Keri F. Allen, M.D., was a 3rd-year ophthalmology resident at Palmetto Health University of South Carolina. She received her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology from Emory University and her medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She completed her internship in Internal Medicine at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown, NY, prior to matriculating at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston for a research fellowship in glaucoma genetics. In July 2018, after completing her residency, she will begin her fellowship training in global ophthalmology at Emory University. Her career goals include practicing ophthalmology as a clinician-scientist and working on research efforts geared toward blindness prevention.

Tags: Mentorship, Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Diana W. Bianchi is the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. In this role, she oversees the institute's research on pediatric health and development, maternal health, reproductive health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and rehabilitation medicine, among other areas. These efforts include managing a staff of approximately 1,400 people and an annual budget of approximately $1.5 billion.

Dr. Bianchi has had a busy tenure since joining NICHD in 2016.She spearheaded efforts on the NICHD Strategic Plan, released in September 2019, which outlines goals and aspirations to guide institute research for the next five years. She also oversaw the crafting and vetting of the institute’s new vision statement—Healthy Pregnancies. Healthy Children. Healthy and Optimal Lives—as well as its new mission statement. The latter, generated alongside the strategic plan, underscores NICHD’s directive since its founding—to lead research and training to understand human development—and incorporates goals for all facets of NICHD—to improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all.

Dr. Bianchi received her B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine. She completed her residency training in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital, Boston and her postdoctoral fellowship training in both Medical Genetics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Harvard. She is board certified in all three specialties and is a practicing medical geneticist with special expertise in reproductive genetics and genomics. Dr. Bianchi’s translational research focuses on two broad themes: prenatal genomics with the goal of advancing noninvasive prenatal DNA screening and diagnosis, and investigating the fetal transcriptome to develop new therapies for genetic disorders that can be given prenatally.

Dr. Bianchi has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, and she is one of four authors of Fetology: Diagnosis and Management of the Fetal Patient. This book won the Association of American Publishers award for best textbook in clinical medicine in 2000. The second edition was published in April 2010 and is in its third printing. It has been translated into Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish.

Dr. Bianchi is widely recognized for her achievements. Prior to coming to NICHD, she spent 23 years at Tufts Medical Center, where she was the founding Executive Director of the Mother Infant Research Institute, as well as the Natalie V. Zucker Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Bianchi also was the Vice Chair for Pediatric Research at the Floating Hospital for Children, Boston, and served for a time on the NICHD advisory council. She is currently Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Prenatal Diagnosis and is a Past President of the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis and the Perinatal Research Society. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Society for Human Genetics and a former council member of both the Society for Pediatric Research and the American Pediatric Society. She was elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) in 2013.

Dr. Bianchi has received several major lifetime achievement awards. In 2020, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam that recognized her contributions to the fields of fetal cell microchimerism and noninvasive prenatal testing using DNA sequencing of fetal and placental DNA fragments. The Pioneer Award was given in 2019 by the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis to acknowledge her transformative contributions to the practice, science, and profession of prenatal diagnosis and therapy. The Colonel Harland D. Sanders Lifetime Achievement Award in Genetics, given to Dr. Bianchi in 2017 by the March of Dimes, recognized her pioneering work on maternal and fetal cellular communication, including its significance in disease and diagnostics, and for exploring treatments of fetal disorders. The 2017 J.E. Wallace Sterling Lifetime Achievement Award in Medicine recognized her achievements as an alumna of the Stanford University School of Medicine. The Maureen Andrew Award for Mentoring, given in 2016 by the Society for Pediatric Research, recognized her commitment to mentoring the next generation of clinician-scientists. The Landmark Award, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, was given in 2015 in recognition of her research and contributions to genetics and newborn care.

Tags: Resilence, Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Linda Darlene Bradley, M.D., is Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University; Vice Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health Institute at the Cleveland Clinic; and Director of Hysteroscopic Education for the Residency Program at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. She is also an internationally recognized gynecologic surgeon known for her expertise in diagnostic and operative hysteroscopy, saline infusion sonography, endometrial ablation, alternatives to hysterectomy, long-term contraception (intrauterine devices and hormonal contraception), hysteroscopic sterilization, and the evaluation of abnormal uterine bleeding. Dr. Bradley serves as an Advisor for Medscape and Medscape CME [Continuing Medical Education]. Annually, she hosts the Celebrate Sisterhood Multicultural Health & Wellness Summit, which has educated more than 10,000 multicultural women since its inception. She has published numerous journal articles, book chapters, and continuing medical education films; and has been named as a Cleveland Clinic Foundation Bruce Hubbard Stewart Fellow, a designation that honors physicians who practice with compassion and clinical care.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, Ph.D., FAAN, FACMI is the Director of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and Adjunct Investigator in the National Institute of Nursing Research’s Advanced Visualization Branch at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As the world’s largest biomedical library, NLM produces digital information resources used by scientists, health professionals, and members of the public. Dr. Brennan came to the NIH from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was the Lillian L. Moehlman Bascom Professor at the School of Nursing and College of Engineering. She received an M.S. in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in industrial engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Brennan is a pioneer in the development of information systems for patients. She developed an electronic network to improve care for home-care patients and a web-based communication service that helps home-dwelling cardiac patients recover. A past president of the American Medical Informatics Association, Dr. Brennan was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (now the National Academy of Medicine) in 2001. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the American College of Medical Informatics, and the New York Academy of Medicine.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Dr. Noni Byrnes is Director of the Center for Scientific Review (CSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this capacity, she leads a staff of more than 500 scientific, support and contract personnel and manages an operating budget of over $130 million.

CSR handles the receipt and referral of all applications to NIH as well as those to other agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration. CSR reviews about 75% of all NIH grant applications in more than 1600 review meetings per year.

Prior to being named Director, Dr. Byrnes served in a variety of roles at CSR in positions of increasing responsibility. She began as a Scientific Review Officer in 2000 in the Biological Chemistry and Macromolecular Biophysics Integrated Review Group (IRG). In 2006, she became Chief of the Cell Biology IRG and, in 2012, Director of the Division of Basic and Integrative Biological Sciences, where she oversaw more than 60 study sections in a range of different areas of basic science, including genomics; cell, developmental and structural biology; bioengineering; and basic cancer biology. In January 2018, she was appointed Acting Deputy Director, and in May 2018, she assumed the role of Acting Director of CSR.

Dr. Byrnes brings with her deep knowledge of NIH peer review, a history of engagement with the external scientific community in a broad variety of disciplines, and a track record of innovation and leading change. She has provided leadership and oversight of the peer review of several high-profile trans-NIH initiatives, such as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) Challenge Grants, the NIH Director’s Common Fund, and the All-of-Us (Precision Medicine) cohort initiative, among others. Under her leadership, CSR recently launched a new framework for the continuous evaluation of all of its 178 study sections, using both objective measures and expert input from stakeholders in the scientific community.

Prior to joining CSR, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry, where she conducted research to support Investigational New Drug submissions, served on Phase III clinical trial project teams and provided oversight of contracts with Clinical Research Organizations (CROs). Dr. Byrnes holds a B.S. in chemistry from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Emory University in Atlanta, GA.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., Associate Director for Research on Women's Health and Director of the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is the architect of the NIH policy requiring scientists to consider sex as a biological variable across the research spectrum. This policy is part of the NIH's initiative on enhancing reproducibility through rigor and transparency. As co-chair of the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers with NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, Dr. Clayton also leads NIH's efforts to advance women in science careers.

Dr. Clayton was the Deputy Clinical Director of the National Eye Institute. A board-certified ophthalmologist, Dr. Clayton's research interests include autoimmune ocular diseases and the role of sex and gender in health and disease. She is the author of more than 80 scientific publications, journal articles, and book chapters.

Dr. Clayton is a native Washingtonian and received her undergraduate degree with honors from the Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine. She completed a residency in ophthalmology at the Medical College of Virginia and fellowship training in cornea and external disease at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital and in uveitis and ocular immunology at the National Eye Institute.

Dr. Clayton received numerous awards, including the Senior Achievement Award from the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 2008, was selected as a 2010 Silver Fellow by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and won the European Uveitis Patient Interest Association Clinical Uveitis Research Award in 2010. In 2015, she was awarded the American Medical Women's Association Lila A. Wallis Women's Health Award, and the Wenger Award for Excellence in Public Service. Dr. Clayton was granted the Bernadine Healy Award for Visionary Leadership in Women's Health in 2016. She was also selected as an honoree for the Woman's Day Red Dress Awards and the prestigious American Medical Association Dr. Nathan Davis Awards for Outstanding Government Service in 2017.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Caryn Cobb is a medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI. Caryn graduated with honors in Health and Human Biology as an undergraduate at Brown, where she was inducted into the Sigma Xi Honors Research Society. She has served as the National Committee Co-Chair of External Affairs for the Student National Medical Association (SNMA). She was the SNMA Associate Regional Director, overseeing and organizing SNMA chapters within seven New England states. She has also been the Secretary and Historian for the Brown University SNMA chapter. Caryn serves on the executive board of the Association of Women Surgeons at Brown. Caryn has a passion for research and enjoys mentoring students interested in medicine.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Yvonne C. Collins, M.D., is a Gynecologic Oncologist with AIM Specialty Health, where she serves as a Physician Team Lead. She is board-certified in the area of obstetrics/gynecology and gynecologic oncology. Dr. Collins is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana and the University of Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Collins has devoted her career to educating underserved women on the importance of routine health maintenance, including Pap tests. Her research interests include community outreach and education on the causes, prevention, screening, and early detection of cervical cancer, which is preventable. She also has an interest in empowering women through education, eliminating barriers to care, and increasing access. She works with community organizations, area churches, beauty salons, task forces, and the American Cancer Society on developing ways to decrease racial disparities related to cervical cancer diagnosis, treatment, and mortality. She not only provides care in the United States but also has traveled to Central America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa to provide care to those who need it. She lectures nationally and internationally, with her goal being to educate on disease prevention. She has been honored as an Outstanding Teacher and Humanitarian of the Year. Dr. Collins has been published in various scientific journals, including Gynecologic Oncology and Journal of the Lower Genital Tract Disease.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As the longest serving director of NIH — spanning 12 years and three presidencies — he oversaw the work of the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world, from basic to clinical research.

Dr. Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project, which culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book. He served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH from 1993-2008.

Dr. Collins' research laboratory has discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease, a familial endocrine cancer syndrome, and most recently, genes for type 2 diabetes, and the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare condition that causes premature aging.

Dr. Collins received a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Yale University, and an M.D. with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to the NIH in 1993, he spent nine years on the faculty of the University of Michigan, where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Collins was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007 and the National Medal of Science in 2009.

Tags: Leadership, Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Lindsey A. Criswell, M.D., M.P.H., D.Sc., became the director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) in February, 2021.

Prior to joining NIAMS, Dr. Criswell was vice chancellor of research at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). A board-certified rheumatologist, Dr. Criswell was also a professor of rheumatology and a professor of orofacial sciences at UCSF.

She has a bachelor’s degree in genetics and a master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.D. from UCSF. She earned a D.Sc. in genetic epidemiology from the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences, Rotterdam. She completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in rheumatology.

As NIAMS director, Dr. Criswell oversees the Institute’s annual budget of nearly $625 million, which supports research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases. The Institute seeks to advance health through biomedical and behavioral research as well as through research training and dissemination of information on research progress in these diseases.

Between 1994 and the time she became NIAMS director, Criswell was a principal investigator on multiple NIH grants and published more than 250 peer-reviewed journal papers. Her research focused on the genetics and epidemiology of human autoimmune disease, particularly rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Using genome-wide association and other genetic studies, her research team contributed to the identification of more than 30 genes linked to these disorders.

In 2021, Criswell was elected to the Association of American Physicians, an honor extended to physicians with outstanding credentials in biomedical research. Criswell’s other honors include the Kenneth H. Fye, M.D., endowed chair in rheumatology and the Jean S. Engleman distinguished professorship in rheumatology at UCSF, and the Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology. She also was named UCSF’s 2014 Resident Clinical and Translational Research Mentor of the Year. While at UCSF, she mentored some four dozen students (high school through medical/graduate school), medical residents, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty.

• NIH taps Dr. Lindsey Criswell as director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIH news release)
• NIAMS Prepares to Welcome New Director Criswell (NIH Record)
• See Letters from the Director

Tags: Leadership, Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Dr. Rena D’Souza is the Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health. She is deeply committed to the organization’s mission — advance fundamental knowledge about dental, oral, and craniofacial health and disease and translate these findings into prevention, early detection, and treatment strategies that improve overall health for all individuals and communities across the lifespan.

As the director of NIDCR, Dr. D’Souza oversees the institute’s annual budget of approximately $485 million, supporting basic, translational, and clinical research in areas of oral cancer, orofacial pain, tooth decay, periodontal disease, salivary gland dysfunction, and the craniofacial development and the oral complications of systemic diseases.

Prior to becoming NIDCR’s director, Dr. D’Souza served at the University of Utah as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Education for the Health Sciences. She held the Ole and Marty Jensen endowed chair in the School of Dentistry that she led as inaugural dean. As a clinician-scientist, D’Souza has been strongly committed to discovery and mentoring throughout her academic career. She is past president of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR) and the International Association for Dental Research (IADR).

Dr. D’Souza has authored over 150 publications and book chapters in the areas of craniofacial development, matrix biology and tissue regeneration for over 30 years. She is a Fellow of AAAS and also of AADR. She received the 2010 Presidential Award for Research Excellence from the Texas A&M Health Science Center and was inducted into the German National Academy of Sciences in 2012. Columbia University College of Dental Medicine’s awarded Dr. D’Souza the Birnberg Research Medal in 2016. She also received the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award in Pulp Biology Research in 2002 and the Irwin D. Mandel Distinguished National Mentoring Award in 2017.

Dr. D’Souza is active on several trans-NIH committees and maintains an active research laboratory in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIH.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Wendi Wills El-Amin, M.D., is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Medicine, and provides care at the Center for Family Medicine there. She was appointed to SIU's Department of Medical Education and is also an Academic Strategist. Dr. El-Amin served as Assistant Dean of Medical Education at the University Of Virginia (UVA) School Of Medicine in Charlottesville (2007-10). Also at UVA, she served as Director of Outreach at the Center on Health Disparities, as Director of the UVA Cancer Center Health Disparity Initiative (2006-10), and as Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health (2005-10). She is board-certified in family medicine and is a member of the National Medical Association, where she chairs the Women’s Health Section (2008 – present). She has been a community health advocate and activist, working in television, radio, and newspaper.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Gary H. Gibbons, M.D., is Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he oversees the third largest institute at the NIH, with an annual budget of approximately $3 billion and a staff of nearly 2,100 federal employees, contractors, and volunteers. NHLBI provides global leadership for research, training, and education programs to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases and enhance the health of all individuals so that they can live longer and more fulfilling lives.

Since being named Director of the NHLBI, Dr. Gibbons has enhanced the NHLBI investment in fundamental discovery science, steadily increasing the payline and number of awards for established and early stage investigators. His commitment to nurturing the next generation of scientists is manifest in expanded funding for career development and loan repayment awards as well as initiatives to facilitate the transition to independent research awards.

Dr. Gibbons provides leadership to advance several NIH initiatives and has made many scientific contributions in the fields of vascular biology, genomic medicine, and the pathogenesis of vascular diseases. His research focuses on investigating the relationships between clinical phenotypes, behavior, molecular interactions, and social determinants on gene expression and their contribution to cardiovascular disease. Dr. Gibbons has received several patents for innovations derived from his research in the fields of vascular biology and the pathogenesis of vascular diseases.

Dr. Gibbons earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School in Boston. He completed his residency and cardiology fellowship at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Dr. Gibbons was a member of the faculty at Stanford University in Stanford, CA, from 1990-1996, and at Harvard Medical School from 1996-1999. He joined the Morehouse School of Medicine in 1999, where he served as the founding director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, chairperson of the Department of Physiology, and professor of physiology and medicine at the Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta. While at Morehouse School of Medicine, Dr. Gibbons served as a member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council from 2009-2012.

Throughout his career, Dr. Gibbons has received numerous honors, including election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences; selection as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Minority Faculty Development Awardee; selection as a Pew Foundation Biomedical Scholar; and recognition as an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association (AHA).

Tags: Leadership, Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Dr. Eve Higginbotham is the inaugural Vice Dean for Inclusion and Diversity at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics and Professor of Ophthalmology.

She serves as a Director of Ascension Health, the largest Catholic health system in the United States. Notable prior positions include Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, a position she held for 12 years.

In addition, she is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, serving as a member of the Membership Committee and Section Chair and a member of the American Clinical and Climatological Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Higginbotham is a member of the Defense Health Board of the Department of Defense, and the Board of the AOA Medical Honor Society. Dr. Higginbotham is a former chair of the FDA Ophthalmic Devices Panel, former member of the Board at Harvard University and the MIT Corporation. A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School, She has published over 100 peer reviewed publications and co-edited four textbooks in ophthalmology.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Leslie Stiff Jones, M.D. is an Associate Professor, Chair, Residency Program Director, and Glaucoma Service Director of the Department of Ophthalmology at Howard University. Dr. Jones completed her medical degree and residency in ophthalmology at Howard University, followed by a fellowship in glaucoma at Wills Eye Hospital. She has demonstrated a commitment to vision research as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellow at the National Eye Institute, and is currently the glaucoma consultant for the Uveitis Section of the National Eye Institute. Dr. Jones is the recipient of the American Glaucoma Society Clinician Scientist Award, and is committed to patient education and early detection of glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Her research focuses on the genetic epidemiology of glaucoma, the evaluation of current and innovative glaucoma medical and surgical therapies, and use of online simulation as an adjunct to traditional ophthalmic clinical skills training. Dr. Jones has a strong commitment to resident education and the development of future ophthalmologists.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Resilence, Women of Color

Helene Langevin, M.D., was sworn in as director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) on November 26, 2018. Before joining the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Langevin was the director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine in Boston, jointly based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and a professor in residence of medicine at Harvard Medical School since 2012. She was a professor of neurological sciences at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine in Burlington until 2012.

As the principal investigator of several NIH-funded studies, Dr. Langevin has centered her research around the role of connective tissue in chronic musculoskeletal pain and the mechanisms of acupuncture, manual, and movement-based therapies. Her more recent work has focused on the effects of stretching on inflammation resolution mechanisms within connective tissue. Dr. Langevin received her medical degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in neurochemistry in the Medical Research Council Neurochemical Pharmacology Unit at the University of Cambridge, England, and a residency in internal medicine and postdoctoral fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Michelle Wilson Latting, M.D., is a Fellow in Oculofacial and Orbital Surgery at Duke University Medical Center. She completed an ophthalmology residency at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia and is a graduate of Stanford University and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Latting is committed to serving as a resource to underrepresented minority undergraduates, medical students, and residents interested in pursuing careers in ophthalmology and oculofacial surgery.

Tags: Mentorship, Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D., became the director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) in August 2013.

In this position, Lorsch oversees the Institute's $3 billion budget, which supports basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

NIGMS supports more than 5,500 investigators and 5,000 research grants—around 11 percent of the total number of research grants funded by NIH as a whole. Additionally, NIGMS supports around 30 percent of the NRSA trainees who receive assistance from NIH.

Lorsch came to NIGMS from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he was a professor in the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1999 and became a full professor in 2009.

A leader in RNA biology, Lorsch studies the initiation of translation, a major step in controlling how genes are expressed. When this process goes awry, viral infection, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer can result. To dissect the mechanics of translation initiation, Lorsch and collaborators developed a yeast-based system and a wide variety of biochemical and biophysical methods. The work also has led to efforts to control translation initiation through chemical reagents, such as drugs. Lorsch continues this research as a tenured investigator in NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

NIGMS supported Lorsch's research from 2000 to 2013. He also received grants from NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and National Institute of Mental Health, as well as from other funding organizations.

Lorsch is as passionate about education as he is about research. During his tenure at Johns Hopkins, he worked to reform the curricula for graduate and medical education, spearheaded the development of the Center for Innovation in Graduate Biomedical Education, and launched a program offering summer research experiences to local high school students, many from groups that are underrepresented in the biomedical sciences. In addition, he advised dozens of undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Lorsch received a B.A. in chemistry from Swarthmore College in 1990 and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Harvard University in 1995, where he worked in the laboratory of Jack Szostak, Ph.D. He conducted postdoctoral research at Stanford University in the laboratory of Daniel Herschlag, Ph.D.

Lorsch is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed research articles, book chapters, and other papers. He has also been the editor of six volumes of Methods in Enzymology and has been a reviewer for numerous scientific journals. He is the author on two awarded U.S. patents. His honors include six teaching awards from Johns Hopkins.

Lorsch's other activities have included membership on the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's mentoring committee, the RNA Society's board of directors, and NIH review committees.

Since joining NIH, he has taken on several leadership roles, including serving as a co-chair of the NIH Scientific Data Council and the Extramural Activities Working Group, and as a member of the Administrative Data Council.

Tags: Leadership, Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Betty Lucas has been the Director of the American Academy of Ophthalmology EyeCare America Program for the past 18 years. Prior to joining the Academy, she spent 20 years helping the underserved by designing and directing volunteer programs for nonprofit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, and establishing pro bono law clinics in Alameda County.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Stephanie Jones Marioneaux, M.D., received a Certificat Superieure in French from the Sorbonne University, a bachelor's degree (cum laude) in biology from Harvard-Radcliffe University, and a medical degree from the Harvard Medical School. She completed an internship in internal medicine at Mount Auburn Hospital, and a residency in ophthalmology at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. She also held fellowships in cornea and external diseases at the Wills Eye Hospital and in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona. Dr. Marioneaux had a solo private practice in ophthalmology, specializing in cornea and external diseases, and in general ophthalmology, specializing in cataract surgery, laser procedures, and corneal transplants for 20 years. She is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, teaching residents and medical students. Among Dr. Marioneaux's honors are the Benjamin F. Boyd Humanitarian Award, which she received from the Pan American Association of Ophthalmology in 2011. She has made numerous appearances in the media as an expert and has been quoted in several major publications around the United States. She also has published throughout her career.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Dr. Bonnie Simpson Mason, M.D., is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and innovator in medical education with expertise in physician development. A magna cum laude chemistry graduate of Howard University, Dr. Mason completed medical school at Morehouse. She currently has faculty appointments at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and Howard University Hospital. She served on the board of trustees of the Morehouse School of Medicine and is most engaged as the Founder & Executive Director, Nth Dimensions, Inc., a nonprofit organization that seeks to increase gender, racial, and ethnic diversity in the field of orthopedic surgery; and Co-Founder & CEO, Beyond the Exam Room, which delivers live curriculum to future and practicing physicians nationwide with the support of experienced faculty. She has also served as the Mentoring Chair for the Gladden Foundation. Dr. Mason is published in 38 online and peer-reviewed journals.

Tags: Mentorship, Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Anna María Nápoles, Ph.D., M.P.H., is the Scientific Director of the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Prior to her position at NIMHD, she was a Professor and Behavioral Epidemiologist in the Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) for 27 years, where she served as the Director of the UCSF Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (CADC). CADC is a National Institute on Aging-funded Resource Center for Minority Aging Research that provides pilot study funding and intensive mentoring to underrepresented early-stage investigators focused on aging, minorities, and health disparities. She previously taught health disparities research methods for over 10 years. Dr. Nápoles obtained Ph.D. and M.P.H. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. from Pomona College.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Andrea T. Norris, M.B.A., is the Director of the Center for Information Technology and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the National Institutes of Health. As the NIH CIO, she oversees NIH’s $1 billion IT portfolio that supports scientific research, and she directs the implementation of the STRIDES Initiative, which aims to accelerate biomedical advances through improved access to large datasets. As CIT Director, Norris manages a broad range of NIH-wide information and IT services, including a high-speed research network, a high-performance scientific computing system, communication and collaboration platforms and tools, bioinformatics research programs, business solutions and applications, and 24 x7 operations of NIH’s distributed IT environment. Prior to her tenure at NIH, Norris spent more than 10 years at the National Science Foundation (NSF) where she established strategy, policies, and programs for managing IT systems and services. Before joining NSF, Norris was the Deputy CIO for Management at NASA, where she managed the agency’s $2 billion IT portfolio. Norris has a Master of Business Administration degree with a major in information systems management from the George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the College of William and Mary.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Vivian W. Pinn, M.D., was the inaugural full-time director of the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Associate Director of NIH from 1991 until her retirement in 2011. She has since been named as a Senior Scientist Emerita at the NIH Fogarty International Center and is also Professor in the Institute for Advanced Discovery & Innovation at the University of South Florida. Prior to NIH, she was Professor and Chair of Pathology at Howard University College of Medicine, and previously held teaching appointments at Harvard Medical School and Tufts University. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in 1995. A graduate and former Trustee of Wellesley College, she earned her M.D. in 1967 from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, where she was the only woman and only minority in her medical school class. She completed her post-graduate training in Pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The Association of American Medical Colleges awarded her a Special Recognition Award for exceptional leadership over a 40-year career.

She has held many professional leadership positions, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees/Advisors of Thomas Jefferson University and Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Pinn is also a Past President and currently Chair of the Past Presidents Council of the National Medical Association. She has received numerous honors and awards, including 15 Honorary Degrees of Science, Law and Medicine. She served as a NAM representative on the National Academies Committee on Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine from 2012 through 2017. The University of Virginia School of Medicine has named one of its four advisory medical student colleges as ‘The Pinn College’, and in 2016, renamed its medical research and education building as ‘Pinn Hall.’ Lectures in women’s health named for her have been established at the NIH, the National Women’s Health Congress, and the NMA. Her oral history is included in the National Library of Medicine’s exhibit on women physicians, ‘Changing the Face of Medicine’; in the University of Virginia’s project ‘Explorations in Black Leadership’; and, in The HistoryMakers collection which is now housed in the Library of Congress.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Adrienne W. Scott, M.D., is the chief of the Wilmer Eye Institute – Bel Air, and associate professor of ophthalmology and vitreoretinal surgeon at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Scott’s research focus is the application of novel retinal imaging technology to evaluate patients and screen patients with sickle cell disease with the goal of reducing vision loss from sickle cell retinopathy. Dr. Scott serves as the head of the Retina fellowship training program, and is the medical director of the Wilmer Bel Air clinic and the Wilmer Bel Air ambulatory surgery center.

Dr. Scott received her M.D. degree from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and completed her ophthalmology residency at the Duke University Eye Center. During her residency, Dr. Scott received the Ocular Innovation Award, the K. Alexander Dastgheib Eye Surgery Award and the Edward K. Isbey, Jr. M.D. Award for clinical excellence. She remained at the Duke Eye Center to complete her two-year fellowship training in vitreoretinal surgery prior to joining the Wilmer faculty.

Tags: Mentorship, Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Belinda Seto, Ph.D., is a lifelong advocate for women in biomedicine and in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. She joined the National Eye Institute (NEI) as its deputy director in April 2014. She came to NEI from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, where she served as deputy director for 11 years. After earning a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Purdue University in 1974, Dr. Seto completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the renowned Stadtman Lab of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. She researched hepatitis B and vaccine development at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and oversaw the analysis and reporting of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants data through the Office of Extramural Research. Her experience in database management and analysis led her to serve on the executive committee of the NIH Big Data to Knowledge initiative and its oversight body, the NIH Scientific Data Council, which equip researchers with better tools and training for dealing with big data.

Tags: Mentorship, Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Deborah Smart, M.D., is a physician and the CEO of Smart Healthcare Consulting. Dr. Smart received a bachelor of science degree from Michigan State University and her medical degree from the Michigan State University College of Medicine. She completed her residency in family medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit. Her career's work has been as a medical consultant to life insurers, disability insurers, and health insurance companies. She is a member of the American Medical Association; American Academy of Family Physicians; National Medical Association; American Council of Life Insurance, where she is a board member; and Vista Health Systems, where she was board chairman 2009–2017. Other memberships include Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (life member); The Links, Inc.; and The Sophisticates, Inc.

Tags: Mentorship, Person-Centered Goals Career Development, Women of Color

Dr. Tucci is Director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders at the National Institutes of Health, a position she has held since September 2019. Prior to coming to NIH, Dr. Tucci was on faculty at Duke University, in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences, for 26 years. During that time, Dr. Tucci was a practicing surgeon-scientist, with a clinical and surgical practice in Otology, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery. She was the founding co-chair of the Duke Hearing Center, which integrated auditory research and clinical otology practice on the Duke campuses. In her NIH-funded work, she studied the effect of conductive hearing loss on central auditory system function in an animal model. She contributed to the development of a national practice based research network at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and performed research to enhance clinical care for otologic patients. Dr. Tucci led a research team that implemented and studied outcomes and cost-benefit of adult hearing screening in primary care clinics at Duke. In her work as Director of the Cochlear Implant program, she did research and led development of a team devoted to care of patients with severe to profound hearing loss. Current work as co-chair of the Lancet Commission on Global Hearing Loss allows her to pursue her passion for understanding and impacting hearing loss disability worldwide.

Tags: Mentorship, Person-Centered Goals Career Development

Shannon N. Zenk, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN is Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). She joined NINR in September 2020, following a 14-year career as a faculty member at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Nursing and Institute for Health Research and Policy. Her background is in nursing and public health. Dr. Zenk’s own research focuses on community environments as a social determinant of health and health inequities. She and her team conducted pioneering research on food deserts in the United States. Dr. Zenk was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2013, inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in 2019, and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.

Tags: Person-Centered Goals Career Development