The role of Lay Review Committees in diabetes research

• Published in: Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews Vol. 19; no. 4; pp. 271 - 279
• Main Author: Stenger, David P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.07.2003; Wiley
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Diabetes Mellitus; Diabetes. Impaired glucose tolerance; Endocrine pancreas. Apud cells (diseases); Endocrinopathies; grant review; Humans; lay review; Management. Various non-drug treatments. Langerhans islet grafts; Medical sciences; Reproducibility of Results; Research - standards; Research - trends; Research Support as Topic; Societies, Medical; Societies, Scientific; T1DM; type 1 diabetes; United States; United States; Endocrinopathy; Human; T1DM; type 1 diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; grant review; lay review; Review; Research
• ISSN: 1520-7552; 1520-7560
• DOI: 10.1002/dmrr.392

Type 1 diabetes is unique among disease entities in having a large voluntary health nonprofit organization (the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) that employs the process of review by laypersons (following a review by scientists) in selecting the recipients of its funding awards to individual investigators/trainees: grants, career‐development awards, fellowships, and ‘innovative grants.’ Therefore, that organization can be a suitable model on which an examination of lay review can be based. This paper summarizes (1) the history of how lay review originated and (2) this foundation's experience with it, (3) assesses the impact of the procedure on the discipline of diabetes science, and (4) examines the role it might play in the future, given the current state of that discipline. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.