Privacy Act memo

DATE:

August 6, 2020

TO:

Aaron Pawlyk, PhD
Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics Branch
National Institute of child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

FROM:

NIH Privacy Act Officer

SUBJECT: Applicability of the Privacy Act: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative
Feedback on Agency Service Delivery (NICHD)
I have reviewed the NICHD submission to the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork
Reduction Act which proposes to survey feedback from graduating fellows in order to improve the
program in future years. The T32 programs in pediatric clinical pharmacology is an institutional research
training grant program developed in 2011 to help ensure that a diverse and highly trained workforce is
available in an area that currently has a limited number of researchers. Approximately 10-15 trainees
complete the training program each year.
I have determined that the Privacy Act will apply to this data collection, which includes the collection
of personally identifiable information (PII) such as name, designation, institution, email address and
subspecialty that will be stored in a record system designed to be retrieved by a personal identifier.
Feedback will be collected through Survey Monkey. Feedback will be aggregated and reviewed by
internal staff as planning for future terms is developed. Aggregate deidentified data may be shared with
T32 program directors to support program changes made as a result of feedback received or shared
publicly by the NICHD as part of an evaluation of or request for information on the program.
This data collection is covered by NIH Privacy Act Systems of Record 09-25-0156, “Records of
Participants in Programs and Respondents in Surveys Used to Evaluate Programs of the Public Health
Service, HHS/PHS/NIH/OD.” If you have any questions, please contact my office at (301) 402-6201.

Celeste Dade-Vinson

cc: Jennifer Guimond