{"643438":{"#nid":"643438","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Cell Paper Calls for End to Funding Discrimination Against Black Scientists","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cell.com\/cell\/fulltext\/S0092-8674(21)00011-8\u0022\u003EA paper in the scientific journal \u003Cem\u003ECell\u003C\/em\u003E \u003C\/a\u003Ehas called on the National Institutes of Health and other funding agencies to address disparities in allocating support for Black researchers. Representatives from a national network of women deans, chairs, and distinguished faculty in biomedical engineering collaborated on the call to action.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDespite studies on the distribution of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research funding to Black scientists over the past decade, little has changed. And the authors said the result is that Black faculty members\u0026rsquo; careers stall, and they cannot achieve their full potential.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Several reports to describe inequities had been published before, but there seemed to be very little effective action in response,\u0026rdquo; said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Karmella-Haynes\u0022\u003EKarmella Haynes\u003C\/a\u003E, a co-author and assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. \u0026ldquo;For instance, there are certain program announcements that aim to increase workforce diversity, but these don\u0026#39;t receive enough funding to make a difference. Also, NIH merit review panels sometimes include black scientists like myself \u0026mdash; and seem to have become more diverse, in general \u0026mdash; but subsequent NIH council review, where actual finding decisions are made, is a closed process.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaynes pointed to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/elifesciences.org\/articles\/65697\u0022\u003Ea recent report in \u003Cem\u003EeLife\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, where the authors noted \u0026ldquo;[approximately] 119 applications from white [principal investigators] with scores in the 35th-59th percentile range were funded versus zero applications from Black PIs with scores in the same range.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the \u003Cem\u003ECell\u003C\/em\u003E paper, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cell.com\/cell\/fulltext\/S0092-8674(21)00011-8\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Fund Black Scientists,\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E Haynes and her co-authors wrote that Black applicant award rates for research funding have stood at about 55 percent of that of white principal investigators of similar academic achievement. Despite internal reviews of the reasons behind this disparity, and promises to do better, the funding gap continues.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile efforts have been made to improve the pipeline to encourage Black students to prepare for and enter careers as researchers and college and university faculty, once appointed, lack of research funding can derail these careers, the authors wrote. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMany universities look at faculty members\u0026rsquo; ability to support their research as part of decisions on tenure and promotions, so NIH funding disparities can end the careers of Black scientists. Plus, without adequate research funding, these scientists can become discouraged and leave their professions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe effects are potentially generational \u0026mdash; fewer Black scientists remain to serve as role models and mentors for up-and-coming researchers \u0026mdash; and have far-reaching impacts on society.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearch questions vital to society are not being asked, because the perspectives, creativity, and knowledge of a diverse population of scientists are not being tapped. The public also does not see the faces or hear the voices of Black scientific experts speaking on important issues. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe authors of the paper made several recommendations to equalize research funding, including:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EExplicitly stating that racism persists in the U.S. research enterprise and that it must be expelled.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EDeveloping federal funding institute policies to immediately achieve racial funding equity.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EIncorporating diversity into research proposal scoring criteria, prioritizing research teams that exemplify diversity, and diversifying proposal review panels.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ETraining funding agency leadership and staff \u0026mdash; and grant reviewers and recipients \u0026mdash; to recognize and stop racism.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Scientific colleagues, let us each use our voices and actions to now overcome our profession\u0026rsquo;s racism and serve as antiracist agents of change,\u0026rdquo; the authors wrote.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETheir recommendations also extended to individual scientists as well as universities, colleges, and institutes more broadly. They suggested people and organizations must recognize how they might be unintentionally contributing to systemic racism in their academic roles. Academia, they wrote, must also move forward from issuing statements of solidarity to making transformative organizational changes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELikewise, the paper called on philanthropists, industry leaders, foundations, and professional societies to help offset racial disparities in research funding.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut in the end, Haynes said there\u0026rsquo;s only one real measure of meaningful change: \u0026ldquo;Black scientists receiving more grants that they clearly qualify for.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe paper was written by Omolola Eniola-Adefeso at the University of Michigan and Kelly R. Stevens at the University of Washington along with Haynes, Kristyn S. Masters, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Princess Imoukhuede and Lori A. Setton, Washington University in St. Louis; Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandes and Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert, University of Texas at Austin; Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell, Johns Hopkins University; Padmini Rangamani and Karen Christman, University of California, San Diego; Stacey Finley, University of Southern California; Rebecca Willits and Abigail N. Koppes, Northeastern University; Naomi Chesler, University of California, Irvine; Josephine Allen, University of Florida; Joyce N. Wong, Boston University; and Hana El-Samad and Tejal Desai, University of California, San Francisco.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0026ndash; Leila Gray at the University of Washington contributed to this report.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Karmella Haynes joins biomedical engineers from across the nation to bring focus on funding disparities that stall careers"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EKarmella Haynes joins biomedical engineers from across the nation to bring focus on funding disparities that stall Black scientists\u0026#39; careers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Karmella Haynes joins biomedical engineers from across the nation to bring focus on funding disparities that stall Black scientists\u0027 careers."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2021-01-26 16:19:22","changed_gmt":"2021-01-26 16:20:33","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-01-26T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2021-01-26T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"602030":{"id":"602030","type":"image","title":"Karmella Haynes, Ph.D.","body":null,"created":"1518014818","gmt_created":"2018-02-07 14:46:58","changed":"1518014818","gmt_changed":"2018-02-07 14:46:58","alt":"Karmella Haynes, Ph.D.","file":{"fid":"229455","name":"Karmella Haynes 1_small.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Karmella%20Haynes%201_small.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Karmella%20Haynes%201_small.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":76729,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Karmella%20Haynes%201_small.jpg?itok=SPGU71Wz"}}},"media_ids":["602030"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/cell\/fulltext\/S0092-8674(21)00011-8","title":"Read the paper: \u0022Fund Black Scientists\u0022"}],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"186822","name":"Black scientists"},{"id":"186823","name":"funding disparities"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E404.385.2416\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}