>> WELCOME TO THE OPEN SESSION OF THE NIDCD ADVISORY COUNCIL. FIRST ORDER TO BUSINESS TO CONSIDER THE MINUTES FROM THE LAST COUNCIL MEETING MAY 29 OF THIS YEAR, POSTED ON THE NDCD ADVISORY COUNCIL WEBSITE. I WANTED TO ASK IF THERE ARE CORRECTIONS TO TO THE MINUTES. HEARING NONE, A MOTION THEY BE APPROVED AS WRITTEN? >> I SO MOVE. >> THANK YOU. A COPY OF THE MAY MEETING MINUTES IS LISTED IN THE OPEN SESSION BOOKMARKS FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO REVIEW. SO THEY WILL BE ACCEPTED AS WRITTEN. THE SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS IS CONFIRMATION OF DATES FOR FUTURE COUNCIL MEETINGS, DATES THROUGH 2022 HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED AND ARE LISTED IN THE WORKBOOKS. PLEASE ADD THESE FUTURE DATES TO YOUR CALENDARS AND LET US KNOW IF YOU FORESEE ANY ISSUES. THE NEXT MEETING OF THE COUNCIL IS SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2021, AND WE NOW KNOW THAT THAT MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE AS A VIRTUAL MEETING, LIKELY HOLD IT AS THIS ONE OVER TWO PARTIAL DAYS. AND ONCE WE HAVE ESTABLISHED WHAT THOSE HOURS ARE, WE WILL POST THE SCHEDULE. AGAIN, A LIST OF MEETING DATES IS LISTED IN THE OPEN SESSION BOOKMARKS. SO NOW IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AND INTRODUCE OUR NEW MEMBERS. FIRST, DR. NIRUPA CHAUDHARI, PROFESSOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOPHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, SCHOOL OF MEDICINE. RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE STUDYING HOW SENSORY CELLS FUNCTION AND REGENERATE, BY PROFILING GENE EXPRESSION AND DIFFERENT CELL TYPES, TO UNDERSTAND HOW TASTE BUDS FUNCTION, TURN OVER, AND DIFFERENTIATE. SHE'S BEEN CONTINUOUSLY FUNDED BY NIH, A MEMBER OF SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE AND OTHER PROFESSIONALS ORGANIZATIONS, SERVED ON EDITORIAL BOARDS, REVIEWER OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS, INCLUDING CHEMICAL SENSES, AND JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE. DR. CHAUDHARI IS WIDE WIDELY PUBLISHED AND INVITED FOR LECTURES, GRANT REVIEWERS, WAS A A MEMBER OF THE NIDCD AND CDRC, RECEIVED HER DOCTORAL DEGREE FROM UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, EXCUSE ME, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY. WELCOME, DR. CHAUDHARI. NEXT I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE DR. CAROL ESPY-WILSON, PROFESSOR IN DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, INSTITUTE FOR SYSTEMS RESEARCH AT UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. EXPERTISE INCLUDES SPEECH COMMUNICATION, COMBINES KNOWLEDGE OF DIGITAL, SIGNAL PROCESSING, SPEECH SCIENCE, LINGUISTICS, ACOUSTIC PHONETICS, RESEARCH IN SPEECH AND SPEAKER RECOGNITION, SPEECH PRODUCTION, SPEECH ENHANCEMENT, SINGLE CHANNEL SPEECH SEGREGATION. HER COMPANY OMNI SPEECH TRANSLATED RESEARCH WITH NOISE SUPPRESSION TO TECHNOLOGY THAT IMPROVES SPEECH ENABLED TECHNOLOGY IN ANY DEVICE, APP OR PLATFORM. SHE HAS AUTHORED OR CO-AUTHORED NUMEROUS PAPERS. , ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL OF ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, RECEIVED MANY HONORS AND AWARDS INCLUDING FELLOW OF INTERNATIONAL SPEECH COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION IN 2018, DR. ESPY-WILSON RECEIVED DOCTORAL DEGREE IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING FROM M.I.T. WELCOME, DR. ESPY-WILSON. DR. ARGYE HILLIS IS PROFESSOR IN DEPARTMENT OF NEUROLOGY, JOINT FACULTY APPOINTMENT IN PHYSICAL MEDICINE AND REHABILITATION, AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE, AT JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE IMPROVING UNDERSTANDING OF HOW LANGUAGE AND OTHER COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS ARE REPRESENTED AND CARRIED OUT IN THE BRAIN, HOW THEY RECOVER AFTER INJURY, AND HOW UNDERSTANDING THESE PROCESSES CAN CONTRIBUTE TO EVALUATION AND TREATMENT OF STROKE AND DEMENTIA. SHE'S ALSO INTERESTED IN TREATMENT STUDIES AND LONGITUDINAL IMAGING AND LANGUAGE STUDIES, PRIMARY PROGRESSIVE APHASIA, HAS BEEN CONTINUOUSLY FUNDED BY NIH. SHE IS A MEMBER OF THE MANY PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, SUCH AS AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN STROKE ASSOCIATION, AS A FELLOW, DR. HILLIS HAS EDITORIAL ACTIVITY ACTIVITIES INCLUDING ASSOCIATE ACTIVITY FOR STROKE AND APHASIOLOGY, ON THE BOARD FOR INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STROKE, PUBLISHED IN JOURNALS AND TEXT BOOKS, DR. HILLIS HAS BEEN ACTIVE MEMBER FOR GRANT REVIEWS FOR NIH, RECEIVED DOCTORAL DEGREE FROM JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. WELCOME, DR. HILLIS. MISS LYNN MURPHY BREEN, SENIOR UNDERWRITING AND AGENCY COUNCIL, CHICAGO TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY, COMMONWEALTH LAND TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY, FIDELITY NATIONAL FINANCIAL. PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS ARE IN THE AREAS OF TITLE INSURANCE, TECHNOLOGY, TRANSACTION SERVICES, TO THE REAL ESTATE AND MORTGAGE INDUSTRIES. SHE IS A LECTURER FOR MASSACHUSETTS CONTINUE LEGAL EDUCATION, AND PUBLISHED ARTICLES RELATED TO LEGAL EDUCATION, A MEMBER OF THE USHER SYNDROME COALITION, USHER SYNDROME SOCIETY. SHE RECEIVED HER BACHELOR DEGREE IN POLITICAL SCIENCE FROM UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, JURIS DOCTOR FROM JOHN MARSHAL LAW SCHOOL. WELCOME AND THANK YOU ALL FOR AGREEING TO JOIN OUR COUNCIL. SORRY WE DON'T GET TO CLAP VIRTUALLY. SO I WANTED TO GIVE YOU SEVERAL UPDATES NOW, FIRST ON OUR SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR SEARCH. AND AS YOU KNOW, DR. ANNIE GRIFFITH DEPARTED JUNE 1, AND WE BEGAN JUST AT THAT TIME THE SEARCH FOR A NEW SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR. DR. DAN KASTNER, GENOME INSTITUTE, CHAIR OF THE SEARCH COMMITTEE. SEARCH IS GOING ALONG VERY NICELY. APPLICATION PERIOD WAS CLOSED AT THE END OF JULY. THE SEARCH COMMITTEE OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS HAS BEEN REVIEWING THE CANDIDATES AND WILL BE INTERVIEWING THEM DURING PRELIMINARY INTERVIEWS, I BELIEVE MOSTLY THIS MONTH, AND WE HOPE GIVEN THAT THE PROCESS IS GOING VERY WELL THAT SOMEBODY WILL BE NAMED PERHAPS BY THE END OF THE YEAR. SO I HOPE I'LL BE ABLE TO UPDATE YOU WHEN WE MEET IN JANUARY. OUR NEXT BIG SEARCH IS FOR A CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, SO THAT SEARCH HAS BEEN COMPLETED. A CANDIDATE HAS BEEN SELECTED. AND HAS RECEIVED OUR WRITTEN OFFER, JUST VERY RECENTLY. HE HAS VERBALLY ACCEPTED. HE HAS SOME PAST GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE BUT IS CURRENTLY WORKING AS A HIGH LEVEL OFFICIAL FOR A LARGE COMPANY, AND SO AS A COURTESY TO HIM WE'RE NOT GOING TO ANNOUNCE ANYTHING UNTIL HE'S BEEN ABLE TO NOTIFY HIS CURRENT EMPLOYER, WE ARE EXPECTING THAT I'LL CERTAINTY LET YOU KNOW MORE AT OUR JANUARY MEETING. HE WILL BRING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE THAT FITS OUR NEEDS AS WE WORK TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT NEW STRATEGIC PLAN, AND TO WORK ON OUR I.T. NEEDS AND EVER PRESENT ISSUES WITH CYBER SECURITY SO WE PLEASED WITH HOW THE SEARCHES ARE GOING. I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE -- ONE MORE COMMENT, A RESPONSE TO THE VERY VALUABLE CONVERSATION WE HELD IN THE MAY MEETING ON THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19, ON EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY. MANY OF THOSE IDEAS WERE EXTREMELY HELPFUL, AND WE WILL GIVE AN UPDATE ON HOW THE NIH AND NIDCD IN PARTICULAR HAS RESPONDED TO THIS CHALLENGE, AND BOTH DR. JORDAN AND DR. COOPER WILL BE SHARING MORE INFORMATION ON THAT SPECIFIC TOPIC TOMORROW. SO NOW I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE MR. DEREK WILLIAMS TO REVIEW THE NIDCD BUDGET REPORT WITH YOU. >> GOOD AFTERNOON, EVERYBODY. