Cell Article Calls to End U.S. Funding Discrimination Against Black Scientists - USC Viterbi | School of Engineering

A network of biomedical engineering scholars from across the country is committed to removing barriers to success

Contributing articles in scientific journals this week

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", calling on the National Institutes of Health and other funding agencies to address the gap in support allocated to black researchers. Representatives from a national network of more than 260 female professors from the field of biomedical engineering called on all walks of life, among them Including faculty, dean and distinguished scientists. Stacey Finley, Gordon S. Marshall Early Career Chair, and Director of the Center for Computational Models for Cancer in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California One of the famous scholars.

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This article explores racial inequalities that prevent Black’s faculty and staff from contributing to science fairly and reaching its full potential. Inequality in federal research funding for black scientists is considered a key issue. In the past decade, several studies conducted by the National Institutes of Health provided research funding to black scientists found that the award rate for black applicants has remained at 55% of non-black investigators with similar academic achievements about.

The authors are all female scholars from leading universities across the country. They wrote that despite efforts to encourage black students to prepare academic researchers and teachers and enter their careers, the lack of fair research funding subsequently derailed many careers. Because research funding is an important criterion for promoting academic promotion and tenure, the funding gap of the National Institutes of Health may have an adverse effect on the career of black scientists, and some of them may leave the profession in frustration.

The author believes that such consequences may have a major impact in many ways. One is that the remaining black scientists can serve as role models and guides for the next generation. More importantly, because the viewpoints, creativity, and knowledge of various scientists are not used, important research questions that are vital to society are not raised. Finally, this distorted fact affects the public's perception of the value and influence of black scientific experts.

The author puts forward some suggestions on how to eliminate this difference, including:

·Clarified that racism still exists in American research companies and must be expelled

· Formulate policies aimed at immediately achieving racial equity

·Establish standards to promote diversity scores, prioritize funding for different teams, and diversify review teams

·Train and empower NIH leadership, employees, and grant reviewers and recipients the ability to recognize and stop racism

In addition, the author also recommends how individual scientists and universities, colleges and colleges can move forward, including recognizing that they may unintentionally contribute to systemic racism in their academic roles. They wrote that the academic community must also move from a solidarity statement to a transformative organizational change.

The author also looks at the private sector, including philanthropists and industrial leaders whose companies rely on scientific innovation, as well as foundations and professional associations to help bridge racial disparities in research funding. They pointed out that by providing funds for the innovative ideas and powerful talents of black scientists, the joint actions of the private and public sectors can enhance their scientific creativity and innovation capabilities, and bring greater benefits to society.

The corresponding authors are senior author of Omolola Eniola-Adefeso, Professor of Diversity and Social Transformation at the University of Michigan Chemical Engineering University, and Kelly R. Stevens, Assistant Professor of Experimental Medicine and Pathology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Wisconsin School of Engineering. She is a researcher at the Institute of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.

Co-authors include the following engineering departments: Kristyn S. Masters, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Princess Imoukhuede and Lori A. Setton, Washington University in St. Louis; Carmela A, Haynes, Emory University; Elizabeth, University of Texas at Austin Cosgriff-Hernandez and Shelly Sakiyama-Elbert; Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell, Johns Hopkins University; Padmini Rangamani and Karen Christman, University of California, San Diego; Stacey Finley, University of Southern California; Rebecca Willits and Abigail N. Koppes, Northeastern University ; Naomi Chesler, University of California, Irvine; Josephine Allen, University of Florida, Gainesville; Joyce N. Wong, Boston University; Han El-Samad and Tejal Desai, University of California, San Francisco.

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