Hello everyone. Good afternoon, I'm Bali White, the sexual gender minority portfolio and I wanted to thank you for coming out today, I know it's hot. But we really appreciate you coming today and wanted to welcome you to our first sexual and gender minority community ally, leader and ally award. And, since it's the first one, we wanted to invite Dr Milgram speak with us and Deborah Chew beloved director of EDI. Coming to NIH, I've been fortunate to work with both of them, these remarkable and intelligent uncommitted mentors and I've been inspired by their work here at NIH to make it more inclusive in a safer environment to all of us. please welcome. --- [applause] Thank y ou Bali, she doesn't appreciate was how much we have learned from you since you've been here and we are so lucky to have Bali in our office. It is with great pleasure I welcome you to the award program and I would like to welcome the visitors who have traveled to NIH and to the participants who have joined us by WebEx. I've been given two tasks, Bali tells you what to do and I do it. we are honoring individuals who are game changers and you might be asking what is a game changer? I'm glad that you asked. game changers are institution builders and the revolutionize organizational culture, cultivate and harness creative ideas and uphold equity, diversity and inclusion. They force partnerships to revolutionize organizational culture and procedure. They encourage decisions to go beyond strategic towards the tactical. They cultivate and harness the creative ideas that inspired new paradigms throughout the agency, fueling innovation and advancing its mission. Operationalize these concepts as part of their overall leadership strategy. --- A second task that I've been given by Bali, is to introduce our keynote speaker, Doctor Sharon -- in 2007 she joined the national institute of health. She heads -- An office that data to provide career counseling and occupational development. Dr. -- Lectures widely in science, technology engineering and math careers and has a passion for working with trainees at all educational levels, from muscle students to postdocs, Dr. -- Strive to make the training spirit is meaningful, safe and enjoyable for all trainees. One of the first things you might notice about Doctor Milgram upon meeting her is her incredible energy. She is a person who is cost of the thinking about ways of making life better for those around her Of the energy for driving improvement comes across as a passion ni for the trainees she serves thNIH. as the director of OIDI (sounds like), was possible for the policies that govern NIH trainees, she has authorities in development of trainees interested in biomedical and social science research. From high school students to postdocs Doctor milligram strive to make the training is there is meaningful, safe and enjoyable. She leads a team that brings increased diversity to NIH. Early in her time at NIH she began speaking with any sense you realize that some of them felt uncomfortable and Doctor Milgram not only brought in a diversity expert to encourage trainees and senior staff and faculty to celebrate difference and diversity through a six-week diversity course which he also sponsored and help develop affinity groups including the LGBT friends and fellows group to help make Trainees feel more at Easter Mac over the years she has interacted with thousands of trainees, trainees around the country as well. And through this interaction -- -- The stress of research couple with striving to reach career goals sometimes came with the cost of their well-being. She began developing a wellness program at OIDI that would come in the professional development and mentoring for which her office is numb. She was most interested in how to help NIH trainees be resilient in the face of whatever adversities they may face in the moment and into the future. Sharon is spectacular if you don't know her. I'm sure all of you know her. She is amazing and a fourth within herself and him learn so much watching and observing Sharon -- she's a true champion the civil rights and diversity and inclusion and I don't know what we would do without you Sharon. She is our EDI game changer for the month of june, 2019 and beyond, and with that I'm honored and privileged to introduce my friend Sharon Milgram. --- [applause] Many of you do know me. Most of you know that I always have something to say. The honest truth is that I've been thinking about this talk For a very, very long time since they asked me about it and I still don't have anything to say. let me first start by saying that like Deb said, something that is especially meaningful about today is the fact that Bali first worked iwth us thorugh the NIH Academy enrichment program which is a program that Doctor Shuman Clark, sitting there (sounds like), worked with me over time, started as a way to enroll a few trainees. is someone met them they would realize how special they were because he could not get through the Byzantine Registration system; it started off with a few of them, and it has become one of the most satisfying spaces of the year, watching about 25 of them, it's been pretty amazing and Bali was a member of the NIH Academy original program one day she told me that she wanted to explore government work and was really curious about what that might be like on her way to graduate school at some point in the future and then she ended up in EDI and I have to say that one of the best changes at NIH in my time here is the leadership that Deb shows in EDI. So when Bali said she was going to work with Deb I mission would get good mentoring. It is made