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. THIS IS A SIDE BY SIDE VIEW OF OUR OPERATING PLAN FROM FY19-FY20. THE YEAR 20 PLAN YOU SEE IS WHAT WE HAD PRESENTED TO CONGRESS AT THE END OF THE THIRD QUARTER. IT HAS SINCE BEEN UPDATED SLIGHTLY BUT I'LL JUST GO FROM TOP TO BOTTOM. WE HAD A SIZEABLE INCREASE FROM FY19-FY20, AS YOU CAN SEE A LOT WENT TOWARDS SUPPORTING NON-COMPETING SO THOSE ARE COMPETING GRANTS THAT WE HAD AWARDED LAST YEAR AND YEARS BEFORE. AND IN YEARS WHERE WE HAVE SIGNIFICANT GROWTH WE TEND TO AWARD MORE GRANTS AND THEN WE CARRY A NON-COMPETING BASE IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS. YOU'LL SEE A BIG INCREASE IN ADMIN SUPPLEMENTS, WHAT THOSE REALLY ARE ARE COVID-RELATED SUPPLEMENTS WE SOLICITED FOR AND WE AWARDED NUMEROUS COVID-RELATED SUPPLEMENTS WORTH SEVERAL MILLION DOLLARS. COMPETING NUMBER DID GO DOWN AS A RESULT OF SUPPORTING COVID. SUPPLEMENTS AND CARRYING SUCH A LARGE NON-COMPETING BASE. IF YOU LOOK AT SBIR/STTR, YOU'LL SEE THAT EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SPENDING MORE, THE COUNT IS DOWN. AND THAT'S REALLY BECAUSE IT'S BEEN HARD THIS YEAR IN PARTICULAR TO FIND SUITABLE SBIR/STTR GRANTS, EXPENSIVE COMPARED TO THE NORM. WE STAYED STEADY WITH RESEARCH CENTERS, AND OTHER RESEARCH, BUT GETTING DOWN TO INDIVIDUAL AND INSTITUTIONAL TRAINING THOSE NUMBERS WENT UP, THAT WAS A CONCERTED EFFORT BY THE INSTITUTE TO INCREASE EXPENDITURES IN TRAINING, AND THESE NUMBERS ARE INCREASED DESPITE THE FACT WITH COVID, WE HAD A NUMBER OF STUDENTS ACTUALLY DROP OUT, SO HIGHER HAD WE NOT HAD COVID IMPACT INTO OUR TRAINING NUMBERS. R&D SAW GROWTH THIS YEAR PARTIALLY DUE TO INCREASE IN THE LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM WHERE WE NEARLY DOUBLED THE AMOUNT OF EXPENDITURES WE SAW THERE. BY THE END OF THE YEAR YOU'LL SEE A LITTLE BIT MORE OF AN INCREASE IN THIS ACCOUNT, SIMPLY BECAUSE WE AS A RESULT OF COVID DELAYS HAVE HAD TO PUT MORE MONEY INTO SUPPORTING SOME OF THESE CONTRACTS, AND IT'S JUST THE WAY IT WORKED OUT. YOU'LL SEE DECREASE IN THE NUMBERS HERE FOR INTRAMURAL AND FOR RESEARCH MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT. AND THOSE ARE PRIMARILY COVID RELATED DROPS IN TRAINING, A LITTLE BIT MORE DIFFICULTY HIRING, AND SO THERE'S SOME SALARY SAVINGS THERE AS WELL. AS GENERAL OFFICE SUPPLIES, NOT NEEDING TO PURCHASE NEARLY AS MUCH. SO, IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS FROM ANYBODY ON OUR OPERATING PLAN? OKAY. WE CAN GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE. JUST AN OUTLOOK INTO THE FISCAL YEAR 21 BUDGET, BEING AN ELECTION YEAR, NO SURPRISE THAT WE INTEND TO START THE YEAR ON A CONTINUING RESOLUTION. THAT BEING SAID, WE HAVE GOTTEN SOME PRELIMINARY LOOKS AT BUDGET PROPOSALS, BEING DRAFTED BY THE HOUSE, THE SENATE, AND THE PRESIDENT, AND ALL OF THEM SHOW SIGNIFICANT INCREASES TO THE NIH OVERALL BUDGET, SOME OF THOSE LARGE INCREASES ARE TARGETED SPECIFICALLY TO COVID-RELATED RESEARCH. AND SOME OF THEM ARE ALSO PROVIDED ACROSS THE BOARD TO ALL THE INSTITUTES. BASED ON JUST THESE PRELIMINARY LOOKS AT DRAFT BUDGETS, I ANTICIPATE THAT NIDCD SHOULD SEE A BUDGET INCREASE OF PROBABLY ABOUT 5% OR BETTER. ALTHOUGH ANY OF THAT COULD CHANGE AS A RESULT OF THE ELECTION, AND THE WAY OTHER THINGS PLAY OUT WITH COVID, BUT JUST PRELIMINARILY THAT'S WHAT WE'RE SEEING. SO IF THERE AREN'T QUESTIONS ON BUDGET I'LL HAND IT BACK OVER TO DR. TUCCI. >> ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? THANK YOU VERY MUCH, ERIC. ALL RIGHT. WE WILL MOVE ALONG TO DISCUSS THE STRATEGIC PLAN, I WANTED TO GIVE YOU AN UPDATE ABOUT THAT. GINGER, DO YOU WANT TO SHOW THE NEXT SLIDE. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. SO, AS YOU ALL KNOW, WE'RE BEGINNING A NEW STRATEGIC PLAN THAT WILL COVER THE YEARS 2022 TO 2026. AND WE ENVISION THE STRATEGIC PLAN TO BE MORE THAN A SIMPLE CURSORY UPDATE OF THE LAST STRATEGIC PLAN. SO WE'RE PLANNING A FAIRLY ROBUST PROCESS, AS YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SEE WHEN I SHOW THE NEXT SLIDE IN A MINUTE. SO, THE GOALS OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN EXTENDING FROM NOW THROUGH THE END OF THE PROCESS IS TO FIRST DO A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF OUR OWN PORTFOLIO, SO WE HAVE AN IDEA OF WHERE WE'VE BEEN IN THE PAST AND WHERE WE ARE NOW. AND LARA COLE WILL GIVE AN UPDATE ON THAT IN A MOMENT. NEXT WE WANT TO ASSESS THE CURRENT NEEDS IN THE FIELD, ESPECIALLY THE PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT OF DISEASES AND DISORDERS IN OUR MISSION AREAS, THIS HAS TURNED OUT TO BE A FAIRLY CHALLENGING PROCESS. WE'RE INVOLVING A LOT OF EXPERTISE, INCLUDING EPIDEMIOLOGY FROM KATHY BAINBRIDGE, AND OTHERS IN OUR PROGRAM, TO TRY AND FIGURE OUT REALLY WHAT ARE ACCURATE ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT OF SOME OF THESE DISORDERS FOR WHICH WE DON'T ALWAYS HAVE GOOD DATA. WE WANT TO LOOK AT THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT MIGHT BE AFFORDED BY SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES, PARTICULARLY IN OTHER AREAS OF SCIENCE THAT BORDER A BIT WITH OURS. AND SEE WHAT FIELDS MIGHT HAVE ADVANCES THAT WILL APPLY TO OUR OWN SCIENCE. THEN USING ALL OF THIS INFORMATION, BRING FORTH SOME WELL-REASONED AND ASPIRATIONAL GOALS FOR OUR INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE. WE WANT TO ASK WHAT'S POSSIBLE AND WITH A WOULD REALLY MOVE OUR FIELD FORWARD. SO THIS IS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT APPROACH THAN WE'VE TAKEN TO THE STRATEGIC PLAN IN THE PAST, IN ADDITION TO THIS WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO MEASURE AND DR. COLE MIGHT TALK ABOUT THIS A LITTLE BIT, MEASURE THE IMPACT THEN HOW WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO FOLLOW UP ON OUR GOALS THAT ARE SET IN THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS INTO THE FUTURE. THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE'LL STOP FUNDING IMPORTANT FOUNDATIONAL WORK WE DO VERY WELL, HAVE BEEN