The National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council (NAGMSC) advises the Director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) on research activities and policies. The NAGSMC provides the second-level peer review of all applications for research grants and cooperative agreements, training grants, and career development awards. The NAGSMC also provides advice to the NIGMS Director on a wide range of areas including concept clearance for proposed research initiatives; the development, recommendation, and setting of NIGMS policy and research priorities; and workgroup reports.

This is required by law (Public Health Service Act) and reiterated in the NAGMSC Charter. Council Operation procedures are reviewed each year and can be found here [PDF].

Open Session

Most Council meetings have a portion that is open to the public, and any member of the public may attend on a space-available basis or via videocast. On the day of the open session, the meeting can be viewed on the NIH VideoCast site. Additional information about upcoming open sessions can be found on the NIGMS Advisory Council Upcoming Meetings page.

The open session serves as a time for information exchange between staff and Council members, allowing opportunities to provide feedback on the effects of Institute policies, scientific directions and operating procedures.

High-level reviews of potential initiatives are presented in the open session as Concept Clearance, but issues concerning specific grant applications and other confidential matters must not be discussed in the open session and instead, are discussed in the closed session. The open session concludes with a public comment period.

Closed Session

Grants and cooperative agreements with a primary assignment to NIGMS must receive the concurrence of the NAGMSC with the initial review for scientific and technical merit to be awarded NIGMS funds. The Council will vote on them as either en bloc or individual special actions. In addition, the Council may conduct expedited reviews upon the request of the NIGMS Director or Executive Secretary. The review of individual applications is confidential, and this portion of the meeting is not open to the public. The Council also considers appeals received from applicants who believe that the review process or study section recommendation was flawed, as well as applications from foreign institutions, and applications from investigators with substantial research support (those who have more than $1,500,000 annual total costs for research) or those with substantial unrestricted funding for additional consideration.

For applications approved by the scientific review group, the Council may do any of the following:

Guidelines for funding decisions for the NAGMSC are available at Council's Role in the Funding Process.

Emergency Procedures for Council Meetings

In the event of an emergency that would preclude the usual Council meeting from occurring, NIGMS staff will consider utilizing one or more of the following procedures:

• Consider only closed-session items, possibly focusing on a selected subset of applications for second-level review;
• Utilize the Electronic Council Book (ECB) in conjunction with electronic voting/approvals;
• Relocate the meeting to another site and/or date, or hold it virtually if originally scheduled to be in person.

The NAGMS Council Executive Secretary, in consultation with the Director, NIGMS, and senior staff members, will communicate the altered procedures and meeting arrangements to Council members and Institute staff. The public will be notified via a Federal Register Notice (FRN).

Working Groups

Occasionally, chartered Federal advisory committees may establish special working groups to examine and address critical scientific, programmatic, or policy issues of importance to the Institute and its constituencies. Council members may be asked to participate in working groups as the need arises and working groups will consist of Council member(s), staff, and external experts as needed.

Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality

Conflict of Interest

Federal regulations concerning conflict of interest will be read at the beginning of the closed session of the Council meeting, and each Council member must sign a statement that they have not participated in the review of applications in which there is a real or perceived conflict of interest.

En bloc concurrences with study section recommendations by definition exclude conflicts of interest that arise because of institutional affiliations or personal/professional relationships (e.g., former graduate students or postdoctoral associates, collaborators). Council members should talk with the NIGMS associate director for extramural activities if there are any questions or additional conflicts to declare (no explanation necessary).

Confidentiality

All the summary statements and related review materials (appeal letters, staff memos, etc.) are considered confidential and should not be shared with anyone else without specific permission from the NIGMS associate director for extramural activities.

All deliberations and decisions by the Council during the closed session of the meeting are also considered confidential. Members of Council must not discuss proceedings with anyone other than NIGMS staff and other Council members.

Applicants must not contact Council members, as this is a violation of review policy and procedure. Applicants should contact the appropriate NIGMS program staff. Staff will notify applicants about relevant Council decisions.