Diversity
January 11, 2013 | 1 Comment
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The Obama Administration will make history by hiring the government’s first “Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity” to mastermind a multi-million-dollar effort that boosts the number of minorities in biomedical research and slashes discrimination in the federal grant process.

The $500 million initiative to racially diversify medical research was launched last year after a government-sanctioned study uncovered a “disturbing and disheartening” lack of racial diversity in the field. Especially troubling are Uncle Sam’s discriminatory funding practices when it comes to distributing federal research grants, the study found.

Touted as one of the few government probes to focus solely on the racial and ethnic composition of federal research funding applicants, the study determined that blacks who apply for grants are less likely than whites and Hispanics to receive the awards. Of additional concern is the low number of “non-white applicants” who apply for the public grants in the first place, the study found.

Through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s medical research agency, the government doles out north of $31 billion annually to hundreds of thousands of researchers at thousands of universities and institutions around the globe. During a six-year period analyzed in the study, black researchers who applied for NIH grants were 10% less likely than whites to get the awards.

Researchers from the government-funded team of esteemed academics that conducted the minority probe think this is why; “the quality of educational and mentoring experiences may differ for applicants who self-identify as black or African-American.” In short, the NIH has admitted that it is guilty of not equally benefitting “all racial and ethnic groups.”

To right the wrong the NIH created a $500 million plan to support minority students with scholarships, research experiences and even graduate loan repayment. The agency is also creating a new committee that makes “diversity a core consideration of NIH governance” and ensures fairness in the peer review system that erases “unconscious bias related to disparities in research awards.” The plan also implements “implicit bias and diversity awareness training.”

This week the NIH announced that to lead the costly diversification effort it’s created a “new senior scientific position” of Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity. The agency plans to recruit a nationally-renowned scientist who will promote inclusiveness and equity throughout the biomedical research community, according to NIH Director Francis Collins. “Workforce diversity and inclusion is vital to the success of NIH to achieve scientific outcomes that advance the nation’s health,” Collins said.

Press Release

For Immediate Release
Thursday, January 10, 2013 Contact:
NIH Office of Communications
301-496-5787
NIH to recruit Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity

National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., today announced the recruitment for a new senior scientific position, the Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity. The chief officer will lead NIH’s effort to diversify the biomedical research workforce, a significant NIH-wide priority and an area of critical importance to biomedical research. Dr. Collins recently charged the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) to form a working group to address this challenge, and as part of their recommendations they made in Dec. 2012, the ACD working group strongly supported the creation of a new leadership position to lead this effort.

"Workforce diversity and inclusion is vital to the success of NIH to achieve scientific outcomes that advance the nation's health," Dr. Collins said. "I intend to appoint a nationally-renowned scientist to develop a comprehensive vision and strategy to strengthen our biomedical research enterprise through more diversified scientific applicant pools, pipelines and investigators. The chief officer will also expand recruitment methods and retention strategies, guarantee the fairness of peer review, and help promote inclusiveness and equity throughout the biomedical research community."

Dr. Collins has asked Roderic Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D., to serve as the Acting Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity. Dr. Pettigrew was appointed as the first director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at NIH in 2002. He is known for his pioneering work in four-dimensional imaging of the cardiovascular system using magnetic resonance and on integrated imaging and predictive biomechanical modeling of coronary atherosclerotic disease. Dr. Pettigrew is the recipient of many honors including election to membership in the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Pettigrew will continue to serve in his current role at NIBIB, while serving in this acting leadership position as we conduct a nationwide search to fill this new position.

The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH. Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.