DOING FOR A LONG TIME. BUT WE BELIEVE THAT THE STRATEGIC PLAN SHOULD IN FACT BE STRATEGIC AND NOT SIMPLY A LISTING LISTING OF ALL RESEARCH TOP TOPICS IN OUR MISSION AREAS. THIS WILL BE AN EXCITING PROCESS, IN THE NEXT SLIDE WE'LL SHOW YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE TIMELINE. SO BECAUSE OF COVID WE'VE HAD TO DELAY THE TIMING OF THIS A LITTLE BIT, SO THE PHASE WE'RE IN NOW IS TO ESTABLISH THE VISION AND DETERMINE HOW THE STRATEGIC PLAN WILL BE IMPLEMENTED, WE HAVE AN INTERNAL STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKING GROUP, THAT MEETS ON A REGULAR BASIS. WE WILL INVITE A MEMBER OF COUNCIL TO SERVE AS LIAISON FOR THAT GROUP. AND THAT PERSON WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO UPDATE THE COUNCIL IN THE FUTURE, AND INTERACT WITH US VERY CLOSELY IN THE DEVELOPMENTOF THE STRATEGIC PLAN. WE'LL HAVE A VIRTUAL KICKOFF MEETING, THE FALL WAS DELAYED, WE'LL DO A VIRTUAL KICKOFF MEETING IN MARCH 2021, USE IDEAS GLEANED IN THAT MEETING TO HELP TO POPULATE PLANS FOR IN-PERSON IDEA GENERATION MEETING, HOPEFULLY ABOUT A YEAR FROM NOW. SO THESE ARE OPPORTUNITIES TO HELP TO ADVANCE AND THEN REFINE WHAT WE HOPE WILL BE SOME VERY AMBITIOUS GOALS GOING FORWARD. THESE IDEAS WILL BE REFINED, A DRAFT OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN WILL BE PRESENTED TO THIS GROUP FOR COMMENT IN JANUARY 2022. AND THEN IT WILL BE FINALIZED HOPEFULLY BY MAY OF 2022. SO THAT IS THE CURRENT PLAN. AND AT THIS POINT I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE DR. LAURA COLE, YOU MAY RECALL FROM THE JANUARY MEETING THAT MOST OF YOU ATTENDED THAT DR. COLE AND MR. BUCK WANG GAVE AN OVERVIEW OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS. NOW I WELCOME DR. COLE BACK. THEY HAVE BEEN WORKING HARD TO DO THE PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS AND SHE WILL BE TALKING TO US NOW. WELCOME, LAURA. >> THANK YOU. CAN YOU HEAR ME ALL RIGHT? >> YES. >> OKAY. GOOD AFTERNOON. THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK TO YOU AGAIN ABOUT THE STRATEGIC PLAN. I'M LAURA COLE. AS DR. TUCCI SAID, I LAST SPOKE TO YOU IN JANUARY BEFORE COVID, THE COVID PANDEMIC CHANGEED OUR PROPOSED TIMELINE. I'M HERE TODAY TO UPDATE YOU ABOUT THE PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS, THE PUBLIC COMMENTS WE RECEIVED FOR THE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION, AND SOME OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT DATA THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE USING AS STARTING MATERIALS AS WE DEVELOP THE NEXT STRATEGIC PLAN. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. SO WHY ARE WE COLLECTING THIS DATA? WE VALUE THE IDEA THAT IT'S HARD TO KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU STARTED. WE'RE GOING TO USE THIS DATA TO HELP GUIDE OUR DECISION-MAKING. IT'S GOING TO HELP US DETERMINE WHETHER WE MADE PROGRESS TOWARDS PRIORITIES IN OUR CURRENT STRATEGIC PLANS, IT WILL HELP US IDENTIFY GAPS AND AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY IN OUR CURRENT PORTFOLIO, AND WE PLAN TO SHARE THIS DATA AT THE KICKOFF MEETING IN MARCH TO HELP INFORM THE IDEAS THAT ARE GENERATED FOR OUR NEXT STRATEGIC PLAN. NOW I WANT TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS. THANK YOU, GINGER. THE STRATEGIC PLAN, WE LOOKED AT ALL OF THE EXTRAMURAL, THE INTRAMURAL, AND CONTRACT AWARDS. AND WE PUT A CODE ON THEM TO TELL US WHETHER THEY WERE RESPONSIVE TO PRIORITIES THAT WE'VE IDENTIFIED IF OUR STRATEGIC PLAN. WE ALSO PUT CODES IF THEY WERE RESPONSIVE TO OBJECTIVES. WE'RE GOING TO USE DATA FROM THIS CODING PROCESS TO SHOW US HOW OUR PROGRAM AREAS MATCH UP WITH CURRENT STRATEGIC PLAN PRIORITY AREAS AND OBJECTS IVES. ITEMS CODED FOR AREA 1 RELATED TO UNDERSTANDING MECHANISMS OF NORMAL FUNCTION OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS. PRIORITY AREA 2, UNDERSTANDING MECHANISMS OF DISEASES THAT IMPAIR COMMUNICATION AND HEALTH. PRIORITY AREA 3, WORKING TO IMPROVE DIAGNOSIS, PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS. FINALLY PRIORITY AREA 4, IDENTIFY THINGS INVOLVED WITH TRANSLATION OF RESEARCH, DISCOVERIES INTO PRACTICE, TRYING TO INCREASE ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE AND ENHANCE DELIVERY, QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF CARE. NOW WE CAN LOOK AT SUMMARY AREAS IN THE TIME OF THE CURRENT STRATEGIC PLAN. NEXT SLIDE. THANK YOU. SO, WE'RE LOOKING NOW AT A VISUAL OF FOUR PRIORITY AREAS IN HEARING AND BALANCE PORTFOLIO, OUR LARGEST PORTFOLIO, EACH BAR ON THE GRAPH REPRESENTS A DIFFERENT FISCAL YEAR. AND THE NUMBER AT THE END OF THE BAR TELLS US HOW MANY PROJECTS FELL INTO THAT PRIORITY AREA FOR A PARTICULAR FISCAL YEAR. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU LOOK AT THE LIGHTER BLUE BAR FOR 2017, YOU CAN SEE THAT 404 PROJECTS WERE CODED AT PRIORITY AREA 1 FOR THAT FISCAL YEAR. SO, OVERALL, WITHIN THE HEARING AND BALANCE PROGRAM YOU CAN SEE THAT PRIORITY AREA 1 HAS THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PROJECTS, WITH EACH PRIORITY AREA HAVING SUCCESSFULLY -- SUCCESSIVELY SMALLER PORTFOLIO. AND WE LOOKED AT THESE SAME FOUR PRIORITY AREAS DURING OUR PREVIOUS STRATEGIC PLAN AS WELL, AND WE SAW THE SAME PATTERN FOR THAT STRATEGIC PLAN. THAT'S HEARING AND BALANCE. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. NOW WE'RE GOING TO LOOK AT TASTE AND SMELL. SO, THIS IS THE SAME ARRANGEMENT FOR OUR TASTE AND SMELL PORTFOLIO, WHICH IS OUR SMALLEST PORTFOLIO. AGAIN, YOU CAN SEE THAT PRIORITY AREA 1 HAS THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PROJECTS WITH EACH PRIORITY AREA HAVING A SUCCESSIVELY SMALLER PORTFOLIO. PSOAS WITH HEARING AND BALANCE, WE LOOKED AT THESE PRIORITY AREAS IN THE PREVIOUS STRATEGIC PLAN AND WE SAW THE SAME PATTERN. AND FOR TASTE AND SMELL YOU CAN SEE FAIRLY CLEARLY GROWING PORTFOLIO OF FUNDED PROJECTS FOCUSED ON DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND PREVENTION, THAT'S PRIORITY AREA 3. AND PRIORITY AREA 4 ARE THOSE AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR THE TASTE AND SMELL PORTFOLIO. AND FINALLY THE NEXT SLIDE I WILL TALK ABOUT THE PRIORITY AREAS FOR VOICE, SPEECH AND LANGUAGE. THANK YOU. VOICE, SPEECH AND LANGUAGE PROGRAM IS OUR SECOND LARGEST PROGRAM, AFTER HEARING AND BALANCE. THIS TIME YOU MAY NOTICE THAT PRIORITY AREA 1 IS NOT THE MOST -- DOES NOT HAVE THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PROJECTS. THIS MIGHT BE DUE TO THE FACT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ACTUALLY SUPPORTS MOST PROJECTS FOCUSED ON NORMAL LANGUAGE. NIDCD SUPPORTS NORMAL VOICE AND SPEECH. AND SO THAT PROBABLY IS PART OF THE REASON FOR THAT PRIORITY AREA 1 DIFFERENCE FOR THIS PORTFOLIO. AND VOICE, SPEECH AND LANGUAGE YOU ALSO SEE PRIORITY AREA 3 IS SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN PRIORITY AREA 2. SO, THEY ARE WORKING ON TRANSLATION. WE LOOKED AT PRIORITY AREAS FOR VOICE, SPEECH AND LANGUAGE IN THE PREVIOUS STRATEGIC PLAN, YOU SAY THE SAME DISTRIBUTION FOR VOICE, SPEECH AND LANGUAGE. NOW I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE OBJECTIVES WITHIN OUR CURRENT STRATEGIC PLAN. WHEN WE STARTED LOOKING AT THE COVID DATA -- CODED DATA FOR OBJECTIVES, WE HAVE AN UNMANAGEABLE NUMBER OF OBJECTIVES TO TRACK. IF YOU LOOK AT EACH PROGRAM AREA, HAS FOUR PRIORITY AREAS UNDER IT AND THERE ARE MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES UNDER EACH. AND SOME OF THOSE PRIORITY AREAS HAVE UP TO 11 OBJECTIVES. WE HAVE TOO MANY OBJECTIVES, AS DR. TUCCI WAS SAYING IT'S NOT STRATEGIC TO HAVE TOO MANY THINGS LISTED IN YOUR STRATEGIC PLAN. WE'RE NOT REALLY ABLE TO FOCUS ON THAT MANY THINGS, AND IN ORDER TO BE TRULY STRATEGIC OUR NEW PLAN IS GOING TO NEED TO IDENTIFY A SMALLER NUMBER OF OBJECTIVES TO ACHIEVE AND REALLY FOCUS OUR EFFORTS ON THOSE. SO, THAT'S ONE OF OUR GOALS FOR THE NEW PLAN. HOWEVER, WE HAVE A LOT OF DATA ABOUT FUNDED PROJECTS AND OBJECTIVES, AND THE NEXT SLIDE I'M GOING TO TELL YOU WHAT WE HOPE TO DO WITH THAT. SO, IN ADDITION TO LEARNING OUR LESSON ABOUT TRYING TO NOT HAVE SO MANY OBJECTIVES, WE WANT TO USE ALL THIS DATA THAT WE HAVE. AND ONE THING WE ARE GOING TO DO IS LOOK AT THE OBJECTIVES THAT HAVE A REALLY STRONG PORTFOLIO. WE'RE GOING TO CALL THOSE A WIN. SO WHEN WE'RE STARTING TO LOOK AT NEW IDEAS FOR THE NEW STRATEGIC PLAN, IT'S NOT THAT WE'RE GOING TO STOP FUNDING THOSE AREAS. BUT WE WILL NOT NEED TO MAKE THOSE A PRIORITY. SO WE CAN USE THIS OBJECTIVE DATA TO HELP US UNDERSTAND WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE GOING REALLY STRONGLY IN OUR PORTFOLIO. AND THEN WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO IS FOCUS ON OBJECTIVES WHERE WE HAVE MINIMAL FUNDING OR NO FUNDING, AND WE'RE GOING TO ASK DO WE STILL THINK THOSE OBJECTIVES THAT WERE IDENTIFIED FOR THE CURRENT STRATEGIC PLAN, ARE THOSE STILL IMPORTANT, AND IF SO, THEN WE WANT TO CONSIDER USING THOSE IN THE NEW STRATEGIC PLAN, MAKING THOSE A PRIORITY OBJECTIVE FOR THE NEW STRATEGIC PLAN. SO THAT WAS OUR PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS. NOW I'M GOING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. AS WE WERE GETTING READY TO DEVELOP THIS STRATEGIC PLAN WE WANTED TO PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PUBLIC TO WEIGH IN. SO WE ISSUED REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. NEXT SLIDE, YOU'LL SEE THE FIVE QUESTIONS THAT WE ASKED. AND THE COMMENT PERIOD FOR THE RFI WAS JANUARY 28 TO MARCH 31. AND WE USED THE INPUT WE GOT TO THIS RFI TO HELP US UNDERSTAND WHAT THE PUBLIC SEES AS AREAS OF NEED. WHAT DO THEY FEEL IS LACKING? AND WHAT DO THEY WANT TO FOCUS ON? WE READ EACH COMMENT, THEY WERE CODED AND ANALYZED FOR TOPIC. NEXT SLIDE YOU'LL SEE THAT WE RECEIVED A TOTAL OF 383 COMMENTS. AND TWO COMMENTS WERE NOT RESPONSIVE, FOUR WERE DUPLICATES, THAT LEFT US WITH 377 RESPONSIVE COMMENTS THAT WE ANALYZED. AND YOU SEE ON THE SLIDE WHICH CATEGORIES WE DECIDED THEY WERE REFERRING TO. WE THINK WE GOT A REALLY GOOD RESPONSE RATE FOR THIS RFI BECAUSE PREVIOUS REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION WE GOT ONLY IN THE DOZENS OF COMMENTS. SO THIS IS A MUCH MORE ROBUST RESPONSE. IN GENERAL, MOST OF THE COMMENTS CAME FROM INDIVIDUALS, RATHER THAN GROUPS, AND THEY WERE SUPPORTIVE OF RESEARCH, IDENTIFIED AREAS WHERE INDIVIDUALS THOUGHT FUTURE RESEARCH SHOULD MOVE. AND WE RECEIVED MANY COMMENTS FROM OUR ADVOCACY COMMUNITY AS WELL. AND THE NUMBER OF RESPONSES THAT WE GOT MAKES US FEEL CONFIDENT THAT WE UNDERSTAND NOW THE NEEDS AND VALUES OF THOSE ADVOCACY COMMUNITIES BECAUSE OF THEIR RESPONSE TO THIS RFI. SO, NEXT I WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT WHAT DR. TUCCI WAS REFERRING TO, SOME OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH DATA THAT WE'RE USING TO INFORM THIS STRATEGIC PLAN. SO, WE'RE LOOKING AT THE NAMCS SURVEY, AND TRYING TO UNDERSTAND PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT OF CONDITIONS THAT FALL WITHIN NIDCD'S MISSION, MEASURING HEALTH CARE USE, THE DATA COLLECTED BY THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS, PART OF THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION. AND THIS IS A REPRESENTATIVE -- NATIONALLY REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF OUTPATIENT VISITS AND WHAT THOSE PHYSICIANS DIAGNOSED FOR THOSE VISITS. SO, YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF THE CODES THE PHYSICIAN USES, ICD-9, INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASE, SO WE'RE LOOKING AT NATIONAL REPRESENTATION OF OUTPATIENT VISITS FOR CONDITIONS IN OUR MISSION BASED ON ICD CODES. NEXT SLIDE YOU'LL SEE SOME OF OUR DATA, SO THIS DATA SHOWS US SOME OF COMMON REASONS INDIVIDUALS VISIT A DOCTOR CONDITIONS IN THE NIDCD MISSION, REPRESENTING THE TOTAL NUMBER OF VISITS FOR THESE CONDITIONS OVER A NINE-YEAR PERIOD. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE'VE USED NATIONAL HEALTH CARE SURVEY DATA ON MEDICAL CARE USE TO HELP INFORM OUR STRATEGIC PLAN. THE COLOR CODING IN THIS SLIDE, THE FIRST LISTED DIAGNOSIS IS IN BLUE, THAT'S THE PRIMARY DIAGNOSIS FOR THE OFFICE VISITS. THE DOCTORS CAN ALSO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL DIAGNOSES, IF THEY CHOOSE. QUITE A FEW OF THE CONDITIONS IN MISSION AREAS ARE ADDITIONAL DIAGNOSES, SHOWN IN ORANGE. ONE THING YOU CAN SEE RIGHT AWAY IS THAT THERE'S A LARGE RANGE IN THE NUMBER OF OFFICE VISITS FOR CONDITIONS IN OUR MISSION. WE HAD TO ARTIFICIALLY TRUNCATE THE DATA FOR ONE CONDITION TO EVEN FIT IT ON THIS SAME SLIDE WITH EVERYTHING ELSE. SO OVER THE 9 9 YEAR PERIOD, 10 MILLION WITH OTITIS MEDIA AS FIRST LISTED DIAGNOSIS. WE HAVE TO TRUNCATE OR WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SHOW YOU OTHER DATA ON THIS SLIDE. THAT'S BY FAR AND LARGE THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF OFFICE VISITS FOR CONDITIONS WITHIN OUR MISSION. YOU CAN COMPARE THAT TO ABOUT 250,000 OFFICE VISITS DOWN HERE WHERE PERFORATION OF THE TYMPANIC MEMBRANE. WE LOOKED AT A LONGER NUMBER OF CONDITIONS, SOME OF THEM DID NOT SHOW ANY DATA SO THERE WERE NO RESULTS REPORTED FOR OFFICE VISITS. BUT ON THE NEXT SLIDE, WE'VE PUT TOGETHER LIST OF THINGS THAT DID HAVE OFFICE VISITS, AND THIS HAS A VERY DIFFERENT SCALE FROM THE PREVIOUS SLIDE BECAUSE THESE ARE MUCH SMALLER NUMBERS. BUT WE WANTED TO LET YOU BE ABLE TO SEE THIS DATA. SO THIS SLIDE INCLUDES THE CONDITIONS WHERE THE DIAGNOSES WERE MUCH LESS FREQUENT AND AGAIN YOU SEE A LARGE RANGE, BUT -- AND ONCE AGAIN THE ANY LISTED DIAGNOSES ARE FREQUENT WITHIN OUR MISSION. THIS IS THE NAMCS DATA. NOW I'M GOING TO TALK ABOUT DISEASE FREQUENCY ESTIMATES FROM LITERATURE SURVEY, AND THIS IS THE FINAL DATA I'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU TODAY. THEN I'M HAPPY TO TAKE QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE THEM. THESE ARE DISEASE AND CONDITION FREQUENCY ESTIMATES TAKEN FROM A SURVEY OF PUBLISHED LITERATURE AND