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UNITE
About

UNITE acts as a think tank to promote equity, generate bold ideas, and catalyze new actions. Collectively, it identifies and addresses any structural racism that may exist within the NIH and throughout the biomedical and behavioral workforce. UNITE facilitates activities to identify opportunities, make recommendations, and develop and implement strategies to spur widescale, systematic change.
The UNITE initiative focuses on three primary domains—health disparities/minority health research (HD/MH), internal NIH workforce, and external biomedical and behavioral research workforce—that intersect and enable greater transparency, accountability, and communications across NIH and the biomedical and behavioral research community. UNITE’s four focus areas underwritten by data on this page reflect the three key domains in the Venn diagram.
UNITE At a Glance

UNITE Progress Report
This inaugural report highlights select accomplishments associated with UNITE’s four focus areas, centering on UNITE’s initial impact on health disparities and minority health research funding, the external biomedical and behavioral workforce, and NIH staff. The report also describes UNITE’s genesis and their plans for expanding UNITE’s efforts.
UNITE’s Four Focus Areas

Focus Area 1 ensures that ICs prioritize health disparities and minority health research (HD/MH) across clinical trials and human subject research.



UNITE’S Five Committees

UNITE Leadership, Program Support, and Staff Volunteers
UNITE Co-Chairs
Marie A. Bernard, M.D.
NIH Office of the Director/Chief Officer for
Scientific Workforce Diversity
Noni Byrnes, Ph.D.
NIH Center for Scientific Review
Alfred Johnson, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director/Office of Management
Tara A. Schwetz, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director
UNITE Program Support
Brittany Chao, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director
Tammy Reddick Lockett
NIH Office of the Director
U Committee Members
Courtney Aklin, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
NIH Office of the Director
Shelli Avenevoli, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Mental Health
Mia Rochelle Lowden, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Nursing Research
Anna Amar, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director
Irene Avila, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director
Tanya Chakraborty, M.S.
NIH Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Dexter Collins, M.P.A.
Fogarty International Center
Kevin Davis, M.Ed.
Center for Information Technology
Cara Finley, M.P.H.
NIH Office of the Director
Joanna Goldfarb
National Library of Medicine
Jamie Gulin, M.P.H.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Patricia Haggerty, Ph.D.
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
John Haller, Ph.D.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Shadab Fatima Hussain, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute
Conchita Lawrence
NIH Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Karen Lee, M.D., M.P.H.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Flair Lindsey
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Leslie Littlejohn
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Laura Long, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director
Troy Muhammad, Ed.D., M.S.
National Cancer Institute
Cristina Nigro, Ph.D., M.S.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Karen Perkins, M.Ed.
NIH Clinical Center
Melanie Reagan
National Eye Institute
Elizabeth Sekine
National Institute on Mental Health
Denesha Simmons
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
Kelly Ten Hagen, Ph.D.
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Vidya Vedham, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute
N Committee Members
Kathy Etz, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Monica Webb Hooper, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
Xinzhi Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.E., F.R.S.N. — Co-Chair
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Vence Bonham, J.D.
National Human Genome Research Institute
Juanita Chinn, Ph.D.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Janine Clayton, M.D.
NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health
Christine Cutillo, M.M.C.i.
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Daryl Holder, M.S.
NIH Clinical Center
Vanessa Marshall, Ph.D.
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
Nathan Moore, Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Joan Romaine, M.P.H., M.S.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Asha Storm
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
Shannon Zenk, Ph.D., M.P.H, R.N.
National Institute of Nursing Research
I Committee Members
Trevor Archer, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Laura Koehly, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Human Genome Research Institute
Kevin Williams, J.D. — Co-Chair
NIH Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Talin Barnes
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Charles Egwuagu, M.P.H., Ph.D.
National Eye Institute
Melissa Espinoza, M.P.H.
National Institute on Aging
Courtney Fitzhugh, M.D.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Kendall Hill
Center for Scientific Review
Camille Hoover, M.S.W.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Shawn Lewis
National Institute of Nursing Research
Joe Martin
NIH Office of the Director
Darryl Murray, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director
Brenda Robles
NIH Clinical Center
Victoria Rucker
NIH Office of the Director
Shaun Sims
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
T Committee Members
Amy Bany Adams, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Mohammed Aiyegbo, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
John Burklow — Co-Chair
NIH Office of the Director
Albert Avila, Ph.D.
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Lauren Brodd
NIH Office of the Director
Samantha Calabrese
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Claudia Figueroa-Romero — Staff Support
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Jessica Forbes — Staff Support
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Lakshmi Grama
National Cancer Institute
Sadhana Jackson, M.D.
National Cancer Institute/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Paule Joseph, Ph.D.
NIH Office of Intramural Research
Traci M. Murray, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., NHDP-BC, CPH
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Eric Refsland, Ph.D.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Cathy Rowe
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Wendy Rueda
National Cancer Institute
Eric Sid, M.D.
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Wayne Wang, Ph.D.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
E Committee Members
Ericka Boone, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
NIH Office of Extramural Research
Jon Lorsch, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Anna E. Ordóñez, M.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Mental Health
Eddie Billingslea, Ph.D.
NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health
Tiffany Calvert, M.Ed.
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
Rena D’Souza, M.S., D.D.S., Ph.D.
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Zeynep Erim, Ph.D.
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
Leonardo Garzon-Velez
Fogarty International Center
Bettie Graham, Ph.D.
National Human Genome Research Institute
Leah Hubbard, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute
Patricia Jones, M.S., M.P.H., Dr.PH.
National Institute on Aging
Vonda Smith, Ph.D.
Center for Scientific Review
Mark Stevens, D.P.A.
NIH Office of the Director/Office of Management
James Washington, M.S., Ph.D.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Maryam Zaringhalam, Ph.D.
National Library of Medicine
This page last reviewed on May 23, 2023