Building Participation

• NIH Commitment to Diversity
• Leveraging Stakeholders to Promote Diversity
• Recruitment & Retention
• Evidence-Based Approaches to Educational Activities
• Eliminating Barriers-Congressional Interest in Diversity

NIH is committed to building participation in research careers and works with leadership and faculty at educational institutions, grantees, professional societies, research organizations and other stakeholders to identify, train, recruit, and retain highly talented scientists from all backgrounds and all career levels. This section illustrates NIH's institutional commitment to diversity, and how all stakeholders can work with us to enhance diversity in our programs.

The Division of Biomedical Research Workforce (DBRW) was established in 2015 to guide the development of a well-prepared NIH-supported biomedical workforce; it is a focal point for all extramural training, career development and diversity efforts. Visit our blog about the DBRW. NIH institutes, centers and offices have had a long-standing commitment to diversity, and the initiation of programs to enhance diversity and the participation of underrepresented groups. Links to the current diversity programs are reflected on the NIH Commitment to Diversity page.

NIH also established the Office for Scientific Workforce Diversity to coordinate broader efforts to diversify the national scientific workforce both within the NIH campus and at institutions around the nation.

In the past several years, the NIH Director’s primary advisory committee, the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD), has formed several working groups to help the ACD recommend proposals for supporting diversity at all stages of the research pipeline.

For more information, please see the following ACD Working Groups:

• ACD Working Group on the Biomedical Workforce
• ACD Working Group on Diversity in the Biomedical Research Workforce
• ACD Working Group on the Physician-Scientist Workforce
• ACD Working Group on Diversity
• ACD Diversity Working Group Subcommittee on Peer Review
• ACD Diversity Working Group on Diversity, Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) Subcommittee
• Next Generation Researchers Initiative Working Group
• ACD Working Group on Changing the Culture to End Sexual Harassment 

For relevant reports from these Working Groups and other resources, see the Reports & Data section.