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Nicole J. Garbarini, Ph.D.
Nicole J. Garbarini, Ph.D.
Director, Strategic Coordination, Planning, and Evaluation
Tel 301-435-4642
[email protected]
31 Center Dr
NIHBC 31 - CLAUDE D PEPPER BUILDING
Bethesda, MD 20892

Nicole Garbarini is deputy director of the Office of Scientific Coordination, Planning and Evaluation (SCOPE), leading policy, planning, and evaluation activities at NIEHS. She joined the institute in March 2024.

Garbarini has held several leadership roles at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As Senior Science Policy Advisor at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), she advised on science policy and operational activities, and led the coordination of legislative activities. As part of NIH’s overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she managed COVID-19 projects and activities, playing key roles in COVID data projects, including co-chairing a data access committee as well as developing processes for accessing, sharing, and governing data. As Special Assistant to the NIH Principal Deputy Director, she represented NIH in meetings with federal and external organizations and led several activities under the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director, such as the development of recommendations on the biomedical research workforce, as well as bolstering scientific integrity and public trust in research. For over five years, she served as the NIH’s media representative on extramural research policy and grants processes in the NIH Office of Extramural Research and led the NIH Grants Information Branch. Her NIH experience encompasses multiple facets of NIH’s extramural program, ranging from presentations and communications to a wide variety of audiences, to conducting scientific analyses and communications at and across multiple NIH institutes and centers.

She has worked in the fields of science policy and science communications for over 15 years. Her career experience includes legislative and media affairs at both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program evaluation and presentations, and academic journal editing and freelance science reporting. Garbarini was a 2009-2011 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow, and a 2004 AAAS Mass Media Fellow. Her predoctoral and postdoctoral research in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University focused on the modulation of cation-chloride cotransporters through protein-protein interactions.

Professional Interests

Garbarini is passionate about supporting research collaborations and innovation, biomedical research workforce and research integrity policy issues, and public trust in science.

Selected Publications