more special by the fact that Bali is here. x--- I thought about what I could talk about. I have to acknowledge that my ability to talk about how to begin health or rights, for the intersection of lgbt and other identities is pretty limited. I have now training at all -- I do have personal experience in the LGBT community and hopefully since I'm not prepared for a long time maybe I would do something in the same room that might be balcony A. In 2007 I arrived at NIH shortly before the graduate part of program and all the graduate students were rather curious about the new director and what was going to happen and they invited me to spak at the symposium and so I showed one or two slides and said, asked be whatever you want and much to my surprise tons of hands went up. I do want to make a couple of comments about pride before I talk about my experience of truly owning pride. And the first thing I want to say is that this is a really special year for the LGBT community in that we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. I imagine someday we might actually have easy access to all of that history, still have to dig in the web and it is often overlooked in museums and it can be sort of a hidden pride moment in this country. But those were remarkable people who said "enough is enough," and they fought against the social discrimination that they were facing in the New York community and they really spread a sense of righteous indignation across the country and I was born, I was six years old -- 50 years ago, and the amazing thing is that I really have each and every one of those people to thank for the rights that I have today. And I think that we have seen some really remarkable changes in the life of LGBT people. And I think maybe the biggest one is that everybody looks to gay marriage, which I have to say is amazing. I got married the day after the government opened after the 2013 shutdown and I told Michael that I'd come back to see my staff and I'd have to leave right away or I'd get divorced before I got married. The honest truth is that so many LGBT use are bullied in the data on attempted suicide and suicide ideation and suicide and homelessness in the LGBT young community is staggeringly painful. Furthermore while I think we've made some tremendous gains, the trans community remains vulnerable and not always safe, not only in the places we tend to think of is not very tolerant but right here in our backyard. And I think that for all of the gains that we've had here in our country we can't stop until we see equal gains in other countries and I worry a great deal about our international trainees some of whom come here really terrified to be who they are because of the very difficult places that they grew up in. And we really have a lot to do. --- A while back I told Bali that I was frustrated that often in Pride month we have a seminar or talk focused on something negative about the LGBT community but in fact this is an amazingly resilient community that has shown not only through the Stonewall. not only through, don't ask don't tell, not only through the AIDS eidemic but every day being supportive of each other and being allies of other marginalized amenities. The honest truth is we should talk openly about issues in the LGBT community and I think many lesbian and gay individuals struggled to embrace the trans community; I think that they are still divisions in the community of around race and ethnicity that we have to address and so while we should celebrate Pride and we should look at Stonewall and say, how is it that we went in 30 years from 60% of americans saying we are against to 60% saying bring it on. And we need to think hard about where we need to go. --- At NIH we need to think there's the about LGBT health disparities and not only from e-portfolio full of research on HIV/AIDS, but also portfolio for research in other areas and I want to start by acknowledging the really special time that we live in and also knowledge some of the challenges; I thought what I'd do is tell you little bit about me by way of how my experience has shaped the way that I see my job at NIH. And I should say that I think I probably have the single best job here on campus, the trainees that I need both here and across the country; the people who stop me and say I saw your video, the people who send many know that says you have no idea but you talk about your wife on stage at -- and I never heard a scientist come out as game front of 1000 people before and thank you so much, it is really an amazing job to get to work with so many students, students from every background in students With such amazing stories raise enough and open enough to share them. --- So I thought I would share a little bit about how my background shapes the way I seat my work here at NIH. This is me, in Israel. It's in the Galilee, up in the northern valley of Israel, and this is one of the last pictures that I have what in my community is called a Hasidic Jews, my family is Hasidic but not quite so we call it Hasidish. I grew up dressed like this. If you notice except for my hands and above I wore skirts that covered my knees, socks to make sure nothing was exposed. I wore long sleeves and practiced modesty for Orthodox Jewish girls so the honest truth is that the first coming out that I ever experienced was coming out that this was not going to be the life that I was going to lead and that is a man that is very important in my life at one point, Moshe, who was sort of my family, the head of the family I lived with when I was in Israel. --- I came from a community and a time -- there was no Internet, Anderson