<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">
<html><head><style type="text/css"><!--
blockquote, dl, ul, ol, li { padding-top: 0 ; padding-bottom: 0 }
--></style><title>Fwd: NIH Updates on Women in Science Volume 5,
Issue 4</title></head><body>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><img
src="cid:a06240842cc8b7f554994@[10.0.1.71].1.0" alt="image003 64.png"
width="696" height="127"><img
src="cid:a06240842cc8b7f554994@[10.0.1.71].1.1" width="696"
height="127"></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="center"><img
src="cid:a06240842cc8b7f554994@[10.0.1.71].1.2" alt="image005 96.gif"
width="655" height="97"></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="right">Keren Witkin, Ph.D.,
Editor</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="right">Office of Research on
Women's Health</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="right">Office of the Director,
National Institutes of Health</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite align="right">United States Department of
Health and Human Services<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="+3"><b>Volume 5, Issue
4</b></font><br>
<font size="+3"><b></b></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="+3"><i><b>NIH Updates on
Women in Science</b></i><b> is brought to you by the</b></font> <a
href="http://womeninscience.nih.gov/"><font size="+3"><b>NIH Working
Group on Women in Biomedical Careers</b></font></a><font
size="+3"><i><b>.</b></i><b> We encourage you to share this
e-newsletter with colleagues.</b></font><br>
<font size="+3"><b></b></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> <br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><font size="+3"><b>Contents of this
Issue</b></font><br>
<font size="+3"><b></b></font></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a href=""><i>Faculty Diversity in
Medical Schools Compared to other Academic
Environments</i></a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a href=""><i>What Role Does Demographic
Inertia Play in Current Gender Differences among
Scientists?</i></a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a href=""><i>An Educational Intervention
to Promote Institutional Change</i></a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a href=""><i>New Program Increases
Flexibility for NIH Intramural Postdoctoral
Fellows</i></a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a href=""><u><i>Remembering Dr. Sally
Ride, Ph.D.</i></u></a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a href=""><i>Women Scientists in Action-
Dr. Clarisa Garcia, M.D., M.S.C.E.</i></a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><b>Faculty Diversity in Medical Schools
Compared to other Academic Environments</b></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>A recent article made available ahead of
publication in the journal<i> DNA and Cell Biology</i> examined the
number of tenured and tenure-track female and Black faculty members in
basic science departments of research-intensive institutions. The
authors found that women made up 32.1% of assistant professors in
biomedical science departments, compared with 38.4% in biology
departments, 27.2% in chemistry departments, and 25% in physics
departments. Women were significantly less likely to be assistant
professors in basic science departments of medical schools compared to
other academic environments. A similar trend was observed for Black
investigators: Fewer Blacks held associate and assistant
professor positions in medical schools compared to other research
institutions, although this difference was not statistically
significant. Interestingly, Black scientists in three of the four
disciplines studied were more likely to be tenured rather than
tenure-track. The discrepancy was particularly striking for chemistry
departments. The authors surmised that this might reflect the
preference for elite institutions to hire Black scientists who had
already proven themselves elsewhere. Black women, vulnerable to both
race and gender bias, made up less than 25% of the Black faculty
members in the life sciences departments studied, despite earning more
than 50% of the doctoral degrees received by Black scientists in
biological fields. The authors advocate for institutional changes
focused on issues of workplace climate and inclusion, as well as
changes in NIH grants policies that support diversity in the
biomedical workforce.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href="http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/dna.2012.1756"
>Limitations on Diversity in Basic Science
Departments</a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><b>What Role Does Demographic Inertia
Play in Current Gender Differences among Scientists?</b></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Despite an abundance of support for
increased diversity in the scientific and biomedical workforce, women
and minorities remain underrepresented in scientific disciplines. A
recent article in<i> Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological
Sciences</i> examined the role of demographic inertia for women in
academic careers in the natural and social sciences.
