Last week, National Institute of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, along with other NIH leadership, issued a strong statement apologizing to victims of sexual harassment and outlining what NIH is doing to change the culture of sexual harassment in science.
This month, the Working Group of the Advisory Council to the Director (ACD) on Changing the Culture to End Sexual Harassment met for the first time and heard from a wide-range of experts and perspectives, including Dr. BethAnn McLaughlin, whose leadership of the #MeTooSTEM movement has provided a voice for victims of harassment. “We have heard similar, harrowing accounts from scientists in the NIH intramural program during meetings of the NIH Anti-Harassment Committee,” said Collins. “These conversations have made it abundantly clear that NIH needs to do better in tackling the underlying culture that enables sexual harassment to take place, admit our contributions to perpetuating this culture, and elevate the seriousness with which the agency takes this issue through our actions.”
The discussions of the ACD Working Group, who will report interim recommendations in June and provide a final report and recommendations to the ACD in December, centered around a number of themes that were similar to those identified by our internal Anti-Harassment Committee. As the senior leadership of NIH, Collins said they would take actions including thee listed below:
- Demonstrating accountability and transparency
- Clarifying expectations for institutions and investigators to ensure a safe workplace and inform the agency
- Providing clear channels of communication to NIH
- Listening to victims and survivors of sexual harassment and incorporating their perspectives into future actions