Cooper was not around, there was no Pride parade anywhere and if there was I was most of you not to be taken there by my family so I walked through the day after Pride on the way to the art museum in the most amazing thing with the moms and dads with the kids and at the time I grew up that was never going to happen. I was in Israel in 1979. I came back in 1980, hoping to be able to go to college and discuss going to college with my family. The big is coming out that I ever had was coming out to myself, that I was not a believer and I grew up with the principal called living life with the fear of the heavens and I realized I wanted to live a life full of education and openness and freedom and not skirts so those of you who have never seen me in a skirt you now know why. --- So the thing is how somebody goes from bad to this and I think it is really an interesting transformation. That is my wife, her name is also Sharon. (laughter) She goes by Ren, because I did not want to change my name professionally, at home we go by the "other Sharon," both of us. That's my son Wonder who miraculously joined us. one day in the middle of the summer. he is a pretty remarkable kid. How do somebody do that? The honest truth I don't know how and I found that picture of little while ago and my jaw dropped and I thought about shredding it and I thought, wow, there's really a lot there. --- what I learn from this experience was the importance of people helping and I didn't have a lot of held at the ousted when I left the Orthodox community and that was a really unfortunate thing because I made some really poor choices. And so when I think of my work here, I think about tearing down any barrier at all for a student seeking resources because I think if I was able to utter to a single person I think I may be gay and that is a problem in my house and I'm only an Orthodox Jews from six o'clock at night until eight in the morning when I leave the house and I could use a little bit of help. That is one thing that eye can learn from this. --- the other thing I'd you learn from this is how deeply embedded our identities are so it wasn't until recently that I decided to actually look at my experience as an Orthodox jew and to consider in what was special about it and had a protracted discussion with a therapist who was just Jewish enough to understand my life and not so Jewish that I felt afraid to say what I thought and I spent about two years maybe longer dissecting my experience in that community and I think that was a really important thing because many of our students really need the space and time to dissect their identities and quite frankly most adults could benefit from some time to do that. We are so busy doing things and so busy accomplishing things that I think we don't often spend time thinking about those crazy places where we came from. So, I learned a lot about the importance of owning fully the story; in fact, I like having these two pictures in the same slide because I used to say in a way of skirting the issue with people would say ask me my question about my family I would say it's not clear to me if they are upset she is a she or she is a non-Jew. I think they're probably upset by both. (laughter) I'm quite certain they're upset about both of them. --- I think until we fully own what we love about our story and fully own the "ouches" of our story we cannot be authentic about who we are and people talk about how much energy I have and it is so hard for me to hear because I think a case slept walk through a great deal of my life because there are so many stories that I haven't quite talked about are considered. --- The other thing like you learn from the story, and I think that it is easy these days to assume that everybody's coming out is easy. We live in a different place in the and many people have these amazing coming-out stories; there are parents who come to see me and they are like I want to get this right. Do you have any advice? There are websites full of information for families to be supportive, but not everybody's coming out stories are so fully positive whether coming out about religious police or coming out about sexual orientation or coming out about what we want to do in our life. The honest truth is we have all kinds of coming out but what I learned from that was that sometimes Regardless of whether the story is happy or not, what you have at the end is worth giving up some really big things. I've not had much contact with the mother or father since I came out; it to be a very long time to come out and I came out why lie was the faculty member at UNC at Chapel Hill whenm I met Ren whom I hired to paint my house and fell in love. What a game from that was this incredible sense of who I was and I think that is where the energy comes, it comes from realizing that sometimes we got really big things and we think it's too big but in the end what we get is so much bigger. That is a really important thing that I came to realize because I spent so long in focusing on what I lost and not on what I gained. This is an important juxtaposition, the two pictures. --- Be an Orthodox allotted to gain amazing values, about taking care of community, values about always putting human dignity first, values around helping people who are sick or who have had some kind of family emergency or tragedy and all of that underlies work and so in the end, as much as I will never look right is again, I occasionally put on my Hasidic clothes to go to my nephews and nieces weddings, I seemed to go to a lot of weddings and they have lots of kids and now I get to go to a lot of bar mitzvahs or bat mitzvahs. it took me a long time to appreciate it. --- I wanted to tell the story because of two reasons: Diversity is about stories. the most important identities to me are completely hidden. Once I told you I was raised in a Hasidic Jewish family, and spent years studying Jewish history and Jewish literature and Jewish law you would never know that. The honest truth is that when I did finally come out so a couple of people said "duh," you could have told me. (laughter) I was unwilling to do anything about it because of the religious police I have in the family structure. I came out in North Carolina in 2003; I watched the painter completely enthralled by the movement of paint on the walls -- not -- and then one day she showed up not scheduled to paint. And I opened the door and I saw her and I froze. I said, "what are you doing here?" And closed the door. Ouch! And then we had a conversation who is leading she said I'm not going to date anybody who is in the closet and I came out quickly. I told my parents in a letter and everybody else in my family in phone call or face-to-face; I came out to my lab and all my colleagues and friends in a matter of weeks and I still come out. That is one stress that I think can be hard for people to understand about the LGBT community and that is the debate of do I come out or not. I decided that I spent so long in the closet and closets are unhealthy places in which to live that I would come out regardless of his people said what is your husband do at the airport or the person sitting next to me asks what is a person do when they see a wedding ring and I hold up my breath and wonder what what I should say. In science, not enoujgh LGBT scientists are out and visible. you're not going to stand up and gives science seminar and tell stories about your wife or husband or your partner or say something to convey that identity and I think it hurts kids who want to go into science; there is one finds out on STEM careers in the LGBT committee and it indicates that many kids leave science. So I come out all the time. If there is a story that I can tell that involve my wife I do. I still, many years later, still pause for a moment worried whether somebody is going to say something so that is an amazing thing to me the never quest goes away. --- The other thing I got out of all of this in the recent I wanted to talk about it is to bring this to a close commenting what they talk about at the end and that is wellness. I was not a particular the well person; closets are unhealthy and science is unhealthy, so I had a double dose of unhealthiness. It's been a real eye-opener to me to consider the impact of stress and the impact of chronic work on the scientific community and I've been thinking a lot about that because I love the students that I work with and many of them deserve better. Second because I do think that it is time and we are now reckoning with the harassment that is pervasive and science wth the gender discrimination. I think this termination beyond gender for people of color, I think it's time for us to look at everything that is happening in the scientific community and ask ourselves what we contributed to that. And I think as a PI who ran a large lab that was quite successful for a long time I think I contributed to that by asking people to work -- in an amount of time. and contributed to issues listening to women tell stories about harassment science and always say we have to persevere for the sick of science as opposed to we should be mad as hell and do something about it. --- This is what drives the wellness program for me and I believe that until we are well as a community we will continue to take advantage of each other and we will continue to be on time to each other. And people will be chased away from science, predominant that because of the lack of role models and the lack of institutional support for decades. I think that people of color and the people from marginalized amenities (correction) communities and chased away in unkind ways. --- Wellness is a part of that. What I learned looking back at the story and what I learned trying to develop a healthy family model for myself and my wife and our son was that until I took care of myself I wasn't going to be able to do that and so I'm going to end by encouraging all of you -- I see lots of trainees and I owe you a date for our Pride dinner, and I'll be cooking again for everybody, that is my secret passion. When I give up my job as an educator I will open up a restaurant and you should all come and it will be healthy and good. --- I think that wellness leads to kindness and kindness leads to inclusion and inclusion means we can all tell our stories, even these kinds of stories that for many years I thought I would never tell anybody. And so with that, I will thank Bali and EDI and the LITE staff, many are here, I'm remarkably proud of the peopl I get to work with and especially proud of the trainees that I get to work with an I will thank all of you and we have some time and I'm hoping somebody will ask a question. Thank you. --- [applause] >> f Yeah? >> (off mic). What would you advise be to trainees afraid to come out at work? >> I try never to give advice to people about coming out because anybody coming out is associated with a different set of risks and everybody's need for connection to particular people is different and so I would never make a general statement. What I would say is that it is critically important to work in an open and welcoming place and we can't do that unless we are willing to take risks so when we are at a point in our life, when that risk is tenable and