AGAIN THE DATA FOCUSES ON DISEASES AND CONDITIONS WITHIN THE NIDCD MISSION. SO, AS YOU SEE ON THIS SLIDE, THE ESTIMATE IS ORIENTED SO THE HIGHEST FREQUENCY CONDITIONS ARE AT THE TOP, LOWEST AT THE BOTTOM. EACH CONDITION I'D LIKE TO POINT OUT HAS ITS OWN AGE RANGE ASSOCIATED WITH IT ON THE SLIDE. AND THE FREQUENCIES ARE CALCULATED BY PERCENT. SO WHAT PERCENT OF THE U.S. POPULATION IN THAT AGE RANGE HAS THIS CONDITION. FOR EXAMPLE, LITERATURE SURVEY TELLS US THAT RECURRENT OTITIS MEDIA IS THE MOST FREQUENT CONDITION WITHIN OUR MISSION, 46% OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE U.S. LESS THAN 3 YEARS OLD HAD RECURRENT OTITIS MEDIA AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY. SO, THERE'S A LARGE RANGE IN PREVALENCE OF CONDITIONS ALSO WITHIN THE NIDCD MISSION. AND ONCE AGAIN, WE'VE BROKEN OUT ON THE NEXT SLIDE THE LITERATURE SURVEY OF CONDITIONS WITH VERY SMALL FREQUENCY ESTIMATES THAT WE ALSO THOUGHT WERE IMPORTANT TO SHARE WITH YOU BECAUSE AS WE HEARD EARLIER, SOME OF THE CONDITIONS WITHIN OUR MISSION EVEN THOUGH THEY DON'T HAPPEN TO A LOT OF PEOPLE, THEY REALLY COMPROMISE QUALITY OF LIFE, AND WHAT WE LEARNED BY STUDYING THOSE CAN HELP INFORM A LOT OF OTHER HEALTH CONDITIONS. THIS SLIDE, THE CONDITIONS ARE MUCH LESS FREQUENT. AND AGAIN EACH CONDITION IS REPORTED FOR DIFFERENT AGE GROUP. ON THIS SLIDE THE MOST FREQUENT CONDITION IS AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER, 2% FREQUENCY, 6 TO 17 YEAR RANGE OF AGE. LOWEST FREQUENCY IS NEUROFIBROMATOSIS TYPE 2, THIS IS GENETIC CONDITION IN WHICH TUMORS GROW ON THE NERVES RESPONSIBLE FOR HEARING AND BALANCE. AND THEN YOU'LL NOTICE HERE IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT-HAND CORNER, THESE ARE SOME ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS WHERE THE DATA WASN'T REPORTED AS A PERCENTAGE BUT WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE TO SHARE THEM WITH YOU BECAUSE THEY ARE ALSO VERY IMPORTANT CONDITIONS THAT IMPACT THE NIDCD MISSION. THOSE ARE THE DATA. I WANTED TO THANK EVERYONE WHO HELPED PULL THE TOGETHER, AS DR. TUCCI MENTIONED THIS HAS NOT BEEN A STRAIGHTFORWARD AND QUICK DATA TO GATHER. WE GOT HELP FROM THE CDC NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS, SPECIFIC PEOPLE WERE SUSAN, AMY AND CHRIS. AND THE NIDCD DIVISION OF SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM KATHY BAINBRIDGE ALSO PERFORMED THE LITERATURE SURVEY FOR US. FINALLY MY OWN BRANCH, SCIENCE POLICY AND PLANNING BRANCH, BUCK WONG HELPING TO STEER THE SHIP, KEEP US ALL MOVING FORWARD. ELKA, LISA KENNEDY, CODING FOR ANALYZING REQUEST FOR INFORMATION AND ALL OF THOSE PRIORITY AREAS AND OBJECTIVES THAT WERE CODED FOR THE PREVIOUS STRATEGIC PLAN, SHE'S THE ONE WHO CODED THE GRANTS FOR ALL OF THOSE. SO I WANT TO BE SURE TO THANK HER AS WELL. SO THANK YOU. AND I WILL TRY TO TAKE QUESTIONS, I'M PULLING UP THE CHAT IN CASE SOMEBODY WANTS TO CHAT OR YOU CAN UNMUTE IF ANYONE HAS QUESTIONS. >> THANK YOU, LAURA, VERY MUCH FOR THE WONDERFUL WORK. IT'S SO INTERESTING TO SEE THESE DATA. I KNOW THAT YOU ALL WORKED SO HARD ON THEM. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. AND THINK IT WILL HELP INFORM OUR STRATEGIC PLAN. I THINK CHARLOTTE YEH HAD A COMMENT. DO YOU WANT TO UNMUTE AND SHARE? >> SURE. IRWANT TO SAY THANK YOU. THAT WAS AWESOME. AND REALLY GIVES A FLAVOR OF, YOU KNOW, DIRECTION AND WHERE THE IMPACT AREAS ARE, SO I SAY TERRIFIC. I THOUGHT I WOULD THROW OUT NEW EMERGING TREND AREAS THAT DO IMPACT HEALTH, DISEASE OUTCOMES, ET CETERA. FOR EXAMPLE, SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH IS ONE AREA, MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS ANOTHER AREA. PARTICULARLY THE GROWING AWARENESS OF SOCIAL ISOLATION AND LONELINESS AND ITS IMPACT ON HEALTH OUTCOMES, MORTALITY, MORBIDITY AS A HIGHER RISK ON MORTALITY THAN OBESITY, FOR EXAMPLE. AND ACTUALLY CAN IMPACT YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. AND HEARING LOSS, YOU KNOW, COMMUNICATION DISORDERS, APHASIA CAN BE STRONG CONTRIBUTORS TO ISOLATION AND LONELINESS. SO I JUST DIDN'T SEE THAT ADDRESSED AND THOUGHT THAT MIGHT BE AN AREA YOU MIGHT WANT TO LOOK AT SIZE AND IMPACT. WE KNOW 1 IN 3 OLDER ADULTS HAVE LONELINESS, FOR EXAMPLE. THE OTHER IS THOSE WERE COMMON MEDICAL CONDITIONS THAT HAVE DIAGNOSIS LINKED TO NIDCD-RELATED CONDITIONS BUT OTHERS EMERGING LIKE DEMENTIA AND HEARING LOSS, PARTICULARLY AS AVOIDABLE CAUSE OF DEMENTIA, WONDERING WHETHER YOU MAY WANT TO CONSIDER WHERE NIDCD CONDITIONS MIGHT HAVE IMPACT ON OTHERS. AND NOWADAYS WE THINK OF LOSS OF SMELL AND COVID. SO JUST THOUGHT I WOULD THROW SOME OF THOSE THOUGHTS OUT THERE, HOW DO WE INCORPORATE NOT ONLY PAST DATA BUT EMERGING DATA AND EMERGING AREAS OF INTEREST >> THANK YOU FOR THAT, CHARLOTTE. WE'RE GOING TO BE -- WE'VE JUST STARTED TO GET OUR FEET WET WITH LOOKING AT EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA FOR OUR CONDITIONS WITHIN OUR MISSION. WE'RE HAPPY TO MAKE NOTE OF YOUR SUGGESTIONS, AND AS WE START TALKING ABOUT OUR NEXT STEPS, WE'LL LOOK INTO SOME MORE SURVEYS. THE ONE WE LOOKED AT WAS ONLY OFFICE VISIT DATA, AND SO I'M SURE THAT THERE ARE OTHER SURVEYS WE CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE FOR THE DATA YOU'RE MENTIONING. THANK YOU. >> RIGHT. BY THE WAY, BESIDES OFFICE VISITS, THE BIG EXPENSES ARE ACTUALLY IN HOSPITALIZATION AND READMISSION RATES. AND POTENTIALLY THE IMPACT ON POST-ACUTE REHAB NURSING HOME, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU THINK OF HEARING LOSS AND INABILITY TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY. SO I JUST THOUGHT THOSE MIGHT BE AREAS THAT ARE WORTH CONSIDERING AND NOT TO ADD TO YOUR WORKLOAD OR ANYTHING. >> WE CONSIDER THIS AN ONGOING PROCESS. I MEAN, IT'S NOT CASE CLOSED ONCE WE DEVELOP THIS STRATEGIC PLAN. WE HAVE THIS INTEREST GOING NOW AND WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO PURSUE THESE THINGS, SO IT'S JUST A MATTER OF TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IF THERE'S A NATIONALLY REPRESENTATIVE SURVEY OR DATABASE WE CAN USE TO FIND THIS INFORMATION, TO HELP US. >> GOOD. THANK YOU, CHARLOTTE. ANY OTHER COMMENTS? >> I HAVE A QUESTION. IT'S RUTH ANNE. THANKS FOR THE INTERESTING PRESENTATION. I'M NOT A PHYSICIAN. GENERALLY OBVIOUS. I HAD A QUESTION ABOUT IN YOUR ANALYSIS OF DISEASE FREQUENCY, IF THOSE -- ANY OF THOSE NUMBERS ARE GOING TO IMPACT OUR STRATEGIC PLANNING, I WONDER HOW MUCH CARE IS GOING INTO THE ACCURACY OF THOSE NUMBERS, I'M NOT A PHYSICIAN BUT I AM A PARENT. AND MY SENSE WAS THAT AT LEAST WHEN OUR KIDS WERE YOUNG, OTITIS MEDIA WAS A GIANT BUCKET THAT MANY FEVERS GOT THROWN INTO. SO I JUST WONDER HOW INFLATED THAT NUMBER IS, WHETHER IT COULD BE COMPARED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES' DATA, YOU KNOW, JUST HOW CAREFUL -- HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT THOSE. I DON'T KNOW WHETHER THAT MATTERS. >> I'M NOT THE ONE WHO PULLED THOSE DATA OUT OF THE