Broadening Our Scientific Workforce
In both the public and private sectors there is ever-increasing awareness
of the benefits of a diverse workforce. Increased diversity brings
with it a more diverse array of perspectives and modes of thinking – both
of which are integral to the scientific process. Simply put, an increased
variety of ideas means an increased potential for solutions. While any organization
would benefit from such increased potential, for NIH the benefit is critical
to its mission of improving worldwide health.
An example of the importance of diverse perspectives in research appears
in the June 2008 publication of the Harvard Business Review, The
Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering and Technology (Product No. 10094 at 5-6). When Dr. Sadaf Farooqui was a medical school student
in the United Kingdom, a professor asked her to participate in research investigating
the causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. What was known at the time was
that crib death mortality rates were much lower in the South Asian communities
in the UK than in the country in general. Dr. Farooqui thought, based
on child-rearing practices in Pakistani families that the reason for the lower
mortality rates was that these children sleep on their backs, not on their
stomachs. Research shored up her hypothesis, and the results were published
in the British medical journal, The Lancet. Not long thereafter, the
UK initiated a national campaign to encourage caregivers to put children to
sleep on their backs. In the first year of the initiative, the number
of crib deaths in the UK was cut in half. This is a clear example of
how one investigator’s unique skills and cultural background can make significant contributions to scientific research and policy, and yield tangible benefits to the public.
NIH has focused its diversity efforts on the following groups underrepresented
in the sciences, based on available data and statistics from the National
Science Foundation, and our own experiences in this area:
- Socially, culturally, or educationally disadvantaged populations
- Women at the faculty level and above
- Individuals with disabilities
- Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups
- Families with annual incomes below established low-income thresholds.
Each group faces unique challenges, and many individuals represent an amalgam
of one or more groups. Because of these intricacies, we need to think
“outside of the box” when continuing past efforts, and designing new approaches. For
example, how do we identify persons with unique perspectives? Do we
merely ask persons to check boxes on an application, or do we permit applicants
to elaborate on their backgrounds? There are also more general questions
that are applicable to any population, such as:
- How and why do people choose careers in science?
- What obstacles impede the progress of those pursuing a career in science?
- What is the best role NIH can play in helping create a more diverse scientific
workforce?
A New Year brings not only renewed energy to continue work on ongoing projects,
but also the potential to design new initiatives. In 2009 we will use our
collective resources to better articulate the reasons that scientific workforce
diversity is integral to NIH’s mission, how it can help to eliminate health
disparities, and promote public trust and confidence in our activities. Some
of this work has already begun, with sessions of the December
2008 NIH Summit: The Science of Eliminating Health Disparities dedicated
to examining the nexus between eliminating health disparities and building
the capacity of educational institutions to educate the next generation of
research scientists at the undergraduate, graduate and post-doctorate levels. In
addition, there are several NIH working groups evaluating various facets of
scientific workforce diversity. In the coming months, you will learn
more about these efforts.
The bottom line is that we have much work ahead of us in finding creative
solutions to this issue. However, when our efforts bear fruit, as I strongly
believe they will, the returns to the scientific community will be immeasurable.
I look forward to the coming year and working with you in partnership to enhance
opportunities for tomorrow’s scientific workforce.
- Sally Rockey, Ph.D.
Acting NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research
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