WIMS Recognized by NIH for Commitment to Gender Diversity

Congratulations to the Wake Forest School of Medicine’s Women in Medicine and Science group for receiving honorable mention from the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) for their commitment to gender diversity. ORWH recently announced the winners of the NIH prize for enhancing faculty gender diversity in biomedical and behavioral science.

By recognizing and promoting the winners’ effective, evidence-based practices, NIH aims to address challenges and improve the existing career paradigm for many women in these fields. The recognized organizations have acted to effect systemic change to improve gender diversity and equity among faculty members within their biomedical and behavioral science groups. The groups will be recognized at a forum on October 5. 

 

NIH has a long-standing commitment to supporting a diverse biomedical workforce; this includes ORWH’s 30 years of work to advance women in biomedical careers. Currently, in the United States, women enter graduate studies in the life sciences at about the same rate as men. After earning their degrees and entering careers in academia, however, women are underrepresented at the faculty level in biomedical sciences, particularly in mid- and senior-level positions. Similarly, women account for less than 20% of medical school deans and department chairs, despite constituting roughly half of medical school students. Advancing women into leadership roles in the sciences is critical to producing good science. Diversity in the scientific workplace generates more innovative solutions; diverse teams are more productive and produce more impactful research.