You are here
News Release
Monday, January 29, 2007
NIH Leads Effort to Help Women in Science and Medicine Fulfill Potential
NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni has created the Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers to examine issues raised in the recent National Academies report, "Beyond Bias and Barriers, Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering," and to respond to the challenges issued to government funding agencies to maximize the potential of women scientists and engineers.
"It is critical to address the barriers that women face in hiring and promotion at research universities in many fields of science," said Dr. Zerhouni. "I have appointed the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers to help address this challenge and to develop innovative strategies and tangible actions that can be implemented to promote the advancement of women in research careers both within the NIH intramural community and throughout the extramural research community."
Dr. Zerhouni and Dr. Vivian Pinn, Associate Director for Research on Women's Health and Director of the Office of Research on Women's Health, will co-chair the Working Group, which will carefully consider the recommendations in the National Academies report.
This report, which was initially funded by the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, as well as Eli Lilly and Co., the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the National Academies, called for an urgent broad national effort to maximize the potential of women scientists and engineers in academia. The committee that produced the report was chaired by Donna Shalala, Ph.D., President of the University of Miami and former Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The National Academies is composed of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter.
The Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH) serves as the focal point for women's health research at the NIH. For more information about NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health or the Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers, visit http://orwh.od.nih.gov/ or http://orwh.od.nih.gov/careers/careerdev.html.
The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers. This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH. Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®