Intramural Diversity in Medical Research Initiatives

National Institute On Minority Health And Health Disparities

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

During FY23, NIMHD DIR supported and promoted diversity by engaging in our own diversity programs, funding other diversity initiatives across the NIH campus, and committee service activities related to NIH racial and ethnic equity and workforce diversity. In FY23, NIMHD DIR continued its two flagship programs to advance health disparities research and workforce diversity, the NIMHD William G. Coleman Jr., PhD, Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Innovation Award and the NIMHD DIR Adjunct Investigator program. NIMHD DIR expanded its collaborative efforts to increase the diversity of the biomedical workforce by joining the partnership supporting the Inter-Institute Endocrinology Training Program (IETP). It is a three-year training program that seeks to train internal medicine physicians to become first-rate endocrinologists dedicated to investigative careers. NIMHD DIR assisted with interviews and selection and is providing funding of one 3-year spot in the program for a fellow focused on health disparities. In addition, NIMHD DIR continued to fund and host two summer interns focused on health disparities research. These summer interns are from the partnership we have with the NINDS Health Disparities in Tribal Communities Summer Internship Program. These two summer interns, who self-identified as American Indian individuals, conducted research related to tobacco product use among American Indian/Alaska Native peoples. NIMHD/DIR collaborated with the NIH OITE Academy on Health Disparities and conducted a seminar as part of their NIH institute-wide Health Disparities Seminar Series. NIMHD/DIR Scientific Advisor and Training Director moderated the seminar with three Principal Investigators titled: The Research of the NIMHD Intramural Program, "Examples of Varied Career Paths and Methodologies," which was attended by over 60 fellows and NIH researchers. The overall seminar series gives the OITE Academy on Health Disparities fellows an opportunity to interact with leaders in health disparities research on career pathways and gain insight on research perspectives of equity, economics, social determinants of health and length and quality of life referencing health differences that adversely affect disadvantaged populations. Distinguish Scholar Program. This is an NIH program aims to build an inclusive community within the NIH Intramural Research Program by supporting principal investigators who are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the biomedical research workforce. So far, all 6 of DIRs tenure-track investigators have been selected for the program and are supporting workforce diversity in at NIH and in their own research. DEIA-related Committee Service. DIR investigators are making tremendous contributions to DEIA efforts at NIH through committee service. Four of our investigators participate on review committees (2 as Co-Chairs) for the NIH centralized Stadtman Investigator search. In doing so, they are promoting the value of health disparities and minority health research at NIH and helping to bring diversity and inclusion to the forefront in consideration of candidates. Stadtman applicants are now required to submit a statement as part of their application that focuses on their mentoring philosophy and activities related to mentoring women and persons from underrepresented minority groups. Review committees are instructed also to include such details in their summary statements and ratings of candidates. This information is helpful to the NIH Scientific Directors (SDs) in hiring TTIs who are committed to DEIA. Three of our investigators serve as members of the leadership team with the Jackson Heart Study (JHS) Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Leadership Team, working on gathering data and information to make informative inferences in minority and health disparities. The Scientific Director continued to Co-Chair the N Committee of the NIH UNITE initiative focused on creating new research on minority health and health disparities and two NIMHD DIR investigators were founding members of the NIMHD Racial and Ethnic Equity Committee (REEC), Dr. Kelvin Choi (Co-Chair) and Dr. Leonardo Mario-Ramirez. With the transition of the REEC into the new Inclusive Diversity Committee (IDC), Dr. Kosuke Tamura and Dr. Kristen Hamilton-Moseley are now serving on the IDC to implement the NINHD Racial and Equity Plan. Training. During FY23, NIMHD DIR served as the prominent site for health disparities research training for a total of 42 trainees: 8 post-doctoral fellows, 1 pre-doctoral fellows, 24 post-baccalaureate fellows, 9 summer interns, and 1 medical research scholar program fellow. Two of the post-baccalaureate fellows were hosted by Dr. Shannon Zenk's lab whose research program is hosted by NIMHD DIR. The overwhelming majority of these trainees were from underrepresented groups in science, e.g., and most were women. Demand for traineeship opportunities within DIR has always exceeded capacity. Continued growth in the number of DIR investigators will help meet this demand. New program: Community-based research award. The DIR envisions that community-based research is an important approach to ground our research in the community context so that we can develop the most appropriate interventions to reduce health disparities and promote health equity. In partnership with NINR, we launched the NIMHD-NINR Community-based research award to stimulate collaborations between intramural investigators and extramural investigators at community-serving organizations.