Bruce Compas to chair NIH study session

Vanderbilt News Network

Bruce Compas, Patricia and Rodes Hart Chair of Psychology and Human Development, has been appointed chair of the Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention Study Section of the National Institutes of Health's Center for Scientific Review.

"Membership on a study section represents a major commitment of professional time and energy as well as a unique opportunity to contribute to the national biomedical research effort," Center for Scientific Review Chair Toni Scarpa, M.D. wrote to Peabody Dean Camilla Benbow in a letter announcing the appointment. "The skill and leadership offered by the chairperson determine to a significant extent the effectiveness and efficiency of the group."

NIH study sections comprise experts charged with evaluating NIH grant applications for scientific and technical merit. "Members are selected on the basis of their demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of their research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors," Scarpa wrote.

Study section chairs are charged with ensuring fair, equitable, timely and in-depth review of proposals and with directing and coordinating the group's reports. Compas will serve in the role of chair for two years.

Compas, an expert on prevention of depression in children and families, is also a professor of pediatrics and a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development investigator.

Contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu