UNITE

About

Venn Diagram: People Focused and Data Driven in the center

UNITE acts as a think tank to promote equity, generate bold ideas, and catalyze new actions. Collectively, it identifies and addresses any structural racism that may exist within the NIH and throughout the biomedical and behavioral workforce. UNITE facilitates activities to identify opportunities, make recommendations, and develop and implement strategies to spur widescale, systematic change.

The UNITE initiative focuses on three primary domains—health disparities/minority health research (HD/MH), internal NIH workforce, and external biomedical and behavioral research workforce—that intersect and enable greater transparency, accountability, and communications across NIH and the biomedical and behavioral research community. UNITE’s four focus areas underwritten by data on this page reflect the three key domains in the Venn diagram.

UNITE At a Glance

2023-2024 UNITE Progress Report

The latest progress report highlights UNITE's accomplishments since the 2022 inaugural report. It outlines efforts associated with UNITE's four focus areas, focusing on UNITE's impact on health inequities and minority health research funding, the external biomedical and behavioral workforce, and NIH staff. Additionally, this update addresses a transition in leadership for the next phase of UNITE and their plans for continuing UNITE's critical efforts.

UNITE Co-Chair’s Corner

Monthly updates from UNITE’s co-chairs and committee leadership.

Advisory Committee Updates

UNITE priorities and updates shared during the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) meetings.

UNITE-Related Funding Opportunities

How UNITE helps NIH to provide research funding for greater innovation.

Inclusiveness is Powerful

NIH diversified imagery helps reflect rich diversity of the NIH workforce.

Events

UNITE presents the latest data and ideas on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the biomedical workforce and in research.

Diversity Funding Opportunities

Funding opportunities across NIH that are related to diversity.

UNITE’s Four Focus Areas

Header for UNITE Focus Area 1: Elevating Health Disparities and Minority Health Research Across Institutes and Centers

Focus Area 1 ensures that ICs prioritize health disparities and minority health research (HD/MH) across clinical trials and human subject research.

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Header for UNITE Focus Area 2: Promoting Equity in the NIH-Supported Biomedical Research Ecosystem
As a result of ideas generated by UNITE, initiatives in this focus area were developed to promote diversity and inclusion in the NIH extramural research ecosystem.

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Header for UNITE Focus area three. Promoting equity in the internal NIH workforce.
Efforts in Focus Area 3 concentrate on enhancing equity within the NIH internal workforce, role modeling expectations of the external biomedical system.

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Header for UNITE Focus Area 4: Improving the Accuracy and Transparency of Racial and Ethnic Equity Data
Greater data transparency and availability enhances stakeholder efforts to address structural racism and discrimination.

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UNITE’S Five Committees

Five UNITE committees with more than 80 NIH staff volunteers concentrate on catalyzing change and enacting real solutions to foster equity for all. Each committee has a unique mission, while working collaboratively to develop methods that enhance equity across the scientific enterprise.
A chart listing the roles of each of the five UNITE committees. U Committee: Understand stakeholder experiences through listening and learning. N Committee: Facilitate and develop new research on HD/MH. I Committee: Improve the NIH culture and structure for equity, inclusion, and excellence. T Committee: Foster transparency, communication, and accountability with internal and external stakeholders. E Committee: Change policy, culture, and structure to promote diversity in the extramural research ecosystem.

UNITE Leadership, Program Support, and Staff Volunteers

UNITE Co-Chairs

Marie A. Bernard, M.D.
NIH Office of the Director/Chief Officer for
Scientific Workforce Diversity

Noni Byrnes, Ph.D.
NIH Center for Scientific Review

Alfred Johnson, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director/Office of Management

Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S Ph.D.
Principal Deputy Director
NIH Office of the Director

UNITE Program Support

Brittany Chao, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director

Tammy Reddick Lockett​
NIH Office of the Director

U Committee Members

Leah Miller — Co-Chair
National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute

Shelli Avenevoli, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Mental Health

Mia Rochelle Lowden, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Nursing Research 

Anna Amar, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director

Irene Avila, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director

Tanya Chakraborty, M.S.
NIH Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Dexter Collins, M.P.A.
Fogarty International Center

Joanna Goldfarb
National Library of Medicine

Jamie Gulin, M.P.H.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Patricia Haggerty, Ph.D.
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements

John Haller, Ph.D.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Shadab Fatima Hussain, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute

Maura Landers
National Institute of Mental Health

Karen Lee, M.D., M.P.H.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Flair Lindsey
National Institute on Drug Abuse

Leslie Littlejohn
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

Laura Long, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director

Troy Muhammad, Ed.D., M.S.
National Cancer Institute

Cristina Nigro, Ph.D., M.S.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Karen Perkins, M.Ed.
NIH Clinical Center

Elizabeth Sekine
National Institute on Mental Health

Denesha Simmons
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

Kelly Ten Hagen, Ph.D.
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

Vidya Vedham, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute

Susan Wetherby
National Institute of Mental Health 

N Committee Members

Monica Webb Hooper, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

Xinzhi Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.E., F.R.S.N. — Co-Chair
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Kathy Etz, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute on Drug Abuse

Hope Mabry  — Staff Support
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

Jennifer Alvidrez, Ph.D
Office of Disease Prevention

Frank Bandiera, Ph.D
National Institute on Aging

Vence Bonham, J.D.
National Human Genome Research Institute

Christine Borba, Ph.D, M.P.H
National Institute of Mental Health

Christine Cutillo
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

Janine Clayton, M.D.
NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health

Sharon Jackson, M.D.
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

Tilda Farhart, Ph.D, M.P.H
National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities 

Vanessa Marshall, Ph.D.
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

Nathan Moore, Ph.D.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Jenna Norton
National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Parisa Parsafar
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child and Human Development

Janet Sanchez
NIH Office of the Director

Tiffany Wallace
National Institute of Cancer

Shannon Zenk, Ph.D., M.P.H, R.N.
National Institute of Nursing Research

I Committee Members

Laura Koehly, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Human Genome Research Institute

Camille Hoover, M.S.W. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Kevin Williams, J.D. — Co-Chair
NIH Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 

Yvonne Payne — Staff Support
NIH Office of the Director

Leia Butler 
NIH Office of the Director

Shauna Clark, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute

Charles Egwuagu, M.P.H., Ph.D.
National Eye Institute

Courtney Fitzhugh, M.D.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Kendall Hill
National Cancer Institute

Shawn Lewis
National Institute of Nursing Research

Joe Martin
NIH Office of the Director

Darryl Murray, Ph.D.
NIH Office of the Director

Beth Perry
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Brenda Robles
NIH Clinical Center

Victoria Rucker
National Library of Medicine

Shaun Sims
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

T Committee Members

Mohammed Aiyegbo, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

John Burklow — Co-Chair
NIH Office of the Director

Samantha Calabrese — Co-Chair
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Eric Refsland, Ph.D. — Stand-in Co-Chair
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Lauren Brodd
NIH Office of the Director

Claudia Figueroa-Romero — Staff Support
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Jessica Forbes — Staff Support
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Paule Joseph, Ph.D.
NIH Office of Intramural Research

Traci M. Murray, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., NHDP-BC, CPH
National Institute on Drug Abuse

Cathy Rowe
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Eric Sid, M.D.
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

Wayne Wang, Ph.D.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

 

E Committee Members

Ericka Boone, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
NIH Office of Extramural Research

Jon Lorsch, Ph.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Anna E. Ordóñez, M.D. — Co-Chair
National Institute of Mental Health

Beverly Hines — Staff Support
National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Eddie Billingslea, Ph.D.
NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health

Tiffany Calvert, M.Ed.
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Rena D’Souza, M.S., D.D.S., Ph.D.
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research

Zeynep Erim, Ph.D.
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Leonardo Garzon-Velez
Fogarty International Center

Leah Hubbard, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute

Patricia Jones, M.S., M.P.H., Dr.PH.
National Institute on Aging

Vonda Smith, Ph.D.
Center for Scientific Review

James Washington, M.S., Ph.D.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Maryam Zaringhalam, Ph.D.
National Library of Medicine

This page last reviewed on June 12, 2024