Issel Anne L. Lim, Ph.D.

Dr. Issel Anne Lim is the Deputy Director of the Division of Extramural Operations (DEO) within NHGRI’s Extramural Research Program (ERP). She provides leadership in coordinating the institutes extramural research applications, awards, operations, and policies. NHGRI’s ERP reviews and manages external funding used to support research and research training programs outside the NIH. These scientific programs support the institute’s vision of improving the health of all humans through advances in genomics research. Dr. Lim joined NHGRI in 2024.

Previously, as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Director of the Office of AIDS Research in the NIH Office of the Director, Dr. Lim built and supervised the Policy, Legislation, Communications, and Engagement team, overseeing the development of reports to Congress, key science policy initiatives, legislative updates, online resources, and outreach efforts. As the Team Lead for Science Policy and Planning at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), her responsibilities included strategic planning, coordinating NIH-wide reports, drafting talking points for congressional testimony, and analyzing data on maternal health, child health, reproductive health, rehabilitation, disabilities, population health, and other topics covered by NICHD’s mission. Dr. Lim has also worked on short-term projects as a Program Director in NICHD’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Branch, as a Referral Officer at the Center for Scientific Review, and as a Senior Advisor to the Director of the Division of Extramural Activities at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Dr. Lim originally joined NIH in 2014 as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow, working primarily on implementing rigor and reproducibility policies in the NIH Office of Extramural Research.

At Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Lim completed her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship in radiology, psychiatry, and neuroscience, developing MRI acquisition and analysis methods to characterize iron in the brain and spinal cord for neurodegenerative conditions. She earned her B.Sc. in Biology, with minors in biomedical engineering and toxicology, and a concentration in technical writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).