The NIH Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity Dr. Hannah Valantine presented the NIH’s current approach and activities for inclusive excellence in the U.S. scientific workforce. She highlighted four main diversity/inclusion challenges facing biomedicine: Advancing scholarship of the science of diversity and inclusion; Using a data-driven scientific approach to understand drivers and outcomes of inclusive excellence; Studying and mitigating the role of sociocultural factors in recruitment, retention, and career advancement; and Sustaining future workforce inclusive excellence.
The main focus of the webinar was the NIH Scientific Workforce Diversity Toolkit, a free, downloadable interactive resource institutions can use to help advance their own faculty diversity and inclusion. The toolkit guides users through evidence-based interrelated activities that SWD is currently using to foster an inclusive culture that unleashes the power of diversity to achieve research and institutional excellence. These include expanding diversity of the candidate pool, proactive outreach to diverse talent, mitigating bias in search processes, and developing/sustaining mentoring relationships and sponsorship. A key focus is the need to advance institutional accountability for lasting change. Please visit the NIH Scientific Workforce Diversity website and Dr. Valantine’s blog for more information.
After this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Understand the importance and promote an integrated approach to inclusive excellence.
- Recognize systematic approaches to identify a diverse pool of candidates for scientific positions.
- Communicate and utilize the value of proactive outreach to identify diverse talent for scientific positions.
- Recognize methods effective for mitigating implicit bias in scientific searches and in academic environments.
- Recognize evidence base for effective mentoring strategies.
About the Speaker
Hannah A. Valantine, MD
NIH Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity
Dr. Hannah Valantine became NIH’s first permanent Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity in March 2014. In this role, Dr. Valantine leads NIH’s effort to diversify the biomedical research workforce by developing a vision and comprehensive strategy to expand recruitment and retention, and promote inclusiveness and equity throughout the biomedical research enterprise.