"Demographic inertia" refers to the time-lag between changing
attitudes and improved recruitment practices leading to a visible
difference in workforce statistics. To perform this analysis, the
authors used public data from the National Science Foundation on
scientists working in the United States from 1979 to 2006. They
constructed a model of the academic career pipeline from college
graduation through tenured professorship, in order to investigate the
relative contribution of demographic inertia. While their model
supports a role for demographic inertia in hampering participation of
women in later stages of the pipeline, they found that it cannot
explain all apparent gender differences. Other factors, such as
cultural issues and unequal recruitment practices, also affect the
likelihood of women pursuing academic careers. The study identified
key transition points, such as the decision to pursue certain
scientific fields at the undergraduate level and the choice to
continue in academia after receiving a graduate degree. The
authors suggest that societal and cultural factors weigh heavily into
career decisions, and thus affect the number of women pursuing
academic science careers at all stages throughout the
pipeline.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href=
"http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/279/1743/3736.full.pdf+html"
>Leaks in the Pipeline: Separating Demographic Inertia from Ongoing
Gender Differences in Academia</a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><b>An Educational Intervention to Promote
Institutional Change</b></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Increasing the number of women in
academic science departments can require institutional transformation
to make environments more welcoming to female recruits, and to
confront the faculty behaviors that reinforce a male-dominated
structure. Dr. Molly Carnes and colleagues from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison considered gender bias as a modifiable behavior that
could be altered through education. They developed a bias literacy
workshop, which they implemented for 167 faculty members and 53
administrative staff members from 17 departments at the University of
Wisconsin- Madison. The workshop content was evidence-based,
interdisciplinary, and hands-on, and each workshop ended with
participants individually formulating a written "commitment to
change." Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with 74% of the
participants evaluating the program as "very useful," and the
other 26% calling it "somewhat useful." Interviews of 26
participants several months after the workshop revealed that 75% of
those interviewed had either changed or planned to change their
behaviors based on workshop content. The authors were thrilled with
the preliminary results of their intervention, saying, "Taken
together, our success in developing and launching this workshop and
the response of [science technology engineering, mathematics, and
medicine] faculty leave us optimistic that such an educational
intervention may be effective in promoting institutional change
towards gender equity." They plan to further evaluate the
intervention by examining recruitment and retention data over a
two-year period following the workshop.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3399596/?tool=pubmed"
>Promoting Institutional Change through Bias Literacy</a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><b> </b></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><b>New Program Increases Flexibility for
NIH Intramural Postdoctoral Fellows</b></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>The Committee on the NIH Intramural
Research Program of the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical
Careers has launched a new pilot program to increase flexibility for
NIH intramural fellows who need alternative career development
schedules. The "Keep the Thread" program is an
accommodation and reentry program open to all NIH Intramural Research
Training Award (IRTA) postdoctoral fellows, with the approval of their
principle investigators (PIs) and scientific directors. Emphasizing
flexibility, the program offers an array of options ranging from
alternative work schedules to temporary part time work options.
The goal of the Keep the Thread program is to encourage trainees
to stay connected to the NIH community during times of intense
personal and/or care-giving needs, in order to facilitate eventual
reentry into full-time research. The program aims to recognize common
roadblocks to balancing work and personal life, in order to
proactively address these issues. For instance, one key feature of the
Keep the Thread program is that it allows fellows working at least
40-percent of full-time to maintain full health insurance coverage, as
long as they assume responsibility for a portion of the costs.
Another key feature is the focus on eventual reentry into full-time
research. The program encourages fellows and their PIs to work
together to design a reentry plan that meets the needs of both the
fellow and the laboratory. According to Dr. Michael Gottesman, NIH
Deputy Director for Intramural Research and Co-Chair of the Committee
on the NIH Intramural Research Program of the NIH Working Group on
Women in Biomedical Careers, "Some of our fellows have pointed
out the difficulty of juggling their family and personal needs with a
full schedule in our laboratories and clinics. The Keep the Thread
program is a menu of options that allows them to work with their
supervisors to develop a personalized plan to continue their career
development at work, while attending to important responsibilities at
home."</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href=
"http://sourcebook.od.nih.gov/prof-desig/Keep_the_Thread_2012.docx"
>Keep the Thread Program, NIH Sourcebook</a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><b>Remembering Dr. Sally Ride,
Ph.D.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Trailblazing astronaut and role model Dr.
Sally Ride passed away recently from pancreatic cancer. Sally Kristen
Ride was born in 1951 in Encino, California. She excelled in school
easily, and was an avid athlete and tennis player. She attended
Swarthmore College for three semesters, before returning to
California. She considered becoming a professional tennis player, but
decided to continue her studies at Stanford University. She
remained at Stanford to receive a bachelor's degree in physics and
English, a master's degree in physics, and a doctorate in
astrophysics. After graduation, she responded to a newspaper ad
calling for astronauts, and was selected out of pool of over 1000
applicants to join the space program. In 1983, Dr. Ride took her first
trip on the shuttle Challenger, becoming the first American woman and
the youngest American to fly in space. She returned to space in 1984
in a second mission on Challenger. Dr. Ride retired from the space
program in 1987, but continued to serve the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA). She served on panels investigating the
1986 Challenger disaster and the 2003 Columbia crash, and worked on
strategic planning for NASA. After leaving the space program, Dr. Ride
returned to Stanford as a fellow in the Center for International
Security and Arms Control. In 1989, she moved to the University of
California San Diego as a physics professor and director of the
California Space Institute. Passionate about science education, and
eager to recruit more girls into scientific fields, she wrote science
books for children and directed middle school science outreach
programs. She started a company, called Sally Ride Science, to design
educational programs and inspire girls to study science, math, and
technology. Dr. Ride has received numerous awards for her work as a
scientists, astronaut, and educator. In a statement after her death,
President Obama called her "a national hero and powerful role
model."</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><a
href=
"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/science/space/sally-ride-trailblazing-astronaut-dies-at-61.html?_r=2"><span
></span>American Woman Who Shattered Space Ceiling</a></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><b>Women Scientists in Action - Clarisa
Gracia, M.D., M.S.C.E.</b></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dr. Clarisa Gracia enjoys many aspects of
her job: the teaching, the mentoring, the research, and especially the
clinical work.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dr. Gracia grew up outside of Buffalo,
New York, and attended Amherst College, where she received a
Bachelor's degree in Spanish. Immediately after graduation, she
enrolled at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of
Medicine, where she received her medical degree. According to Dr.
Gracia, she found herself drawn to obstetrics and gynecology for a
variety of reasons: The ability to combine surgery and medicine,
the opportunity to assist with pregnancy and delivery, and to take
care of the many health needs of women. She matched for
residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of
Pennsylvania, and has been there ever since. Following her residency,
she pursued a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and
infertility. To gain further research training, she completed a master
of science degree in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics at Penn.
Dr. Gracia has been on the faculty at the Hospital of the University
of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine since
1997, where she is now an associate professor. She is also the
director of the Fertility Preservation Program at Penn Fertility
Care.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dr. Gracia balances clinical work with
research in reproductive aging, the menopausal transition, and
oncofertility. She is particularly interested in fertility
preservation for cancer patients and maximizing fertility potential
for cancer survivors. In addition to studying the effect of cancer
treatments on future fertility, her research team optimizes
experimental protocols for oocyte and ovarian tissue cryopreservation
that can allow pediatric and young adult cancer patients to maintain
options for future fertility as they approach cancer
treatment.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Dr. Gracia has authored over sixty
peer-reviewed publications, and has received numerous awards and
honors and several grants from the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). Early in her career, she received a Women's Reproductive
Health Research (WRHR) K-12 mentored career development award, funded
by the NIH<i> Eunice Kennedy Shriver</i> National institute of Child
Health and Human Development and the Office of Research on Women's
Health (ORWH). She credits this program with giving her protected time
for research, which kick-started her career in clinical
research.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Recently, Dr. Gracia presented
"Emerging Technologies in Oncofertility" as part of the ORWH
Women's Health Seminar on Innovations in Reproductive
Technologies.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>According to Dr. Gracia, the strong
mentorship she received along her professional journey has been
critical to her success. She says, "My mentors have shown me that
research can be exciting and rewarding. They have also allowed me to
see that it is possible to combine clinical practice and clinical
research, and they have been a huge part of my success in publishing
and getting funding." Dr. Gracia has two daughters, ages 7 and 9.
She credits her supportive husband and a strong network of friends
with helping her balance a demanding career with family
life.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>************</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><i><b>PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS
e-NEWSLETTER. To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit the</b></i> <a
href="https://list.nih.gov/archives/womeninscience-news.html"><i><b
>Women in Science NIH LISTSERV</b></i></a><i><b>. For more
information, please contact Keren Witkin, Ph.D., Office of Research on
Women's Health, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health,
through the Women in Science mailbox (</b></i><a
href="mailto:womeninscience@nih.gov"><i><b>womeninscience@nih.gov</b></i
></a><i><b>). The views expressed in this e-newsletter do not
necessarily reflect those of the U.S.
Government. </b></i></blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div><font color="#FF0000"><u><b>NEW ADDRESS AS OF JUNE 27
2012:</b></u></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Deborah L. Galson,
Ph.D.</b></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Assistant Professor of
Medicine</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">University of Pittsburgh Cancer
Institute</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Department of Medicine</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Division of
Hematology-Oncology</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Mailing address:</b></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Hillman Cancer Center</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Research Pavilion, Room 1.19b</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">5117 Centre Avenue</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Pittsburgh PA 15213</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Office phone:</b>
412-623-1112</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Fax:</b> 412-623-1415</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Cell:</b> 724-612-1830</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Email</b>: galson@pitt.edu;
dlgalson@gmail.com</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Lab:</b> Research Pavilion, Room
1.20</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b><br></b></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Administrative Assistant:</b> Dianna
Pappert-Fennell</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Phone:</b> 412-623-1114</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><b>Email:</b>
pappertfenneld@upmc.edu</font></div>
</body>
</html>