acceptable I think that it is important to come out before we take a position. So went I apply for the job at NIH I searched incessantly on the Internet for any example of an LGBT, like a college president or provost somebody at a high level. (incomprehensible) was the deputy director so I could have had a great role model but I did not know. --- I came out early in the process because I wanted to take the job only if it is safe and comfortable and if I could see myself but it's not for me to tell somebody when that time is. I especially worry about young people who need the support of their families. And that sometimes we have to be really careful about when we come out, and given social media and things coming out in one place and keeping secrets in another is a really stressful thing. --- Yeah? >> Thanks for your story, that was great. I'm curious to know -- as a prelude, the other night, the Lavender Scare was on TBN. >> we talked about it at home. >> Is about the systematic purging of gays and lesbians in the federal government in the 40s and 50s. I'm curious about the STEM scholars, if one of the reluctances that they may have for not wanting to come out is fear about getting funded. I'm curious to know whether you in your career ever had that fear and if you could give us some idea of what using the situation is now with regards to whether the you think that sort of thing still happens or could happen. >>So I have to say that my biggest concerns and coming out at work -- I came out everywhere simultaneously -- were issues around interactions with my colleagues, my Chair, students in my group. I ran programs. I came out in the middle of all the gay marriage amendment and students have opinions and not everybody's opinion was positive or supportive and I was really worried about those kinds of dynamic. I never thought a moment about funding and that's because at that point I had the privilege of coming out at a time when I had a pretty big grant portfolio and have established a successful science career and never reflected on that element of coming out. --- I had some experiences and looking for jobs, coming here and since then, when I felt that it was not an advantage of coming up at I also thought it was great to know that in advanced. LGBT students in my thinking about funding but thinking about I can't ever tell anybody. It's exhausting, you want to tell an honest answer and you are changing pronouns or hiding, I don't think they are thinking about money. You may know the research better than me, but the research and changing names on grant applications to look at unconscious biases is happening now, and some of the initial results released did not look at sexual orientation and I'm not sure it would be high the relevant but what I can say is that my friends who do a lot of LGBT research say there is a lot of bias. It's an amazing thing, that we have the STM office. When I read that, my jaw dropped, you've got to be kidding and the election happened and I thought that will stop. we will learn more about biases against LGBT research but I don't think that's why people are leaving science. I really think more scientists have to stand up as LGBT people and science. I don't know how to make that happen. It does not come up in casual conversation unless you wanted it to. >> Thanks for making me cry, Sharon. >> Sorry. >> I have a question for you as a senior leader at NIH. One of the things that gets in the way of people being more authentic and creating these types of cultures is the fear of making a mistake. Is there particular thing that you can share, or a particular perspective that you have about that? That can help us take back to our workplaces and keep in mind when we have those moments, when we can really say something useful even if it is small. >> Yeah, I wish I had a lot of great answers to that. It makes me go back to yesterday, I lectured on wellness to our summer interns because Michael Sheridan unexpected but could not do it. Not a lecture I would normally do. A student came up to me and said you said and fill in the blanks, it doesn't matter, there was a lot of energy behind it and I cannot remember what I said but when we came back from break, I said it is possible I said something unclear that was hurtful and I apologize. I talk to students -- I grew up in a community who were every family -- I make assumptions, people live with the grandparents, their aunts, the two ladies down the street and I still have this tick. I have students who go by the pronoun "they," and get it wrong. I'm sorry. we all need to be willing to say I'm sorry and the flipside is to be willing to hear "I'm sorry." At the credit union I had this lovely loan officer and she kept saying we are talking about our refinancing and she said you will need your husband to come in. I said, I don't have a husband, I haver a wife. she looked surprised but we were okay and then she said husband again, and I said no! Wife. I wasn't very kind. I did not have a full meltdown but she was an immigrant, she had not met a lot of gay people before and was doing the best she couldn't get a verbal tick. I apologized and she apologized. And a year later she called me and said my daughter wants to come to this high school program and how can we work it out but at first I wasn't open to hearing "I'm sorry." My frontal lobe was gone in my amygdala was saying another homophobic fill in the blank. We have to learn to hear I'm sorry in the genuine way; seems like you learn that in kindergarten but I feel I'm learning this everyday and we are all really sensitive and that's one thing. The thing that made the