Thread by @kellystevenslab

@NIH R01’s from White scientists are funded at ~twice the award rate as Black scientists.

@NIH has known this for a decade. It has not been fixed.

@nihdirector #fundblackscientists

Read our @Cellcellpress paper, w/ @Lola_UMich and more
cell.com/cell/fulltext/…

@NIH and other entities have spent money and time looking for reasons for this disparity.

Meanwhile, our Black colleagues continue to suffer.

@NIHdirector @alondra @eric_lander @francesarnold

#fundblackscientists

Why is this disparity critically important?

First, we commonly use @NIH R01’s to gauge “success” of faculty when it comes time for tenure.

Black faculty without an R01 may not get tenure.

The pipeline “leak” is not a leak, but rather us pushing Black faculty over a cliff.

Second, if we had more Black scientists, we might avoid deadly mistakes like this:
@nytimes @taraparkerpope

@DrBrittaniJ @uche_blackstock @DrOniBee @BerniceKing @RebeccaCokley @ruha9 @esglaude @DrSamiSchalk

nytimes.com/2020/12/23/wel…

Third, Black scientists have to write twice as many grants just to keep up, in addition to the extra DEI service we expect of them.

This means they have less time for research, papers, and seminars. It also means they have less time to train, teach, and inspire Black students.

So, what should @NIH do?

Let's first start by remembering that 10,234 faculty recently said that racism exists in academia.

science.sciencemag.org/content/369/65…

We ask, If racism exists in academia, how can it not exist in NIH grant review and research, which are performed by academics?

NIH must break its cycle of denial, which in the words of scholar @DrIbram is “the heartbeat of racism.”

Step 1: @NIH must acknowledge this racism.

Step 2: @NIH must immediately institute a policy to achieve racial funding equity (red ladder below).

@NIH already has programs to base the design of such a program on, such as the Early State Investigator (ESI) program or PAR-19-222.

The cost of such an equity program is *peanuts* to @NIH.

We calculate that this “equity program” would cost only ~$32 million annually (red dot).

That's 0.08% of @NIH's ~$41.68 billion annual budget (gray).

Now, these are critically important peanuts.

We have so few Black investigators in science. Indeed, the @NIH FIRST initiative seeks to add new diverse faculty!

Any new Black faculty will be set up to fail if NIH doesn't swiftly address R01 racial funding disparity.

Further, countless studies have shown that diverse teams generate the most creative, innovative, and impactful solutions and science. DIVERSITY -> INNOVATION (right).

Conversely, narrowly-constructed, widely-embraced paradigms most commonly lead fields astray (left)!

So, why isn't diversity of the investigator team scorable criterion in NIH grant review?

To quote @DrPlattLab in @NatRevMater 2020

“Be careful with responding, because one answer is racist and the other is not.”

Step 3: Diversity should be @nih score-driving criterion.

We will assume the best - that devaluing of our Black faculty by @nih has been unintentional.

In this case, training in racism is clearly needed.

Step 4: @NIH must train and empower NIH leadership, staff, and grant reviewers and recipients to recognize and stop racism.

It is time for @NIH to stop destroying careers and show it values innovation and creativity.

@eric_lander @alondra @francesarnold to guarantee the fruits of science are shared among all Americans, the first step is simple:

Fund Black Scientists.

#fundblackscientists

Fortunate to work with these women:
@Lola_UMich @KristynMasters @dr_princess @drkahaynes @setton_lab @cosgriffhernan @MuyinatuBell @RangamaniUCSD @DrSakiyama @USCSysBio_Lab @WillitsLab @ANKoppes @CheslerLab K. Christman @MSEJAllen @profjoycewong @HanaScientist @TejalDesaiUCSF