NIH’s FAN Holds Inaugural Town Hall
The NIH Federation of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA & NHPI) Network (FAN) successfully organized its first Town Hall early this year to bring members together to discuss challenges and opportunities for AA & NHPIs in the NIH workforce.
FAN chair Dr. T. Jake Liang of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases opened the event with a comprehensive overview of FAN’s history, mission, vision and notable accomplishments in the past three years.
Established in April 2021 during the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, Liang explained, FAN emerged when AA & NHPI leaders across NIH joined forces in response to the alarming surge in anti-Asian hate crime in the United States.
“Like many FAN members, I did not become proactive in advocating for AA & NHPIs at NIH until 2021 when the anti-AA & NHPI hate crimes were widespread,” said Liang. “We all realized then that silence is not an option and together we are indeed stronger.”
The first AA & NHPI employee resource group (ERG) at NIH, FAN is dedicated to fostering an inclusive workplace at NIH through a data-driven, community-informed approach. Its core objectives include addressing issues impacting the AA & NHPI workforce, identifying actionable solutions and actively educating and engaging NIH decision-makers and the broader community.
At the Town Hall, FAN steering committee members Dr. Anna Han of Office of the Director and Dr. Ji Luo of the National Cancer Institute put a spotlight on an important issue affecting the workforce at NIH: the scarce representation of AA & NHPIs in senior leadership positions. They presented a report on a survey FAN conducted in 2022, which aimed to gain a nuanced understanding of the experiences of NIH’s AA & NHPI workforce. Specifically, the survey sought to uncover the challenges, biases and barriers hindering advancement of AA & NHPI principal investigators to leadership positions in the Intramural Research Program.
“We had a lot of anecdotes and stories, but we didn’t have data to back it up,” said Han. “To remedy this, we launched the survey to get a better sense of AA & NHPIs at NIH.”
The survey findings underscored that Asian American principal investigators aspire to advance in their careers but encounter significant obstacles such as stereotypes, biases and institutional barriers. Luo concluded the presentation by outlining FAN’s key recommendations for leadership, aimed at addressing and closing the AANHPI leadership gap within NIH.
A panel discussion, led by FAN members Dr. Kelvin Choi of the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities and Dr. Anirban Banerjee of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, followed the presentation, featuring NIH senior leaders: Dr. Marie Bernard, chief officer for scientific workforce diversity; Dr. Noni Byrnes, director of the Center for Scientific Review; Dr. Michael Chiang, director of the National Eye Institute; Dr. Rena D’Souza, director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research; Dr. Carl Hashimoto, director of faculty development in the Office of Intramural Research (OIR); Dr. Roland Owens, acting OIR principal deputy director; and Kevin Williams, director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Panelists offered valuable perspectives, demonstrating a shared goal of cultivating a workplace where everyone, regardless of background, has equal opportunities to contribute and succeed.
A Q&A session with the panelists provided dynamic discussion focused on structural changes, such as implementing the NIH equity committee, improving communication from leadership to AA & NHPI staff about career opportunities and raising awareness of the FAN survey findings and recommendations.
More than 100 individuals attended the Town Hall in person, while an additional 100 joined virtually. The event, Liang said, was a “rare occasion to see so many AA & NHPI faces in the same room and the cultural heritage we commonly share, yet also the diversity among us. I was also delighted that we had attendance from non-AANHPI groups, a testimony to the common interest and goal we all share in the NIH community.”