Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion Toolbox

Strategic Recommendations to Promote Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Principles in the Pediatric Scientific Workforce

Domain: Institutional Resource Distribution

Focus: Allocation of Research Resources 

Author: Jamie L Lohr, MD

Editor: Samudragupta Bora, PhD

On behalf of the Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Society for Pediatric Research

Background: 

Despite an improved pipeline in academic pediatrics, faculty belonging to underrepresented in medicine groups, including women and particularly women of color, are not adequately represented in research leadership roles across U.S. academic medical centers. Further, studies have shown that women experience less peer recognition, evidenced by relatively fewer citations and opportunities to serve as reviewers or editorial board members of major pediatric journals. Multiple types of resources are needed for long-term success as research academic and career promotion of faculty, including mentorship, collaboration, opportunities for networking, financial support, administrative research support, physical resources (e.g., space allocation, equipment, etc.), and reduction of obstacles. There is a consensus within the pediatric scientific workforce that these resources are not allocated with transparency and often require negotiation with Section/Division/Department Leadership. For example, female faculty often receive lower salaries and fewer financial resources than their male counterparts. Furthermore, they also receive less access to resources that are not formally negotiated, like administrative, statistical, and clinical support. Moreover, structural racism and bias lead to lack of appropriate mentorship, fewer opportunities for networking and collaborations, less interest from trainees, more non-compensated service tasks increasing obstacles to research career advancement. Lastly, faculty belonging to URM can suffer from isolation, tokenism, marginalization, and an inhospitable work environment.

What Can National Organizations Do?

1. Establish norms on transparent and equitable allocation of diverse resources, specific to the pediatric scientific workforce and relevant for various investigator roles corresponding to the range of T0 to T4 research.
2. Advocate for increased access to resources for faculty belonging to underrepresented in medicine groups to promote equity and ensure optimization of outcomes.
3. Develop strategic schemes like the NIH Diversity Supplement and SPR PROSPER Award to promote increased opportunities for access to resources for research faculty belonging to underrepresented in medicine groups.
4. Raise awareness to guide institutional Leadership to develop appropriate research support, including transparent, fair, and equitable allocation of faculty resources, and individual faculty to better understand their rights and responsibilities concerning access to resources.
5. Organize training and formal mentoring for institutional Leadership to develop and/or adapt best practices suitable to individual contexts.
6. Create opportunities for strategic institutional linkages for mentoring, collaboration, and professional networking.
7. Promote increased institutional accountability to funding agencies concerning transparent, fair, and equitable allocation of faculty research resources.
8. Provide incentives to recognize institutions promoting exemplary efforts and demonstrating sincere commitment to support faculty in transparent, fair, and equitable allocation of resources.
9. Collect adequate high-quality data and monitor time-trends concerning institutional distributions of faculty resource allocations to determine outcomes across key metrics such as research productivity (rates of successful career awards, K to R conversion, publication record), faculty attrition, and faculty wellbeing.

What Can Institutions Do?

1. Develop Section/Division/Department-specific guidelines describing rights, responsibilities, and expectations of individual faculty regarding access to diverse resources and allocations across different academic career stages, pertaining specifically to the pediatric scientific workforce, over and above institutional policies and guidelines.
2. Regulate resource allocation incentives for faculty within the pediatric scientific workforce through transparent, fair, and equitable implementation of written policies, developed in active consultation with relevant stakeholders and reassessed on a regular basis to adapt to the constantly changing pediatric research landscape.
3. Standardize research support packages, including transparent, fair, and equitable allocation of resources corresponding to the range of T0 to T4 research, for K (career) awardees and upon receipt of larger (R01, U) grants for mid- and senior faculty.
4. Increase the scope of institutional Equity, Diversity, Inclusion committee for active input on faculty resource allocation.
5. Facilitate recognition of biases in faculty resource allocation through intensive long-term education and intermittent refreshers, followed by adequate response plans accounting for identified and potential obstacles to implementation.
6. Implementation of safe reporting system for bias and racism in faculty resource allocation.
7. Prioritize strategic allocation of resources for faculty with special circumstances to optimize their outcomes.
8. Collect adequate high-quality data and monitor time-trends concerning institutional distributions of faculty resource allocations to determine outcomes across key metrics such as research productivity (rates of successful career awards, K to R conversion, publication record), faculty attrition, and faculty wellbeing.

What Can Allies Do? 

1. Acknowledge privilege and advocate for anti-bias behavior by facilitating transparent, fair, and equitable faculty resource distribution corresponding to the range of T0 to T4 research, pertaining specifically to the pediatric scientific workforce along with a targeted focus on junior faculty, female faculty and those belonging to underrepresented in medicine groups (regardless of their career stage and sex).
2. Establish strategies to ensure faculty across different academic career stages are well-informed of their rights, responsibilities, and institutional expectations of diverse resource allocation, pertaining specifically to the pediatric scientific workforce.
3. Utilize corporate knowledge of established faculty regarding institutional systems/processes/culture to strategically advocate for more junior colleagues for a transparent, fair, and equitable faculty resource distribution, pertaining specifically to the pediatric scientific workforce along with a targeted focus on female faculty and those belonging to underrepresented in medicine groups (regardless of their career stage and sex).
4. Promote diverse opportunities for strategic mentoring, collaboration, and networking.

What Can Individual Faculty Members Do? 

1. Empower to seek transparent, fair, and equitable faculty resource distribution corresponding to the range of T0 to T4 research, pertaining specifically to the pediatric scientific workforce.
2. Promote safe reporting of observed bias and racism in faculty resource allocation.
3. Establish a formal or informal mentoring committee with diverse expertise, including senior and peer mentors within and outside the pediatric scientific workforce, to help guide the individual faculty across various aspects of access to resources.
4. Initiate yearly meetings with Section/Division/Department Leadership (in consultation with Research Leadership) to assess current resource allocation.

Link to Comprehensive References on Distribution of Institutional Resources