LITERATURE BUT I'M HAPPY TO FOLLOW UP IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTACT GINGER, WE CAN TALK ABOUT THAT, THE EPIDEMIOLOGY ANALYSIS, AND LITERATURE SURVEY, TO MAKE SURE WE GET YOU AN ACCURATE ANSWER ABOUT THAT. >> OKAY. THANKS. >> RUTH ANNE, GOOD POINT. I WERE SHOCKED HOW DIFFICULT THESE DATA WERE TO OBTAIN. I KNOW OTITIS MEDIA IS A HUGE PROBLEM BUT HOW ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS IS WHEN MADE WE DON'T HAVE CONTROL OVER. THERE ARE A LOT OF ISSUES BUT I THINK IT'S A REALLY GOOD POINT. ALL RIGHT. LAURA, THANK YOU SO MUCH. REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR WORK AND THE WORK OF THE WHOLE TEAM. >> THANK YOU. >> WE'RE SCHEDULED FOR A BREAK NOW BUT IF EVERYONE IS OKAY WITH IT, PLEASE SPEAK UP IF YOU'RE NOT, I THINK WE'LL JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO SWITCH OVER THE SLIDES AND THEN TRY AND MOVE INTO THE NEXT DISCUSSION SO THAT WE DON'T RUN TOO LATE FOR YOU ALL. WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS DISCUSSION ON WORK FORCE AND HEALTH DISPARITIES, LOOKING FORWARD ON YOUR IDEAS AND WISDOM, PARTICULARLY GRATEFUL DR. LISA GOFFMAN AND DR. FAN-GANG ZENG AGREED TO LEAD A DISCUSSION AT THE END OF A BRIEF PRESENTATION I'M GOING TO MAKE THAT REVIEWS PRELIMINARY DATA THAT WE HAVE AND I'LL BEGIN BY SAYING THAT SOME OF THE DATA IS QUITE CHALLENGING TO COME BY, BUT I THINK THAT WE'RE FINDING MORE AND MORE WAYS TO ANALYZE OUR PORTFOLIO TO REALLY DETERMINE WHAT THE MAKEUP IS OF OUR INVESTIGATOR POOL, SO TO SPEAK. I'M GOING TO PRESENT WHAT WE HAVE, WHERE WE VIEW AS BASELINE GOING FORWARD, AND VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING TO IMPROVE OUR INCLUSION OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND DO WHAT WE VIEW AS IMPROVING OUR SCIENCE TO BEING MORE INCLUSIVE. GINGER, I THINK YOU'RE GETTING THE SLIDES STARTED? >> YES, SHE IS. SHE WAS EXPECTING A BREAK TO LOAD THOSE SO SHE'S WORKING QUICKLY. >> SORRY. I KNOW. VERY GOOD. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. OKAY. SO, COUNCIL MEMBERS RECEIVED THIS SLIDE DECK BEFORE THE MEETING ALLOWING YOU TO REVIEW THE DATA, HOPEFULLY AT YOUR LEISURE. I'M GOING TO REVIEW THE SLIDES VERY QUICKLY. I KNOW NOT EVERYBODY ON THE MEETING CALL HAS RECEIVED THEM SO I WANTED TO GIVE YOU THE BENEFIT OF SEEING THEM EVEN BRIEFLY. I WANTED TO THANK BUCK WONG AND ERIC WILLIAMS AND THEIR OFFICES FOR PUTTING TOGETHER THIS VERY LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA SO WE CAN USE IT TO INFORM THIS AND FUTURE DISCUSSIONS. NEXT SLIDE. THIS SLIDE SHOWS DEMOGRAPHIC DATA FOR GRANT AWARDEES, AT NIDCD ON THE LEFT, NIH AS A WHOLE ON THE RIGHT. AND FEMALES ARE SHOWN IN LIGHT BLUE, MALES IN ORANGE, AND UNKNOWN IN THE GREEN COLOR. SO FEMALE APPLICANTS NIDCD HAVE A HIGHER AVERAGE AWARD RATE FOR FELLOWSHIP AND CAREER GRANTS. WHILE MALE APPLICANTS HAVE A HIGHER AVERAGE AWARD RATE FOR R01s. NEXT SLIDE. LOOKING NOW JUST AS CAREER AWARDS, THERE'S SOME GENDER DIFFERENCES ACROSS DIFFERENT MECHANISMS. SO I WANTED TO POINT OUT IN PARTICULAR THE NIDCD K18, RESEARCH CAREER ENHANCEMENT AWARD FOR ESTABLISHED INVESTIGATORS. AND THIS IS TO ENABLE ESTABLISHED INVESTIGATORS TO AUGMENT OR REDIRECT THEIR RESEARCH PROGRAMS THROUGH THE ACQUISITION OF NEW RESEARCH SKILLS, SO THE K18 AVERAGE AWARD RATE FOR FEMALES IS MUCH HIGHER THAN MALES. AND THEN IN COUNTER DISTINCTION IS KO 8, MENTORED CLINICAL SCIENTIST RESEARCH CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARD, WHICH SUPPORTS INDIVIDUALS WITH CLINICAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL DOCTORATE, INTERESTED IN MENTORED CAREER DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCE IN BASIC RESEARCH. THIS AWARD APPEARS HIGHER FOR MALES THAN FEMALES, THERE'S A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF AWARDS TO INDIVIDUALS OF UNKNOWN GENDER. SO THAT GREEN BAR IS A LITTLE MORE PROMINENT THERE. NEXT SLIDE. NIDCD FY19 SUCCESS RATE FOR FEMALE AND MALE AWARDEES FOR THE R01s ARE HIGHER THAN THE OVERALL NIH SUCCESS RATES, AS SHOWN HERE FOR BOTH ALL R01s AND FOR R01s AWARDED TO EARLY-STAGE INVESTIGATORS SPECIFICALLY. AND SUCCESS RATE IS DEFINED AS PERCENTAGE OF REVIEWED GRANT APPLICATIONS THAT RECEIVE FUNDING. NEXT SLIDE. UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY SCIENTISTS MAKE UP A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF ALL OF THOSE FUNDED FOR MOST GRANT MECHANISMS, AS SHOWN HERE IN ORANGE. THIS INFORMATION GIVES US A BASELINE THAT OUR FUTURE EFFORTS WILL BUILD UPON. THE NIDCD ALSO PARTICIPATES IN THE F31 DIVERSITY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM SHOWN IN YELLOW, THIS PROGRAM IS INTENDED TO INCREASE NUMBER THE SCIENTISTS FROM DIVERSE POPULATION GROUPS INCLUDING RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY GROUPS, INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES, AND INDIVIDUALS FROM ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED BACKGROUNDS WHO ARE PREPARED TO PURSUE CAREERS IN BIOMEDICAL, BEHAVIORAL, SOCIAL, CLINICAL, OR HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH. THE NIDCD IS IN THE PROCESS OF DETERMINING HOW THE VARIOUS GROUPS ARE REPRESENTED IN THIS F31 PROGRAM, AND THERE'S SOME INFORMATION IN THE NEXT SLIDES SHOWING MORE OF A BREAKDOWN FOR THAT. SO THE NEXT SLIDE. SO, WE FURTHER ANALYZED THE NUMBER OF RECIPIENTS OF OUR F31 DIVERSITY FELLOWSHIP GRANTS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEY REPORTED AS HAVING A DISABILITY OR UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY, THOSE BARS SHOWN IN PINK AND GREEN AS SHOWN HERE. THE NUMBERS OF AWARDS ARE SMALL. AND THAT'S SHOWN ON THE AX AXIS ON LEFT, AT MOST 8 AWARDS. MOSTLY UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES, HOWEVER SOME AWARDEES ARE THOSE WITH DISABILITIES. ON THE NEXT SLIDE WE SHOW A LITTLE BIT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPECIFIC DISABILITIES. SO WITH THOSE F31 DIVERSITY FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES WHO INDICATED THEY HAVE DISABILITIES WE FURTHER IDENTIFIED THE TYPE OF DISABILITIES REPORTED BY THE RECIPIENTS. SO SHOWN HERE ARE THE NUMBERS OF AWARDEES WITH HEARING DISABILITIES VERSUS OTHER DISABILITIES. AGAIN, THE NUMBERS ARE QUITE SMALL BUT THIS GIVES A LITTLE BIT OF INFORMATION. THEN NEXT THE NIDCD'S AVERAGE SUCCESS RATE FOR MAJORITY AND UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY AWARDEES FOR R01s ARE HIGHER THAN THE OVERALL NIH SUCCESS RATE. DISPARITY BETWEEN THE NIDCD AND NIH SUCCESS RATES ARE PARTLY DUE TO THE NIDCD'S PRIORITIZATION OF FUNDS TO R01 GRANTS, AND THE RELATIVELY LOW NUMBER OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SUBMITTED TO OUR INSTITUTE. WE GET A LOW NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS, PROBABLY DUE TO THE FACT THAT WE HAVE A LOW NUMBER OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY P.I.s IN OUR FIELD. AND WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO INCREASE THOSE NUMBERS. THE