On June 12, NIH Director Francis Collins announced that he will not take part in conferences or meetings in which “attention to inclusiveness is not evident in the agenda.” In keeping with this announcement, all NIGMS staff, including leadership, program and scientific review officers, grants management specialists, and others, will only attend meetings and conferences where the organizers have shown a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion in their selection of chairs, speakers, and panelists. NIGMS has a long-standing mission to promote diversity in the scientific enterprise. Helping to ensure that the organizers of scientific conferences and meetings plan diverse and inclusive agendas will further our goal of developing the most creative, vibrant, and productive biomedical research workforce possible.
NIGMS Statement in Support of Diverse and Inclusive Meetings and Conferences
2 comments
I am so proud of NIH!!! Thank you. Makes me happy to pay taxes.
Thank you, Jon Lorsch and other leaders at NIH for highlighting the importance of recognizing diversity in the biomedical workforce, and shaping our meetings and activities to recognize this element. Bloomberg Businessweek recently ran a cover story about “How NOT to Cure Cancer”, and the worrisome trend to single out ethnic groups (in this case, Chinese and Chinese-Americans) for special scrutiny. We need national and local leadership on this issue.