Written by Kim Lawson and Meldra Hall
Dr. Hannah Valantine delivered a dynamic talk titled “Building a Diverse Research Workforce: Collaborative Models at RCMIs and the National Research Mentoring Network” where she highlighted NIH’s Scientific Workforce Diversity and the strides that are being made through national initiatives within NIH Diversity Program Consortium such as NRMN to address the racial underrepresentation in the biomedical workforce. She noted the salient benefits of a diverse workforce including 1) incorporating excellence, creativity, and innovation 2) broadening the scope of inquiry 3) accounting for the changing demographics and 4) reaching for global research preeminence. She applauded NRMN for their efforts thus far and ended her talk with a quote “when we have diversity, we are more likely to come up with creative solutions to complex scientific problems.” This talked inspired and encouraged participants to push forward in moving the needle towards a more diverse and representative research workforce.
