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Interview with Dr. Ramesh Nayak
Dr. Ramesh Nayak has served as a scientific review administrator for almost 30 years. He has received numerous awards including two NIH Directors Awards for such activities as administering 8 study sections, arranging symposia, and contributing to the development of young minority scientists. He has also received the NIH Award of Merit.
How did you decide to take the career path of a scientific review administrator?
I was out of the country teaching at Kuwait University after my postdoc and research associate positions. I enjoyed teaching and mentoring students in their research projects but the job was intense and needed a lot of preparation for the lectures. I needed a change in my career and a colleague recommended me to apply for the Scientific Review Administrator (SRA) position at the National Institutes of Health. I was called for an interview at NIH and offered a position in the Special Study section where we had the responsibility to review a broad area of grant proposals. Within six months, I was offered the SRA position of either Molecular Cytology or Physiological Chemistry study section. I accepted the SRA position of the Molecular Cytology Study section in 1978 and managed this and other panels during my almost 30 years career at NIH. I was also appointed as Chief of the Cell Biology Integrated Review group managing eight different panels and also served as the Referral Officer 15 years. I have had an outstanding administrative career and was awarded several awards including two NIH Directors award, NIH merit award and special award by the Chairs of our study section for providing outstanding leadership in managing the study section.
What is the typical career path in this field?
The career path is excellent. A junior faculty can start at GS-12 and move up the ladder to GS-15 and even to a Senior Executive position.
What does a typical day look like and what are your main responsibilities?
The typical day starts at about 9 am to 5 pm and the responsibilities included recruiting reviewers to the panel, assigning grant proposals to the reviewers, and conducting an efficient study section meeting three times a year. The responsibilities included preparation for premeeting, meeting and postmeeting activities. In addition, we had to preparation nomination slate for our panel and this involved selecting top notch reviewers including women and minority scientists. Attending two scientific meetings a year was very useful for this job.
What do you find to be the most enjoyable part of your job? The least enjoyable? The most challenging?
The most satisfying is interacting with so many applicants, NIH community and the scientific community. I also enjoyed attending the scientific annual society meetings where we had to interact with the applicant and also consultant community. The least enjoyable was some of the procedures in the nomination of the slates for the study section and sometimes the help of the technical support staff. The job can be very satisfying if one is assigned a super technical support staff and I have had always the support of an excellent support staff to manage the panel. The most challenging is always meeting the deadline in the preparation of the summary statements for the institute. The summary statement is the most important document which covers the review of the proposal.
What particular skills and talents are most essential to be effective as a scientific review administrator?
It is important to have the knowledge of the science covered by the committee and also have the best interpersonal skills to interact with so many members of the scientific community. To be effective in this job, one should have an excellent knowledge of the NIH peer review policy and procedures including the software IMPAC II and Internet Assisted Review.
How can students obtain necessary experience needed to get into the field?
It will be difficult for students to obtain necessary experience unless they apply for an intern position at NIH to get the necessary training. These positions are offered mostly to faculty level staff from an university with some administrative experience.
Where can students find out about job opportunities/openings?
The NIH web site is the best place to find job opportunities (www.jobs.nih.gov/life@nih.htm or www.csr.nih.gov or www.nsf.gov or www.cdc.gov).
What advice do you have for those interested in this field?
These are excellent positions only if someone is interested in health science administration.
Where can someone find out more information about scientific review administrators?
I recommend the above websites and also the Science magazine.
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