Emily Palombo

Emily Palombo serves as a key procurement professional within the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health under the Department of Health and Human Services. She manages acquisitions that support NIDA’s mission to advance scientific research on substance use disorders, overseeing contracts for laboratory instrumentation, clinical research services, and analytical testing capabilities. Her portfolio primarily includes research infrastructure, specialized equipment, and technical services essential to translating neurobiological findings into public health applications. She works closely with academic medical centers and scientific contractors to ensure compliance with federal procurement regulations while advancing evidence-based addiction science. Palombo maintains strong, sustained relationships with leading research institutions including The McLean Hospital Corporation, the University of Maryland Baltimore, the University of Miami, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. These partnerships are predominantly research-driven, involving the procurement of advanced diagnostic tools, behavioral assessment systems, and clinical trial support services. Her contracting patterns reflect a preference for long-term, performance-based agreements with high-caliber academic and nonprofit research entities that possess specialized expertise in addiction science and neuroimaging technologies. Her procurement strategy reflects a strong emphasis on open competition, with 87.5% of awards issued without set-asides, indicating a focus on technical merit and scientific capability over socioeconomic preferences. Nevertheless, she consistently allocates 12.5% of awards to total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5, demonstrating a measured commitment to small business participation in high-technical domains. Palombo’s primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 334516 (analytical laboratory instrument manufacturing) and 811210 (electronic and precision equipment repair and maintenance), reflecting her specialization in procuring mass spectrometers, neuroimaging systems, and precision diagnostic tools. She also frequently acquires services under NAICS 621511 (medical laboratories), supporting clinical validation studies and biomarker analysis essential to NIDA’s translational research agenda. Her domain expertise centers on the integration of advanced instrumentation into biomedical research environments.