Fund Black scientists

Abstract

Our nationwide network of BME women faculty collectively argue that racial funding disparity by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) remains the most insidious barrier to success of Black faculty in our profession. We thus refocus attention on this critical barrier and suggest solutions on how it can be dismantled.

Affirming NIH’s commitment to addressing structural racism in the biomedical research enterprise

“…NIH can no longer look the other way. Among the challenging issues that the agency must confront head on are a failure to acknowledge first-hand accounts of racism in the workplace reported by people of color throughout the biomedical research enterprise; a long-standing failure to attract, retain, and promote to the highest levels scientists from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the biomedical research workforce; persistent disparities in the success rates for grants supporting Black scientists (Ginther et al, 2011;Hoppe et al, 2019;Stevens et al, 2021;Lauer et al, 2021); lack of transparent race-based demographic data linked to grant success and funding rates; ''siloing'' of NIH diversity initiatives rather than including them as a fundamental element across NIH; and significant underfunding of research on minority health, health disparities, and health inequities.…”

Getting there: Thyroid hormone receptor intracellular trafficking

“…As I stood by my new colleague, a gifted scientist and rising star in her field, I shared her frustration at having grant after grant application rejected for years before she finally succeeded. There was no denying that racial bias by funding panels ( 16 ) was part of the story. There was anguish and anger along the way, but we persisted and the payoff was tremendous.…”

An immigrant’s experience: science is a discipline without borders

“…Considerable attention is now focused on structural racism, defined as the totality of ways that society fosters racial discrimination via inequitable systems (e.g., housing, education, health care). This systematic inequity continues to reinforce and perpetuate a lack of diversity and talent in scientific endeavors and injustices within the research community (12)(13)(14).…”