH grants administration, regulations and policies across the NIH grants community. George has extensive experience with various types of grants and grant mechanisms having worked at the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for four years as a Senior Grants Management Specialist, and prior to that, at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH, as a Grants Management Specialist for eight years.
MILTON J. HERNANDEZ, P h .D.
Director, Office of Special Populations and Research Training (OSPRT),
National Institute o n Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH
Education:
B.S. in Biology, St. Edward’s University, Austin, TX, 1964
Ph.D. in Zoology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 1971
National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, 1971-73
Professional Experience:
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Physiology
M.S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA - 1973-1981
Associate Professor of Physiology
Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC - 1981-1988
Grants Associate,
National Institutes of Health - 1988-1989
Health Scientist Administrator
Transfusion Medicine Branch, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH - 1989-1991
Director
Office of Science Training and Manpower Development,
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH - 1991-1998
Director
Office of Special Populations and Research Training
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH - 1998- Present
SCARLETT K. GIBB
Lead, Customer Relationship Manager, eRA External Services Team
Office of Research Information Systems (ORIS), NIH
Ms. Scarlett Gibb is currently the Lead Customer Relationship Manager for the eRA External Services Team. This team includes the eRA effort in Commons as well as eSubmission and Business to Business systems. Prior to this position Scarlett managed the eRA Helpdesk during the electronic submission effort timeframe, where trouble calls and emails are received from both internal and external users of eRA systems. She has been with the eRA program for 8 years. Ms. Gibb has been employed with the Federal government in a variety of positions for the past twenty five years. Prior to working on the eRA project she worked at the Center for Scientific Review where she started her career as a grants technical assistant, then moved into the information technology field. She has studied at Montgomery College, UDC and Trinity College in Washington, DC, where she received her bachelor’s degree in business management.
S ALLY ROCKEY, P h .D.
Deputy Director, Office of Extramural Research (OER), NIH
Director, Office of Planning and Communication, (OPC), NIH
Acting Director, Office of Research Information Systems (ORIS)
Office of the Director, NIH
Sally Rockey has spent the majority of her career in the area of research administration, grants management and Information Technology. She earned her Ph.D. in Entomology (1985) from The Ohio State University. In 1986 she joined the USDA Competitive Research Grants Office of Cooperative State Research Service (CSRS) as program director for entomological grant programs. In 1991, she was promoted to Division Director for the Plants Division of the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program, CSRS, USDA. In 1996, she became Deputy Administrator for the Competitive Research Grants and Award Management Unit of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), which is the extramural research, education and extension arm of the USDA. Dr. Rockey oversaw the competitive portion of the research, education and extension portfolio within CSREES and the financial and administrative management of all CSREES grants and agreements. In 2002, Dr. Rockey became CSREES’s Chief Information Officer and Deputy Administrator for Information Systems and Technology Management where she applied her breadth of government knowledge to IT by aligning state-of-the-art information technologies with the goals and objectives of CSREES.
In 2005 Dr. Rockey was appointed to the position of Deputy Director of the Office of Extramural Research (OER) within the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH) There, Dr. Rockey is applying her experience in research and grants administration to public health at OER, which serves as the focal point for policies and guidelines for extramural research administration within NIH. Among her many responsibilities Dr. Rockey serves as the NIH Agency Extramural Research Integrity Officer managing research misconduct issues for NIH extramural programs, is Acting Director for the Office of Research Information Systems and directs the OER Office of Planning and Communications. Dr. Rockey is a skilled public speaker and has given hundreds of presentations on research priorities and policies, grantsmanship, the competitive peer review process, scientific integrity and IT. She is active on a number of Federal intergovernmental committees related to science, research, grants management and electronic government and collaborates closely with academic and scientific communities. She has actively participated in the science education of young children by giving presentations on insects to local elementary schools where she was known as the “Bug Doctor” and currently coordinates her local pool’s swim team.
MICHAEL A. SESMA, P h .D.
Health Scientist Administrator
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) , NIH
Dr. Michael Sesma is a health scientist administrator at the National Institute of Mental Health in the Division of Developmental Translational Research. Dr. Sesma received his B.A. in biology and psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 1976, and his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Riverside in 1981. He received postdoctoral training from 1981–1985 in the Departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and Psychology at Vanderbilt University. From 1985 to 1994, he was a faculty member of the School of Optometry at the University of Missouri, St. Louis where his research focused on the functional organization and development in the visual system. In 1990, as a visiting faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University Medical School his research focused on the role of glutamate and glutamate receptors in normal and neurodegenerative processes in the brain that may underlie neurological and psychiatric illnesses. In 1994, Dr. Sesma joined the NIH in the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) as a scientific review administrator, primarily responsible for the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program Review Committee. In 1996, he added the duties of program director in the Division of Genetics and Developmental Biology at NIGMS, responsible for the research portfolio in neurogenetics and the genetics of behavior. He moved to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 2002 to develop the Research Scientist Development Program in the Office for Special Populations. Dr. Sesma has served on a variety of academic and NIH committees including the Society for Neuroscience Committee for Neuroscience Literacy, the NIH Staff Training in Extramural Programs Committee, which he recently chaired, and is past treasurer for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and NIH Hispanic employee organizations.
