The Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) is meeting on Thursday, June 14, and Friday, June 15, 2012. During this meeting, three working groups will present their final draft reports for the ACD’s consideration:
June 14:
1:00p .m. – ACD Working Group on the Biomedical Workforce
2:45 p.m. – ACD Working Group on Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce
June 15:
9:15 a.m. – ACD Working Group on Data and Informatics
We will also have a public comment session where we hope to hear from all stakeholders about the role that NIH can play in increasing the diversity of our biomedical research workforce. We’re asking those interested in presenting comments during this session to sign up by Friday, February 10.
The Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) established the Working Group on Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce to provide recommendations to the ACD and the NIH Director on ways to enhance diversity throughout the various research career stages, particularly with regard to underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities, and persons from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Working Group has considered the evidence presented in “Race, Ethnicity, and NIH Research Awards” published in the August 2011 edition of Science and additional data provided by the NIH. Please also see my last feedback post about NIH’s commitment to diversity.
Today, Science published an analysis commissioned by the NIH that reveals that black or African American applicants were significantly less likely to receive NIH R01 funding than were white applicants (during 2000-2006). The gap in success rates amounted to 10 percentage points even after controlling for a series of factors that might affect success. The analysis also showed that Asian applicants were less likely to receive funding although that difference could be attributed to citizenship, with US citizens being more likely to receive an R01 than non-citizens.
We take these results very seriously, and the status quo is not acceptable! NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins and I wrote a policy forum for the same issue of Science where we discuss the steps NIH is taking to better understand the causes of the differential success rate. In addition, we describe a framework of action for the NIH and the entire biomedical research community to address this disparity.
There are several experimental interventions that NIH will implement. The Center for Scientific Review has already launched the Early Career Reviewer program. In addition, the NIH Director recently formed The Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) Diversity in Biomedical Research Working Group composed of National leaders that will provide perspective and advice to the NIH Director through the ACD.
As we move forward, we will continue our extensive outreach to all of our stakeholders. For additional information on this study and our efforts to address the problem, please see our Frequently Asked Questions. I also look forward to your suggestions about what NIH and the scientific community can do to meet our shared goal of a diversified workforce. It is essential that all scientists are afforded the same opportunities – thus ensuring that we recruit the very best minds to the challenges of biomedical research.
