Enhancing Peer Review

Client: NIH Office of the Director

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a longstanding history of supporting the most promising and meritorious research, but the increasing breadth, complexity, and interdisciplinary nature of modern research necessitated a formal review of the NIH peer review system.  In September 2008, the NIH began implementing proposed recommendations to enhance the peer review system. Five groups were organized to manage the implementation and integration of recommendations; Ripple Effect coordinated and supported this complex trans-NIH effort. Four Ripple Effect staff members received the prestigious NIH Director's Award in 2009 for their accomplishments in the Enhancing Peer Review effort.

NIH Regional Seminars on Program and Grants Administration

Client: National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Extramural Research The National Institutes of Health (NIH) supports more than 300,000 scientists in universities and research institutions across the United States and abroad.  The NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) hosts two annual, 3-day Regional Seminars on Program Funding and Grants Administration to demystify the funding application process and clarify federal regulations and policies. Challenge: Provide project management and coordination support Solution: Ripple Effect utilized our comprehensive event management approach to coordinate all of the moving pieces for five NIH Regional Seminars.

Developing the Human Subjects Protection Assessment System

Client: NIH Office of Extramural Research Human Subjects Protection Team (OEP-HS) In November 2009, the NIH Office of Extramural Research Human Subjects Protection Team (OEP-HS) successfully launched the “Human Subjects Protection Assessment System” (HS-PAS) for NIH institution-wide access. Ripple Effect initiated the creation, design and development of Share Point Lists and Excel spreadsheets as part of the HS-PAS to allow access to relevant and real-time data and analysis. The new system allows institutions (ICs) to submit requests to change their human subjects codes on-line, provides a platform for ICs and OEP-HS to communicate, and stores invaluable statistical information (e.g., case load, response time to IC requests, staff workload etc.). Such data are invaluable for OEP-HS managers and administrators as they triage workload, manage staff, conduct quality assessments, and write work performance reports.

Recovery Act Support

Client: NIH Office of Extramural Research The NIH Office of Extramural Research needed to communicate a reporting requirement to institutions awarded American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. Institutions had to submit approximately 50 data elements about each award, and these elements included award amounts, funds expended, project descriptions, estimated number of jobs created, and completion status. While the federal government created a new data entry system and provided general resources, the NIH was responsible for sharing these resources and providing additional agency-specific guidance and materials to grantees. Ripple Effect developed a communications plan that resulted in almost a 100% reporting rate.

Analysis of Public Comments for the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD), Data & Informatics

Ripple Effect was sought after to provide an analysis of public comments received through the Data and Informatics Request for Information (RFI) submitted by the Data and Informatics Working Group (DIWG) of the Advisory Group to the Director.  Ripple Effect was tasked with providing analysis of the broad, open-ended comments, where each submission had almost 5 distinct thoughts, resulting in over 200 ideas to be coded.  Ripple Effect used quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyze the responses.  From this, Ripple Effect developed a detailed report summarizing the findings revealing that the extramural community was most concerned with the scope of challenges, standards development and support needs. Access the full report here.