biggest difference for me and the recent I was finally willing to look at my family history was Michael Sheridan's diversity course. unfortunately this year she's not offering it but I do think that as a community, NIH needs to wrestle with a way; it's a chanc eto sit with someone and say something wrong and learn why it was hurtful. It's a chance to understand history or sit with your own biases and ask where they came from because once we identify where they came from we can do something about it so I would say those two things, and somehow we need it at NIH, particulary at OD, we need much more social interaction because when you meet people that like people and you hear about their families, and thank you for the cookies. Deb and I had a great come decision last week about food, diet, health. We need that. We learn. We are all similar and have some story that has some barbs in it and we're all doing the best we can and doing the best we can in a culture that is sometimes pushing us to do less well. >> I had a quesiton Sharon. Thank you so much for telling your story. During your storytelling you are referencing all of the trainees that you work with who may have a difficult time being who they are and sharing that with the world. And you contextualized into the science committee and am wondering if you think it is more difficult to be LGBT plus in the scientific committee versus the administrative committee? if your answer is yes that it is more difficult in the science, what is it that makes it more difficult? >> I would not say that it is more difficult. I don't know why I say that. But my sense at NIH is that it is a hard place to be out, and I can't figure out why. I know lots of people I see at Pride and people that I know who are members of the community and are not out here at NIH, some of it is history. NIH was not always looking in place and there is one unique thing in terms of science and the LGBT community and I have great respect for NIAID and Dr. -- but at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic the NIH did not behave well, there was not a whole lot of compassion for the men who were dying or figure out what was going on and I think there is a tainted relationship. that may impact the feeling here on campus; I was struck and disheartened by the data on LGBT youth and science. The data on the students of color and science and the data on black men breaks my heart. Infinite potential in each and every person and don't message that you can succeed and I really think that some of it is that more students need to seek scientists. I've been invited for three years to the high school of science and math and finally went and did a talk and I was besieged by gay kids. I was mobbed. would you like my autograph? if you ever want to feel good, go see a bunch of high school kids desperate for a role model and they all said nobody sat on stage who made me feel proud. I feel scared all the time, it's hard to study when you're scared. It is a pretty disheartening piece of data. --- I'll say two things about NIH. When I wanted to start the LGBT fellows and friends group there was a lot of debate about whether or not that was a smart thing and I valued the NIH leadership who said go ahead. We were worried about what the response would be in the second thing was ironically -- Collins was doing a summer lecture on the day the Supreme Court announced a decision that -- was unconstitutional. I didn't have my phone out but I wanted to take pictures of kids talking to Frances and then it came up, Supreme Court ruled 5-4 gay marriage was legal across America. Wow! I will never forget his kindness at that moment. He was the NIH director one moment and the next he said Sharon I'm so happy. What could be a really welcoming immunity and be responsible physicians and scientists and healthcare workers. We have the potential to do it here and we need to keep telling kids please come here. Thank you that is a really good question. >> We just wanted to thank you, EDI, and the engaging community and thank you for being a game changer. --- [applause] >> -- will introduce our change agent nominees/ awardees. >> So as Bali said, we're to the part where we get to honor and introduce the folks who are change agents and I want to start off by providing you the definition of what a change agent is. The word "change" means to make a become different and agent means a person acting on behalf of another. a change agent is a person acting as catalyst for change and these are folks who are doing small things that have significant impact. They are cultivators planting seeds in our lives and sometimes we know about it and sometimes we don't realize it; their presence molds and nurtures us, and give shape to the environment in which we work and they are fueled by their own passion to contribute and as a result the inside passion in other folks. They are the risk takers and visionaries who see possibilities when the rest of us see obstacles; these are the folks, the catalysts that make the game changing in an organization happen in the first of the folks that we will honor in this category is Tricia Coffee. --- [applause] So Tricia, now you get to stand here and be appreciated, turn around and be appreciated. Trisha is the chief of hospital information management here in the clinical Center at NIH; she's a change agent specifically for the STM community in her work for creating a more inclusive and diverse patient experience including both clinical and nonclinical staff training and this includes a lot of work on creating non-gender conforming demographics in a clinical research information