Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Strategies for inclusive grantmaking

Nature Medicine volume 28, pages 614–616 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Grantmaking organizations play a crucial role in increasing diversity and equity in the biomedical workforce. Collecting demographic data, increasing the diversity of applicants and reducing bias in peer review are valuable strategies to achieve these goals.

HRA strives to amplify member organizations’ individual efforts to measurably advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in their grant programs and processes. HRA also seeks to dismantle the dangerous and faulty notion that such diversity initiatives put scientific excellence at risk. Our 2021 Strategic Plan placed even more emphasis on these goals. We have hosted workshops to highlight best practices and support members in their design of grant programs to advance DEI and promote inclusive peer review practices. From these workshops and other sessions, the HRA has developed actionable steps for organizations to follow to implement transformative action and to combat implicit bias against applicants from under-represented groups resulting from majority-defined notions of excellence.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Freeman, R. B. & Huang, W. Nature 513, 305 (2014).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Harawa, N. T. et al. Clin. Transl. Sci. 1, 167–175 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Yanagihara, R. et al. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 18, 1569 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Hofstra, B. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 9284–9291 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Health Research Alliance. Member profiles; https://www.healthra.org/members/member-profiles (accessed 16 February 2022).

  6. Health Research Alliance. Diversity, equity, inclusion; https://www.healthra.org/working-groups/diversity-equity-inclusion (accessed 16 February 2022).

  7. Health Research Alliance. DEI WG survey documents; https://www.healthra.org/resources/dei-wg-survey-documents (accessed 16 February 2022).

  8. Disability & Philanthropy Forum. A Guide to Increasing Disability Inclusion by Tracking Participation; https://disabilityphilanthropy.org/resource/increasing-disability-inclusion-by-tracking-participation (accessed 16 February 2022).

  9. Stevens, K. R. et al. Cell 184, 561–565 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. National Institutes of Health. Inclusion of women and minorities as participants in research involving human subjects https://grants.nih.gov/policy/inclusion/women-and-minorities.htm (accessed 16 February 2022).

  11. Kaatz, A. et al. Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 35, P371–P373 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gerwing, T. G. et al. Res. Integr. Peer Rev. 6, 9 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Teplitskiy, M. et al. Res. Policy 47, 1825–1841 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Ginther, D. K. et al. Science 333, 1015–1019 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Hoppe, T. A. et al. Sci. Adv. 5, 512–514 eaaw7238 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Tamblyn, R. et al. Can. Med. Assoc. J. 190, E489–E499 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Dzirasa, K. Cell 183, 576–579 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Lerback, J. & Hanson, B. Nature 541, 455–457 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Black in X. https://www.blackinx.org (accessed 16 February 2022).

  20. The Royal Society. Understanding unconscious bias [video]; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVp9Z5k0dEE (accessed 16 February 2022).

  21. Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Bias in peer review [video]; https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/lms/e/bias (accessed 16 February 2022).

  22. BMe. Asset-framing; https://bmecommunity.org/asset-framing (accessed 16 February 2022).

  23. Nakamura, R. K. et al. eLife 10, e71368 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Bendiscioli, S. EMBO Rep. 20, e49472 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Carnes, M. et al. Acad. Med. 94, 20–24 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank P. Frustace for her input to develop the DEI survey of HRA member organizations and critical review of the manuscript. We also wish to thank HRA members for completing the survey.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Kristen L. Mueller

    Present address: Arthritis Foundation, Atlanta, GA, USA

  2. These authors contributed equally: Maryrose Franko, Kristen L. Mueller

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Research Alliance, Research Triangle Park, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Maryrose Franko

  2. Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New York, NY, USA

    Sindy Escobar-Alvarez

  3. TSC Alliance, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Zoë Fuchs

  4. Health Resources in Action, Boston, MA, USA

    Kimberly Lezak & Lindsay Redman Rivera

  5. Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, USA

    Miquella C. Rose

  6. Melanoma Research Alliance, Washington, DC, USA

    Kristen L. Mueller

Authors
  1. Maryrose Franko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sindy Escobar-Alvarez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zoë Fuchs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kimberly Lezak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lindsay Redman Rivera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Miquella C. Rose
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Kristen L. Mueller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the writing of this manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Maryrose Franko, Miquella C. Rose or Kristen L. Mueller.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

S.E.A., M.C.R. and K.L.M. serve on the HRA Board of Directors. L.R.R. is a paid consultant to the HRA. L.R.R. and M.C.R. are members of SACNAS.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Franko, M., Escobar-Alvarez, S., Fuchs, Z. et al. Strategies for inclusive grantmaking. Nat Med 28, 614–616 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01757-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01757-8

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing