NIH Scientific Workforce Diversity Initiatives: Promoting Inclusive Excellence in the Extramural Research Ecosystem

Marie A. Bernard, M.D.
Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity (COSWD)
NIH

Dr. Marie A. Bernard is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity (COSWD). As COSWD, she serves as a thought leader regarding scientific workforce diversity, ensuring that a full range of talent is represented to help promote scientific creativity and innovation, both intramurally and extramurally. Dr. Bernard also co-leads NIH’s UNITE initiative to end structural racism. Prior to being selected as the COSWD in May 2021, she was deputy director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA). As NIA’s senior geriatrician, she served as the principal advisor to the NIA director. She also led a broad range of activities, including co-chairing two Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020/2030 objectives – 1) Older Adults, and 2) Dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease. She co-led the NIH-wide Inclusion Governance Committee that ensures appropriate inclusion of individuals in clinical studies, including by sex/gender and race/ethnicity, and inclusion of children and older adults. She also led the Women of Color Committee of the NIH-wide Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers. Her national leadership in geriatrics research, teaching, and clinical practice has been recognized with the Clark Tibbits award from the Academy for Gerontology in Higher Education (2013), and the Donald P. Kent award from the Gerontological Society of America (2014). Her work within NIH has been recognized with NIH Director’s awards (2018 and 2019), including the NIH Director’s award for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in 2020. She has lectured and published widely in her area of research, nutrition and function in older adults, with particular focus on underrepresented minority populations.

Until October 2008, she was the endowed professor and founding chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. Dr. Bernard completed her undergraduate education at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, and received her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ericka Boone, Ph.D.
Director
Division of Biomedical Research Workforce
Office of Extramural Research
NIH

Recently appointed as the Director for the Division of Biomedical Research Workforce (DBRW) within the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER), Dr. Ericka Boone is tasked with providing leadership on the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies and programs to train, sustain, and enhance the diversity of the future of the biomedical research workforce. Prior to this position, she served as the Director of the NIH Division of Loan Repayment. While in that role, Dr. Boone was responsible for administering and providing leadership for the NIH Loan Repayment Programs (LRP), as well as representing NIH on matters related to the operations, policy development, and evaluation of the LRP. Dr. Boone has also served as a Health Scientist Administrator in the Office of Science Policy and Communications at the National Institute on Drug Abuse where she developed targeted science-based publications, outreach initiatives, and other activities to educate a variety of audiences about the science of drug use, abuse, and addiction. Currently, Dr. Boone also serves on UNITE, NIH’s initiative to identify and address structural racism. She co-chairs Committee E, which is charged with evaluating and changing NIH policies, cultures, and structures to promote enhanced workforce diversity. For her role in these efforts, Dr. Boone has won several NIH Awards of Merit and NIH Director’s Awards. Prior to coming to NIH, Dr. Boone conducted research at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Emory University. Dr. Boone received her B.A. in biology from Talladega College and Ph.D. in biobehavioral health from Pennsylvania State University.

Anna E. Ordóñez, M.D., M.A.S.
Director, Office of Clinical Research
National Institute of Mental Health

Dr. Anna E. Ordóñez is the Director of the Office of Clinical Research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). She received her M.D. from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, in Bogotá, Colombia, and her Adult Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is board certified both in adult and child and adolescent psychiatry. She has also completed postdoctoral research fellowships both at NIMH and UCSF, and a master’s degree in advanced sciences in clinical research (M.A.S.) at UCSF. Prior to returning to NIMH, she held a faculty position at UCSF, where among other duties, she was the Medical Director of the Division of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychiatry. She has also engaged in research studies in the United States, Costa Rica, and Colombia of typical and atypical brain development and of evidence-based psychosocial interventions to enhance psychological resilience.

Lauren D. Hill, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
Office for Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity
National Institute of Mental Health

Dr. Lauren D. Hill is the Acting Deputy Director of the Office for Disparities Research and Workforce Diversity (ODWD) at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). ODWD advances NIMH efforts to promote equity in research, address the mental health needs of individuals and communities negatively impacted by health disparities, and promote diversity and inclusion for those underrepresented in the research workforce. Prior to joining ODWD, Dr. Hill was the Director of Research Training and Career Development in the NIMH Division of Services and Intervention Research, managing a large and diverse program of training grants and initiatives. Before coming to NIMH, Dr. Hill had faculty appointments in the Departments of Medical and Clinical Psychology and Family Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine (USU) and was Director of the Education Core of the NIH-funded USU Center for Health Disparities Research and Education. Dr. Hill earned her B.S. in biology–psychology from Tufts University and Ph.D. in clinical psychology at American University in Washington, DC.