NIH Leads Effort to Help Women in Science and
Medicine Fulfill Potential
NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni has created the Working Group
on Women in Biomedical Careers to examine issues raised in the
recent National Academies report, "Beyond Bias and Barriers, Fulfilling
the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering," and
to respond to the challenges issued to government funding agencies
to maximize the potential of women scientists and engineers.
"It is critical to address the barriers that women face in hiring
and promotion at research universities in many fields of science," said
Dr. Zerhouni. "I have appointed the NIH Working Group on Women
in Biomedical Careers to help address this challenge and to develop
innovative strategies and tangible actions that can be implemented
to promote the advancement of women in research careers both within
the NIH intramural community and throughout the extramural research
community."
Dr. Zerhouni and Dr. Vivian Pinn, Associate Director for Research
on Women's Health and Director of the Office of Research on Women's
Health, will co-chair the Working Group, which will carefully consider
the recommendations in the National Academies report.
This report, which was initially funded by the NIH Office of Research
on Women's Health, as well as Eli Lilly and Co., the National Science
Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the National Academies, called
for an urgent broad national effort to maximize the potential of
women scientists and engineers in academia. The committee that
produced the report was chaired by Donna Shalala, Ph.D., President
of the University of Miami and former Secretary of the Department
of Health and Human Services.
The National Academies is composed of the National Academy of
Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of
Medicine, and the National Research Council. They are private,
nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health
policy advice under a congressional charter.
The Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), Office of
the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH) serves as the
focal point for women's health research at the NIH. For more
information about NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health
or the Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers, visit http://orwh.od.nih.gov/ or http://orwh.od.nih.gov/careers/careerdev.html.
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/.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) The Nation's
Medical Research Agency is comprised of 27 Institutes
and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health
and Human Services. It is the primary Federal agency for conducting
and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research,
and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common
and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs,
visit www.nih.gov. |