Dr. Michael Sesma serves as chief for the Research Scientist Development Program in the Office for Special Populations (OSP) at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). His major responsibilities are to coordinate trans-NIMH initiatives and programs for the development of research scientists in mental health who are from underrepresented groups.
Dr. Sesma received his B.A. in biology and psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 1976, and his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Riverside in 1981. He received postdoctoral training from 1981–1985 in the Departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and Psychology at Vanderbilt University. From 1985 to 1994, he was a faculty member of the School of Optometry at the University of Missouri, St. Louis where his research focused on the functional organization and development in the visual system. In 1990, as a visiting faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University Medical School his research focused on the role of glutamate and glutamate receptors in normal and neurodegenerative processes in the brain that may underlie neurological and psychiatric illnesses. In 1994, Dr. Sesma joined the NIH in the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) as a scientific review administrator, primarily responsible for the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program Review Committee. In 1996, he added the duties of program director in the Division of Genetics and Developmental Biology at NIGMS, responsible for the research portfolio in neurogenetics and the genetics of behavior. He moved to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 2002 to develop the Research Scientist Development Program in the OSP-NIMH. Dr. Sesma has served on a variety of academic and NIH committees including the Society for Neuroscience Committee for Neuroscience Literacy, the NIH Staff Training in Extramural Programs Committee, which he recently chaired, and is past treasurer for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and NIH Hispanic employee organizations.
ROGER G. SORENSEN, P h .D. , M . P . A .
Program Official, Functional Neuroscience Research Branch,
Division of Basic Neuroscience and Behavioral Research ,
National Institute o n Drug Abuse (NIDA) , NIH
Dr. Roger Sorensen is a Program Official within the Division of Basic Neuroscience and Behavioral Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). His programmatic interests broadly concern studies of the biological mechanisms underlying the functional changes in neuronal excitability and output, synaptic plasticity and homeostasis, and communication within neural circuits and networks as a consequence of substance abuse and addiction. Of additional interest are studies of the effects of psychoactive drugs on the functional interactions between neurons and glial cells in their regulation of neuronal activity.
Dr. Sorensen received a B.S. in Chemistry (1975) from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Ph.D. (1983) in Biochemistry from Indiana University, Bloomington. He subsequently held post-doctoral positions at Texas Christian University and at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and a faculty position at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. Dr. Sorensen’s scientific research interests were in the areas of neuronal structure and function, and the regulation of neural communication. In 2000, Dr. Sorensen additionally received a M.P.A. in healthcare management and policy from Rutgers University-Camden, NJ, Also at Rutgers University, he served as Assistant Director for the Forum for Policy Research and Public Service from 1999 to 2000, where he conducted analyses of healthcare policies and programs including the delivery of mental health services in New Jersey, and the use by women of free preventive screening services for breast and cervical cancer. Dr. Sorensen came to the NIH in 2000 as a Presidential Management Intern and Program Official for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), being responsible for the Neurochemistry, Neurotoxicology and Molecular Pharmacology extramural research portfolio which seeks to identify the molecular and cellular consequences of alcohol exposure on the brain and nervous system, especially the biological mechanisms that contribute to alcohol-induced brain damage or the development of alcohol dependence and addiction. He joined NIDA in 2007.
GUEST PRESENTER: CHERYL FRYE, P h .D.
Professor, Department of Psychology
The University at Albany - SUNY
Cheryl Frye is a Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of Biology, and a member of the Center for Neuroscience Research. Dr. Frye's ground breaking research on steroid hormones, focuses on determining how steroid hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and androgens) work in the brain to influence behavior. Her research has delineated novel actions of steroid hormones that mediate behavior independent of actions at typical steroid receptor targets. She has emerged as a nationally and internationally recognized leader in her field. Her work has transformed how steroids are thought of and also have identified novel actions of therapeutics. Indeed her work on steroid action have been formative for the field of endocrinology but have also shed light on the neurobiological etiology and/or therapeutic treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety and also neurodegenerative disorders such as epilepsy and alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Frye's research has made substantial contributions and continues to make a formative impact on her field. To date she has published more than 200 papers in high-quality peer-reviewed journals. She has also published 25 chapters or reviews, including 5 reports in textbooks. She has been repeatedly invited to contribute to journals in her field, to interdisciplinary top-tier journals, and to participate in collaborative training of medical scientists and practitioners.
Dr. Frye also mentors students, many of whom are first authors and co-authors on papers. In fact, she has been recognized by the Society for Neuroscience in 2003 as Educator of the Year for her efforts in ensuring that students are afforded the opportunity to present their research at conferences and to hear from other leaders in the field.
2