Women in Biomedical Careers

The NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers was established in January 2007 by then NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., in response to the 2006 National Academies report Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering. The report found that women face institutional and environmental barriers to advancement at all career stages and called for broad, innovative action from universities, professional societies, and government funding agencies. The Working Group, originally Co-Chaired by Dr. Zerhouni and Office of Research on Women’s Health Director Vivian W. Pinn, M.D., includes NIH Deputy Directors and Office of the Director senior staff, Institute and Center Directors, and other representatives of NIH intramural and extramural staff. NIH Deputy Director Raynard S. Kington, M.D., Ph.D., has served as the Working Group Co-Chair since Dr. Zerhouni’s departure in 2008.

The Working Group has sponsored national workshops focusing on mentoring women in biomedical careers and best practices for sustaining career success. The recommendations generated at these workshops have been incorporated into the recent activities of the Working Group. Other accomplishments include: extending the tenure-clock for intramural NIH scientists by one year to accommodate family leave; extending the allowed period of paid parental leave to eight weeks for both NIH intramural trainees and NIH funded-extramural trainees; helping to establish and continue to grow the Mid-Atlantic Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, which aids dual-career couples in finding positions near each other; carrying out and posting an analysis of the participation of women in the extramural grant process; and developing and funding a grant program entitled Research on Causal Factors and Interventions that Promote and Support the Careers of Women in Biomedical and Behavioral Science and Engineering.