NIH’s Efforts to Enhance Racial and Ethnic Equity

<p>Marie A. Bernard, M.D., is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity (COSWD). As the COSWD, she leads NIH thought regarding the science of scientific workforce diversity, assuring that the full range of talent is accessed to promote scientific creativity and innovation. </p><p>Dr. Bernard co-led the development of the Fiscal Years 2023 – 2027 NIH-wide Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) and is working on its implementation. She is also a cochair of the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director Working Group on Diversity, the NIH Steering Committee Working Group on DEIA, and the NIH UNITE initiative to identify and address any structural racism that may exist within NIH and throughout the biomedical and behavioral workforce.</p><p>Prior to being selected as the COSWD in 2021, she was Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA). As NIA’s senior geriatrician, she served as the principal advisor to the NIA director. She cochaired two Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020/2030 objectives – 1) Older Adults, and 2) Dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease. She also co-led the NIH-wide Inclusion Governance Committee that ensures appropriate inclusion of individuals in clinical studies, including by sex/gender, race/ethnicity, and children/older adults. She also led the Women of Color Committee of the NIH-wide Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers.</p><p>Dr. Bernard completed her undergraduate education at Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and received her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She trained in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, where she served as chief resident. She received additional training through the Association of American Medical Colleges Health Services Research Institute, the Geriatric Education Center of Pennsylvania, and the Wharton School Executive Development Program.</p>

<p>Dr. Noni Byrnes is Director of the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this capacity, she leads a staff of about 600 personnel, and is responsible for overseeing the majority of the NIH peer review process as CSR handles the review of ~76% of grant applications submitted to NIH.</p><p>Prior to being appointed Director in 2019, Dr. Byrnes served in a variety of roles at CSR in positions of increasing responsibility―beginning as a scientific review officer and eventually serving as Acting Deputy Director and Acting Director of CSR, before being named Director.</p><p>Dr. Byrnes has a deep understanding of NIH peer review, a history of engagement with the scientific community, and a track record of innovation and leading change. She provides leadership and oversight of the peer review of high-profile trans-NIH initiatives and has led the development of recommendations to strengthen peer review across NIH. This includes facilitating the development of recommendations to strengthen the peer review of research project grants through a simplified review framework and a separate set of recommendations to ensure that the peer review of NRSA fellowship applications is fair and effective.</p><p>Under her leadership, CSR has increased the diversity of scientific review groups. In addition, she has taken many actions to address bias in peer review, including the development of bias awareness and mitigation training for reviewers. This training is to be adopted by all of NIH and made mandatory for reviewers.</p><p>Prior to joining CSR, Dr. Byrnes worked in the pharmaceutical industry, where she conducted research to support Investigational New Drug submissions, among other responsibilities. Dr. Byrnes earned a B.S. in chemistry from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Emory University in Atlanta, GA.</p>

<p>Dr. Alfred Johnson was appointed as the Deputy Director for Management and Chief Financial Officer for the National Institutes of Health in May 2017. As Deputy Director for Management (DDM), he advises the Director, NIH, and senior officials on all phases of NIH-wide administration and provides oversight for budget and finance; human resources; management assessment and policy; program integrity; contracts, procurement, and logistics; engineering services; safety, space, and facility management; support services; and security operations. Dr. Johnson is the principal NIH contact on administrative and management matters for the Department of Health &amp; Human Services (DHHS) and other federal agencies.</p><p>Prior to taking on the Deputy Director for Management role, Dr. Johnson served as the NIH Associate Director for Research Services and Director of the Office of Research Services (ORS) for ten years. As the ORS Director, he planned and directed service programs for public safety and security operations, scientific and regulatory support, and a wide variety of other program and employee services. In this capacity, he served as the Chief Security Officer, the Designated Agency Safety and Health Official and the Senior Official for Health and Wellness. He managed a staff of over 550 federal employees, over 1400 contract employees and a budget of over $250 million.</p><p>Dr. Johnson has also served an Assistant Director in the NIH Office of Intramural Research, the Acting Director, Division of Loan Repayment, Director of the NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program and was a Principal Investigator in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the National Cancer Institute.</p><p>Dr. Johnson earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Albany State University, and a doctorate degree in biomedical sciences from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.</p>

<p>Ericka Boone, Ph.D. is the Director for the Division of Biomedical Research Workforce (DBRW) within the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER). She recently served as the Director of the NIH Division of Loan Repayment. In that role, Dr. Boone was responsible for administering and providing leadership for the NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRP) as well as representing NIH on matters related to the operations, policy development and evaluation of the LRP. Previous to this position, Dr. Boone served as a Health Scientist Administrator in the Office of Science Policy and Communications at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. There she developed and targeted science-based publications, outreach initiatives and other activities to educate a variety of audiences about the science of drug use, abuse and addiction. For her role in these efforts, Dr. Boone has won several NIDA Director’s Awards of Merit and an NIH Director’s Award. Prior to coming to NIH, Dr. Boone conducted research at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Emory University. Dr. Boone’s academic background includes a B.A. in Biology from Talladega College and a Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Health from The Pennsylvania State University.</p>