system and if you have ever done any change in the system at NIH that's a big, fricking deal. We honor you. --- [applause] >> Now, the Second change agent that I'm going to be speaking about as Doctor Christopher Welden (sounds like). Christopher's specific and division, here is the cancer prevention fellow at NIH and has a cure devotion for understanding the unique health related issues in SGM communities and shows a lot of compassion about increasing the quality of life and health outcomes in these populations and that includes using his research plan from to raise awareness about the shared and unique experiences in healthcare delivery which is a big piece of what the SGM communities face. And also looking at how to make sure that his work -- He's had lots of publication and lots of work -- But making sure the effort is not end just in publication and research, but to ensure that the studies he leads become interventions and will have a direct impact on SGM populations, so we thank Christopher in his absence for being a chain change agent. --- [applause] >> I'm -- on the -- minorities committee. like you have the pleasure of honoring Doctor Karen Barker, director of the social minorities -- here at NIH, and a change agent due to the vast intubation in support supervised the community. Doctor Parker is strengthening the community of researchers and scholars who conduct research relevant to SGM health, as well as the well-being of the community members shows a goes around and provides trainings for the community and opportunities. And in addition to that, some of the awesome things she has done during her time here is to expand the knowledge and removing barriers towards greater progress and support the community of scholars. And to evaluate the progress of the SGM RO, the office which manages towards these goals so please join me in honoring Doctor Parker. --- [applause] --- [applause] >> Next, we are going to honor Gabi Zavala Aleman, in the office of training and education. As a change agent for sexual change minorities, advocating repetition among the community and for her mentorship. Gabi has worked in lesbian, sexual, gay transgender and queer -- for professional development here at NIH. this is one example of her efforts to improve the experience of the LGBT students and trainees here at NIH. please join me in honoring her. --- [applause] --- [applause] >> Thank you. >> >> Hello, I'm Shauna Clark (sounds like) from the office of education and part of the SGM coordinating committee and the Pride planning committee and I'm going to tell you about Doctor Vivian -- a change agenda for the sexual and gender minority community mainly for her research and expertise in race, sex and gender issues and a pleasure epertise along with her experience and science policy and research at the deputy director of the office of data sharing at NCI. in this capacity she has been as possible for ensuring data access and ensuring compliance with policy and laws and crew (correction) protection. Please join me in honoring Doctor Vivian --. --- [applause] --- [applause] >> And next we will like to honor Dr. Victoria Cargil (sounds like) she's no longer at NIH. About two weeks ago she left to take a position at the altar more city health department so she is really doing good work there as well. She was formerly the associate director for the interdisciplinary research in the office of research on women's health. So although she is not here we will say this award for her so help me to honor Doctor Cargil. --- [applause] >> Next, we will bring up Danielle Dickerson (sounds like) the director of diversity and inclusion at the office of equity diversity and inclusion and he will give us closing remarks. --- [applause] >> Good afternoon. Can we just go ahead and start by giving our wonderful speaker a handclap? --- [applause] I heard her teach and talk at several different venues and it is always amazing when you trust anyone to tell your story, and to allow you to look inside their life and the challenges that they go through. I think that it is tremendous on her part the trust is enough to allow us to have a close look at her personal life and are challenges and issues and she left us knowing that it's always about a celebration and that is a great way to live And to take pride in who we are and I'd like to celebrate our award winners and could we give them one more hand? --- [applause] >> Ms. Debora -- who not only allows for lives the life to make sure that everyone who comes to NIH can bring their own self to work, our motto is EDI, 355 days a (correction) 365 days a year. Want to make sure that everyone who comes to NIH at the opportunity to feel accepted and be who they are everyday and I do want to stop and recognize the wonderful committee that has put all of this together and their luscious (correction) illustrious leader, Ms. Ally White. --- [applause] >> She lets me call her Bali in the office because she knows him country and I'm country 365 days a year. I have the opportunity to sit across her and Bali celebrates life. The are times when she has told me hard and touching stories about her life but hey, it's life and she says we have to keep going. Bali, on behalf of EDI, look forward to do great things coming your way so can we give her one more round of applause? --- [applause] She does invite me to have -- she does not invite me to have coffee every morning so I wanted to embarrass her the next week she will invite me in mentioning of that there is coffee and cookies a type and take pride of who you are 365 days a year and thank you very much. and we look forward to seeing you again.