A diverse workforce is an essential component of any successful enterprise that thrives on innovation. However, merely being aware of the need for diversity, or just having an organizational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policy, is not enough to reap the benefits of a diverse workforce…
Read moreBlog
2020
Credit: Office of Intramural Training & Education, National Institutes of Health
A New Chapter: Dr. Marie A. Bernard’s Vision for Scientific Workforce Diversity
October 20, 2020
On October 1, 2020, I assumed the role of acting Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity (COSWD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). I am deeply honored to continue and expand upon the work of my predecessor, Hannah A. Valantine, MD. Dr. Valantine was profoundly committed to…
Read more
Farewell Blog Post
October 01, 2020
At the Scientific Workforce Diversity Office (SWD), our mission has always been driven by the fundamental belief that a diverse workforce has the potential to spur scientific innovation, creativity, and productivity. Under my leadership, our work over the last six and a half years has focused on…
Read more2019
Success for our Nation’s Scientific Workforce: Sustaining the Diversity Program Consortium
August 21, 2019
In 2014, I became NIH’s first Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity – with three data points seared in my mind:
Black/African American (B/AA) scientists are 10 percentage points less likely to receive an NIH R01 grant, compared to White scientistsOnly 10% of predoctoral and… Read more
Transforming Institutional Culture: Assessment and Intervention
May 21, 2019
Recently my office partnered with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to host a webinar on organizational approaches to effect culture change. As you’ve read in my past communications, and described in a previous webinar, NIH developed the NIH Scientific Workforce Diversity…
Read more2018
Where Are All the Women? Preventing Gender Harassment in Science
December 20, 2018
The #MeToo movement has brought heightened scrutiny to interpersonal interactions in all walks of life – making us think carefully about what it means to be sexually harassed or to be a harasser. This global wave of recognition has not escaped the world of science. As evidence, a study of early-…
Read more
Because You Asked: More Information About the NIH Scientific Workforce Diversity Toolkit
September 18, 2018
Recently, on July 30, 2018, my office partnered with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to host a webinar aimed at promoting NIH’s evidenced-based strategies to promote inclusive excellence through the use of the NIH Scientific Workforce Diversity (SWD) Toolkit. This interactive…
Read more
1 + 1 = 3 (or More): The Value of Collaborations for Diversity and Inclusion in Biomedicine
April 17, 2018
"Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success." – Henry Ford
As has been articulated by many, team performance transcends individual strength. Certainly, this is the case for biomedical research, especially in the modern era. Team…
Read more
Landon Watts, a Year 2 BUILD Scholar in California State University, Long Beach’s BUILD program, presents his research at the 2017 Summer Symposium. Watts is a student in the College of Liberal Arts.
Building on BUILD: What’s on the Horizon for the Diversity Program Consortium?
February 13, 2018
In a previous blog, "Tomorrow’s Scientists, Today," I wrote about the NIH-funded Diversity Program Consortium (DPC). As I described therein, the DPC is a novel NIH investment using the scientific method to develop evidence-based strategies that enhance scientific workforce diversity, with a…
Read more2017
Focus on Faculty: The Time is Now
July 26, 2017
As NIH Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, my main goal is to promote scientific workforce diversity as a means to institutional excellence as I have described in previous blogs. To accomplish this, I must maintain a pulse on what is happening at NIH, in our own labs, as well as at…
Read more