Panel to examine CIHR's awarding of research grants

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has launched an international Peer Review Expert Panel to examine the design and adjudication process of its investigator-initiated funding program. Headed by Dr Peter Gluckman, chief scientific advisor to the prime minister of New Zealand, the panel will base its deliberations on peer review literature and international best practices. The panel was struck, at least in part, to address the negative reaction earlier this year among senior health researchers over CIHR's recently implemented peer review process for awarding research grants (R$, July 8/16). The panel will address six questions to determine whether CIHR processes conform to its mandate and meet changing health sciences landscape and international funding practices. Panel members will convene in Ottawa for two days in January and submit their report to CIHR's governing council before a public release next spring. The findings are expected to "help inform refinements to the investigator-initiated programs moving forward"....