Program Snapshot
This trans-NIH program is funded by the NIH Common Fund and managed by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). The overarching goal of the program is to develop, implement, assess and disseminate innovative and effective approaches to engaging, training and mentoring students; enhancing faculty development; and strengthening institutional research training infrastructure to enhance the participation and persistence of individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in biomedical research careers. Read more...
Program Highlights
Additional Resources
Read more about the activities of the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) Working Group on the Biomedical Research Workforce here
“There Aren’t Qualified Minority Candidates” Is a Myth, by Viviane Callier, Scientific American, Nov. 22, 2016
Science’s Minority Talent Pool is Growing – but Draining Away, by Ed Yong, The Atlantic, Nov. 22, 2016
Thinking Outside the Pipeline, by Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 18, 2016
Special Issue of CBE-Life Sciences Education: Broadening Participation in the Life Sciences, Eds. Kenneth D. Gibbs and Pat Marsteller, ASCB, Sept. 1. 2016
Special Feature: From the NIH: A Systems Approach to Increasing the Diversity of the Biomedical Research Workforce, by Hannah A. Valantine, P. Kay Lund, and Alison E. Gammie, CBE Life-Sciences Education, Sept. 1, 2016
Increasing Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce: Actions for Improving Evidence, published by the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities, with the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities and the AAMC, July 2016
National Institutes of Health addresses the science of diversity, by Hannah A. Valantine and Francis S. Collins, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015
When it comes to diversity grants, NIH hopes bigger is better, by Jeffrey Mervis, Science, Nov. 4, 2014
The Diversity Program Consortium is composed of three inter-connected programs
Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD):
This initiative consists of a set of 10 linked awards granted to undergraduate institutions, each of which developed quantitative approaches intended to determine the most effective ways to engage and retain students from diverse backgrounds in biomedical research, and to prepare students to become future contributors to the NIH-funded research enterprise. BUILD awards differ from other NIH-training grants in that they aim to simultaneously achieve impact at the student, faculty and institutional levels, and include structured evaluations during the life of the grant. Through efforts coordinated by the CEC, grantee institutions work together to propose new ways to engage their unique student populations and address the multidimensional factors affecting student success. Disseminating the effective interventions and strategies that the sites develop is intended to contribute to broader transformational impact on biomedical research.
The National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN):
NRMN is developing a national network of mentors and mentees from all biomedical disciplines relevant to the NIH mission to provide mentorship, professional development, mentor/mentee training, networking and resources to individuals from the undergraduate to early career faculty levels. NRMN’s initiatives include a web-based mentor networking platform, in-person conferences and online training sessions, grantsmanship workshops and in-depth one-on-one mentoring sessions. This variety in programming is intended to offer mentoring opportunities to scientists throughout their education and career. For more information about NRMN, including upcoming events and opportunities, please visit their website.
The Coordination and Evaluation Center (CEC):
The CEC, based at the University of California, Los Angeles, is responsible for coordinating and evaluating the outcomes of DPC activities. Coordination efforts include: supporting consortium-wide working groups, helping develop and plan publications, managing the DPC website and organizing the DPC annual meeting. The CEC’s evaluation work includes designing a detailed evaluation plan to assess the outcomes and impact of BUILD and NRMN’s training and mentoring approaches based on consortium hallmarks of success and logic models. As needed, the CEC offers support to Consortium sites to ensure progress of data collection and to address any issues that arise. . The data collected are indicative of program outcomes and will have implications for recruiting, training and mentoring of diverse groups nationwide. The CEC will also coordinate dissemination of effective approaches to the broader biomedical research training community.
For more information about the Diversity Program Consortium, contact:
Dr. Alison Gammie
DPC Program Leader
Division of Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
National Institutes of Health
45 Center Drive MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
301-594-3900
