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Participation of NIH Employees in Professional Societies |
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), within the Department of Health and Human Services, encourages its employees to be actively involved in professional associations and scientific societies. These organizations offer NIH employees the opportunity to::
- Exchange substantive programmatic information with the broader scientific and professional community;
- Engage in collaborative projects and programs which advance the mission of the NIH and the organization; and
- Enhance their skills and leadership capabilities
Official Participation: When a compelling policy or programmatic reason exists, employees may be approved to take on leadership roles in professional organizations as either a Federal Liaison or as a full member of a board of directors or as an officer in their official capacity. When serving in an official capacity, the employee and professional society may use the employee’s official title and NIH affiliation, and the employee may participate on official time.
- A Federal Liaison may fully participate in discussion, programs, and projects, share information, and attend meetings, but may not vote or assist in final decision-making on business affairs of the organization. The Federal Liaison represents only the NIH
- An officer or board member may fully participate in all discussions, programs, projects, and decision-making. As such, the employee represents both the NIH and the society. This dual responsibility constitutes a conflict of interest for the employee, as explained below.
Service as an officer, director, or trustee involves a fiduciary responsibility. Legally, the individual must act on behalf of the organization in any situation involving the organization. But as a federal employee, employees are required to always act on behalf of the Federal Government when they are performing official duties. Thus, a conflict exists when an employee serves as an officer, director or trustee of an outside organization as part of his/her official duties. This interpretation of the criminal conflict of interest statute (18 USC § 208) is under the authority of the US Department of Justice (DoJ).Therefore, in order to permit an employee to serve in such a capacity as part of official duties, NIH must waive the conflict based on a thorough and strong justification explaining why it is a benefit to the Government to do so. Ethics Counsel at the NIH assist in confirming strong justifications, and the written waiver document must be in place before the employee can begin his/her service with the professional society.
Personal Participation: It is also possible for an employee to participate in a personal capacity, separate from official duties. In this situation, there is no conflict because the employee does not represent the NIH. When serving in a personal capacity, employees must observe the limitations on the use of their titles or NIH affiliation, and employees must participate in all activities related to the position on their own time, away from the NIH office.
Obtaining Approval: Requests to serve as an officer, director, trustee, or similar, are reviewed on a case-by-case basis It is not possible to identify every scenario and type of activity and determine in advance whether the activity would or could be permitted. Furthermore the individual job responsibilities of the employee as well as the responsibilities of the position with the outside organization are important considerations when making the final determination.
Additional Information: For additional information, see the documents below or contact the employee's Institute or Center’s (IC) Ethics Office.
NIH Ethics Program web siteOfficial Duty Activities information for employees. This includes guidance for employees on types of activities that may be permitted as official duty. Just because an activity may be permitted does not guarantee that it will or must be permitted for every employee who requests approval.
Letter from NIH Deputy Ethics Counselor to Society Presidents (pending)
Guide to NIH Employee Involvement as Officers or Board Members in an Official Capacity
Summary of Involvement of NIH Employees as Officers or Board Members
Revised: 2/19/08