NEXT SLIDE. SO THIS PAPER BY HOPP ET AL. CO-AUTHORED BY MIKE LAUER AND HANNAH VALANTINE AT THE NIH, FUNDING GAP OF AWARDS TO BLACK AND AFRICAN AMERICAN SCIENTISTS. IN THE INTEREST OF TIME I'LL SKIP THE SLIDE BUT SIMPLY SAY THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH THE FACT THAT THE NIDCD GETS VERY FEW APPLICATIONS FROM BLACK AND AFRICAN AMERICAN SCIENTISTS. AND IF YOU DO WANT TO REVIEW THIS PAPER, IT WAS PUBLISHED IN LATE 2019, WE CAN PROVIDE THE PAPER AND THE SPECIFIC REFERENCE IF YOU WOULD LIKE. SO OVER THE SUMMER, THERE HAVE BEEN VERY ROBUST DISCUSSIONS, BOTH AT THE NIH-WIDE LEVEL AND WITHIN OUR OWN INSTITUTE, AS TO HOW WE HAVE IMPROVE SCIENCE BY BEING MORE INCLUSIVE. THE NIDCD DEVELOPED APPROACHES, PRESENTED TO FACILITATE DISCUSSION, AND, YEAH, THANK YOU, GINGER. AND I WILL SAY THAT WE ARE PROCEEDING WITH THE PROCESS TO HIRE A CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER WHO WILL WORK AS PART OF OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM, SO THAT IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING THAT WE'LL PROCEED WITH. THERE ARE BROAD AREAS OF CONSIDERATION THAT DEMAND OUR ATTENTION AND INCLUDE THE TRAINING AND ENGAGEMENT OF UNDERREPRESENTED SCIENTISTS IN BOTH EXTRAMURAL AND INTRAMURAL PROGRAMS, IDENTIFICATION OF AREAS ASSOCIATED WITH HEALTH DISPARITIES AND INEQUITIES WITHIN OUR MISSION AREAS, AND MAKING SURE THAT OUR OWN INSTITUTE IS INCLUSIVE AND RESPECTFUL. SO NOW THE NEXT SLIDE, I THINK, YES, THIS IS THE DISCUSSION THAT WILL BE MODERATED BY DR. ZENG AND GOFFMAN. I'LL TURN THIS OVER TO THEM AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING THE DISCUSSION. >> THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH, AND WE WERE JUST REALLY BOTH DELIGHTED TO BE INVITED TO ENGAGE AND GET THE DISCUSSION STARTED. THESE WERE SOME OF THE QUESTIONS THAT WE WERE POSED, WE'RE GOING TO OPEN ALL OF THIS UP TO ALL OF YOU THROUGHOUT THIS DISCUSSION. SO HOW CAN TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES BE EXTENDED, PEER MENTORING, ET CETERA. WE LOST THE SLIDES. MAYBE PROCEED TO THE NEXT SLIDE. EXCELLENT. SO, WE WERE POSED WITH A SERIES OF QUESTIONS. WHAT FAN-GANG AND I DID, WE TALKED TO OUR COLLEAGUES, IT WAS IMPRESSIVE HOW ENGAGED AND PASSIONATE PEOPLE WERE, HOW MUCH THEY WANTED TO TALK ABOUT THESE TOPICS. FAN-GANG WILL SPEAK IN A LITTLE WHILE AND WE'LL OPEN THIS TO YOU, TALK TO ADRIAN, I ASKED FOR INPUT FROM VERY ENGAGED NIDCD RESEARCHERS, AND THESE DISCUSSIONS WERE VERY EXTENSIVE, PEOPLE ARE EXTREMELY ENGAGED, I REALLY THANK NIDCD FOR INVITING US TO OPEN UP THIS DISCUSSION. I'M GOING TO SUMMARIZE WHAT THE TWO OF US LEARNED OR GLEANED, THIS IS TOTALLY MEANT TO OPEN THE DISCUSSION FOR ALL OF YOU TO DEVELOP IDEAS. WE HAVE FOUR SLIDES HERE. IT'S VERY BRIEF BUT WE WANTED TO GET THE BALL ROLLING. GO BACK ONE MORE, I'M SORRY, NOT QUITE READY. THE GOALS THAT EMERGED WERE FIRST OF ALL TO CHANGE DEMOGRAPHIC OF FUNDED RESEARCHERS AND SHIFT THE BALANCE OF THE CONTENT OF FUNDED RESEARCHERS, OF RESEARCH. THESE ARE REALLY TWO TIERS THAT CAME UP IN OUR DISCUSSION. IN TERMS OF OUTCOME, AGAIN WHAT WE DERIVED WERE THIS IDEA OF IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF SCIENCE AND ITS TRANSLATION BY BRINGING IN DIVERSE IDEAS AND ADDRESSING UNMET NEEDS THAT AFFECT THE HEALTH OF ALL AMERICANS. TINY EXAMPLES, TRANSGENDER VOICE, INFLUENCE OF DIALECT AND SES ON LANGUAGE AND SPEECH DEVELOPMENT. THE LIST GOES ON. THANKS FOR THE NEXT SLIDE. OKAY. SO, A FEW OF THE THEMES THAT WE ALREADY -- DR. TUCCI BROUGHT UP, SO ONE IDEA THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT IS TO EXPAND TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE THE PIPELINE. WE OBVIOUSLY DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE APPLYING FOR GRANTS AT MULTIPLE CAREER STAGES. SO ONE TOPIC THAT MANY PEOPLE BROUGHT UP WAS THIS MOTION OF BUILDING CLUSTERS OF DIVERSITY SUPPLEMENTS OR SIMILAR MECHANISMS, OBVIOUSLY ALREADY EXIST AT NIDCD, BUT CLUSTERS WITHIN AN INSTITUTION, SO COHORTS AND ROLE MODELS WERE CONSIDERED BY EVERYBODY TO BE CRITICAL FOR SUCCESS BOTH FOR TRAINEES AND FACULTY. ONE IDEA THAT WAS DISCUSSED WAS THE IDEA OF SUPPLEMENTS ACROSS SINGLE OR MULTIPLE R01s, THAT COULD SUPPORT COHORTS OF MASTERS, DOCTORAL AND POSTDOCTORAL TRAINEES. FABIANO SMITH AND PENA LABS PROVIDED WONDERFUL EXAMPLES, WHERE THEY RECRUIT CLUSTERS WHO WORK AS RESEARCH ASSISTANTS ON THEIR GRANTS. THEY BROUGHT UP THE POINT, I THINK THIS IS SO IMPORTANT, THAT FUNDING THESE STUDENTS, SOME OF THESE ARE UNDERGRADUATES AND CLINICAL STUDENTS ACTUALLY, THAT FUNDING THESE STUDENTS ACTUALLY INCORPORATES HEALTH INSURANCE, THE CAPACITY TO ATTEND CONFERENCES, THINGS THAT MANY OF OUR STUDENTS JUST COULDN'T AFFORD AND TAKE FOR GRANTED, THESE FUNDS HELPED MITIGATE OPPORTUNITY DISPARITIES FOR MANY OF THESE INDIVIDUALS AND FACILITATE THEIR TRANSITION INTO SCIENTIFIC FIELDS. SO, BUT THEIR LABS ARE BOTH ABOUT BILINGUAL LANGUAGE AND SPEECH LEARNING. THE OTHER PIECE IS TO ATTRACT YOUNG SCIENTISTS, YOUNG EMERGING SCIENTISTS, HIGH SCHOOL, UNDERGRADUATE, CLINICAL MASTERS LEVEL AND BEYOND, FROM URMs WITH ALL TIMES OF ASPIRATIONS, TO TARGET SCIENTIFIC FIELDS ACROSS OUR PORTFOLIO. VOICE, HEARING, TASTE, SMELL, ET CETERA, NOT JUST FOCUSED ON THOSE FIELDS THAT ARE ACTUALLY APPROACHING. IT'S AGAIN THOSE TWO PIECES. NEXT, GINGER. NEXT SLIDE. OKAY. EXCELLENT. THE OTHER POINT THAT -- THESE ARE IDEAS FOR SUPPORTING TRANSITION. YOU KNOW, FROM THAT F31, F32, EARLY CAREER STAGE THROUGH K THROUGH R, THROUGH MID-CAREER, BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT IS A REAL ISSUE. SO ONE IDEA THAT PEOPLE REALLY RESONATED TO WAS RECRUITING AND SUPPORTING A CADRE OF SENIOR SCIENTISTS, SOME FROM URMs, IDEALLY, SOME NOT, TO PROVIDE MENTORSHIP TO SCIENTISTS, NEW SCIENTISTS FROM URMs AT EVERY CAREER STAGE ACTUALLY. OR NEW TO THE GRANTS PROCESS I SHOULD SAY. SO THIS COULD BE MODELED ON THE NIH NIDCD-SUPPORTED LESSONS FOR SUCCESS CONFERENCE, WHICH IS RUN BY ASHA, AND REALLY INCLUDES A LOT OF GRANT WRITING DEVELOPMENT BUT NOW IS APPLIED TO URM RESEARCHERS, AND I THINK THIS WOULD PROBABLY NEED TO FOCUS AGAIN ON BUILDING PEER COHORTS, PERHAPS THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF FUNDABLE IDEAS AND OBVIOUSLY CRITIQUE OF EMERGING GRANT PROPOSALS. SO, WE ALL THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD BE REALLY WONDERFUL TO HAVE DEDICATED FUNDS, DREAM LIST, TO INCREASE THE UP IN OF INDIVIDUALS FROM URMs AWARDED Ks OR Rs, TO ACTUALLY HAVE DEDICATED MONEY PUT ASIDE FOR THESE INDIVIDUALS AS WE'RE TRYING TO BUILD THIS PORTFOLIO. AND, AGAIN, THE TWO DOMAINS, ONE IS THE INCLUSION OF TALENTED SCIENTISTS FROM URMs WHO MAY NOT HAVE STANDARD TRAINING AND PRODUCTIVITY RECORDS, THEY MAY HAVE ATTENDD NOT THE SCHOOLS WE IN GRANT REVIEW HIGHLIGHT OR PUBLISHED IN JOURNALS WE TEND TO HIGHLIGHT. BUT THAT WE SHOULD REALLY MAKE PARTICULAR EFFORTS TO INCLUDE THESE INDIVIDUALS AND ATTEND TO THEIR TRAINING AND EXPERTISE IN THE REVIEW PROCESS. LATER CAREER STAGES, THIS MAY INCLUDE DEDICATED SABBATICALS, OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN LABS, DEDICATED RFPs, IN SPEECH, LANGUAGE, HEARING, TASTE, SMELL, ADDRESSING HEALTH CARE DISPARITIES, TRANSGENDER VOICE, LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, LOW INCOME BILINGUAL CHILDREN, INTERVENTION DISPARITIES FOR CHILDREN WHO RECEIVED COCHLEAR IMPLANTS AND NOT GETTING FOLLOW-UP OR ADULTS WITH APHASIA, THE LIST GOES ON AND ON. IN THIS CASE MANY INDIVIDUALS POINTED OUT REVIEW CRITERIA SHOULD PERHAPS REQUIRE CONSIDERATION OF DIVERSE TEAMS OF RESEARCHERS, INCLUDING PERHAPS EVEN THOSE FROM OTHER FIELDS AS MPIs OR ANOTHER PROMINENT ROLE. THE IDEA IS INCLUSION OF KNOWLEDGEABLE COLLABORATORS WHO ARE EMBEDDED IN THE COMMUNITIES UNDER STUDY WILL ENRICH THE QUALITY OF THE SCIENCE AND ALSO BRING NEW SCIENTISTS INTO THE CONVERSATION. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. I'M GOING TO TURN THIS SLIDE AND LEAD INTO THE DISCUSSION OVER TO FAN-GANG. >> THANK YOU, LISA. I'D ALSO LIKE TO THANK DR. DEB TUCCI FOR GIVING ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE AND CONTRIBUTE TO THIS IMPORTANT INITIATIVE. LIKE LISA SAID WE HAD GREAT FUN DOING THIS PROJECT, A LOT OF MINORITY RESEARCHERS, MANY OF THEM ARE IN THEIR EARLY STAGE OF CAREER. WE'RE ALSO DONE QUITE A BIT RESEARCH, DATA ANALYSIS, I'LL SHARE WITH YOU A COUPLE LESSONS THAT WE LEARNED AND TO JUSTIFY THE IDEAS FOR ENSURING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION. THE FIRST ONE IS WHAT DOES DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION REALLY MEAN. DOES THAT MEAN EQUAL REPRESENTATION? THAT IS MIRRORS DISTRIBUTION OF GENERAL POPULATION? OR I THINK THE FIRST STEP AS LISA SAID, IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE NUMBER, WE NEED TO CORRECT THAT. AND IT'S NECESSARY BUT PERHAPS NOT SUFFICIENT. AND I LOOK AT MYSELF IN THE MIRROR. I'M ASIAN AMERICAN SCIENTIST. AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE DEFINITION, EVEN THOUGH ASIANS ARE ONLY 5% OF THE GENERAL POPULATION, WELL OR IN FACT OVERREPRESENTED IN SCIENCE. BUT I'M SENIOR, RELATIVELY LATE IN MY STAGE. I FEEL UNDERREPRESENTED. MY VOICE NOT ALWAYS HEARD. OPINION NOT ALWAYS APPRECIATED. ROLE SOMETIMES LIMITED. SO, THERE'S ANOTHER DIMENSION OF UNDERREPRESENTATION. SOMETIMES YOU LOOK AT YOUR OWN INSTITUTION, DEB SAID, TO LOOK AT ISSUES WITHIN THE SYSTEM, HOW WE MAY IMPROVE THE SITUATION MORE PRECISELY SOLVE THE PROBLEM. WELL, THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE WHERE I HAVE WORKED FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS, AND WE LOOK AT THE STRUCTURE IN OUR STUDENT BODY, WE HAVE A 36,000 STUDENTS, AND 56% OF THEM ARE ASIANS. DON'T ASK ME WHY THEY COME TO IRVINE. MAYBE BETTER WEATHER. DIVERSE FOOD. BUT SIMILARLY, IF WE THINK ABOUT THIS REPRESENTATION ISSUE, YOUR CONCLUSIONS, MAY BE HEY, IT'S OVERREPRESENTED. IF YOU LOOK AT THE WHOLE ORGANIZATION CHART ESPECIALLY VERTICALLY AND QUICKLY IDENTIFY DIFFERENT DIMENSION, AND I'LL ELABORATE ON THAT. WHAT RIGHT ABOVE THE STUDENT BODY IS FACULTY. OF 2,000 FACULTY MEMBERS IN MY UNIVERSITY, WE HAVE ABOUT 20% ASIAN FACULTY MEMBERS. YOU LOOK AT THE NEXT STEP UP, DEPARTMENT CHAIRS, ABOUT 100 DEPARTMENTS. WE'VE GOT ABOUT EIGHT DEPARTMENT CHAIRS ASIAN AMERICANS. LOOK AT THE DEANS OF SCHOOLS, OF 18 SCHOOLS WE HAVE, WE HAVE ONE DEAN WHO HAS MIXED RACE, AND ONE OF THE PARENTS IS ASIAN. SO UP TO ABOUT 3%. WE'VE NEVER HAD ANY ASIAN CHANCELLOR IN OUR HISTORY, SO IT'S 0% ON THE VERY TOP. SO THAT DIMENSION TELLS ME SOMETHING THAT I THINK WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE NUANCES OF THIS REPRESENTATION. IF YOU LOOK A FEW SLIDES BACK, DR. TUCCI PRESENTED ABOUT FEMALE REPRESENTATION, WITHIN NIDCD, STAGGERING NUMBERS. 75 OR 76% FEMALE, ONCE YOU GET TO THE TOP, R01s, THAT'S WHAT MATTERS, WELL, THE PERCENTAGE DROPPED FROM 70s TO 30s. SO, THAT DIMENSION I CALL IMBALANCE, THAT CAN BE GENDER, THAT CAN BE AGE, OR RACE. THAT IMBALANCE IS ANOTHER IMPORTANT DIMENSION FOR US TO GET INVOLVED INTO THIS DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION INITIATIVE. WHAT I WORRY ABOUT IS IF WE JUST AGGRESSIVELY DO THE SUPPLEMENTS WE GET A LOT OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES, SAY, FOR EXAMPLE, AFRICAN HISPANIC AMERICANS TO THE SYSTEM, WITHOUT PROVIDING THE NECESSARY SUPPORT, REMOVING WHATEVER SYSTEM LEVEL BOTTLE NECK, DISCRIMINATION, BARRIERS, WELL THEN BY TOMORROW AFRICAN AND HISPANIC AMERICANS WILL FACE THE SAME PROBLEM, THAT ASIAN AMERICANS ARE FACING TODAY. I DON'T HAVE A SOLID DATA BUT MY IMPRESSION IS THAT IF YOU LOOK AT ORGANIZATIONAL CHART, YOU DEFINITELY SEE MORE ASIAN AMERICANS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE ORGANIZATION CHART AS POSTDOCS, TECHNICIANS, SPECIALISTS, AND P. P.I.s, AND ADMINISTRATORS, SO THE IMPORTANT THING I THINK LISA, IF YOU LOOK AT THE FIRST ONE, THE IDEAS, WE NEED TO INCREASE AWARENESS AND ACCESS TO BRING IN PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CURRENTLY UNDERREPRESENTED, WHICH IS NECESSARY BUT NOT SUFFICIENT, IF WE DO NOT REMOVE SYSTEM LEVEL BARRIERS SO THEY CAN ADVANCE IN THEIR CAREER. WHAT ARE THE SYSTEM LEVEL BARRIERS? THE BOTTLENECKS IN THE PIPELINE? LISA HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT THAT. I THINK TODAY WE'VE MADE SO MUCH PROGRESS. NOBODY WILL OPENLY DISCRIMINATE AGAINST A PARTICULAR PERSON OR GROUP, WITH THE GROUP IN YOUNG PEOPLE, FEMALE, WITH DIFFERENT SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR WITH DISABILITY. OF COURSE RACE. BUT THERE'S A LOT OF SYSTEM LEVEL BARRIERS, HIDDEN, IMPLICIT, SOMETIMES EVEN UNCONSCIOUS. LAST MONTH, NEUROSCIENCE PUBLISHED RESEARCH PAPER ON GENDER IMBALANCE IN CITATIONS. IN WHICH WE KNOW VERY IMPORTANT INDEX FOR RECOGNITION AND INFLUENCE IN YOUR FIELD AND FOR APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTION IN YOUR INSTITUTION. AND PROFESSOR HAS SAID PENN AND COLLEAGUES AND THEY STUDIED CITATION IN NEUROSCIENCE AND WHAT THEY DISCOVERED WAS MALE AUTHORS OVERCITE PAPERS BY 10%, WHILE UNDERCITING FEMALE AUTHORS BY ABOUT 20%. YOU KNOW, CREATING A HUGE, 30 PERCENTAGE POINT DISPARITY IN CITATION. WHAT IS DISHEARTENING IS THAT GAP CONTINUES TO WIDEN, IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT THE FEMALE RESEARCHERS ENTERING THE FIELD HAS DOUBLED IN THE LAST 25 YEARS. NOW, THAT MIRRORS THE FIRST ISSUE I WAS TALKING ABOUT. GETTING PEOPLE IN THE PIPELINE IS NOT SUFFICIENT, TO SUPPORT THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT. I ASK MYSELF, WHERE DOES THE BIAS COME FROM? I THINK IF I'M GOING TO CITE A PAPER TO SUPPORT MY ARGUMENT IN MANUSCRIPT OR PROPOSAL, WHAT IMAGE COMES TO MY MIND? MOST LIKELY I'LL PROBABLY CITE A PAPER FROM AN OLD MALE AND WHITE AUTHOR, COMPARED WITH A YOUNG FEMALE, AND NON-WHITE AUTHOR. AND THAT KIND OF BIAS IS IMPLICIT AS I SAID CAN ALSO HAPPEN TO THE HOSTS DISCRIMINATING AGAINST AND HOW DO WE OVERCOME THAT BIAS WITHIN OUR SYSTEM, AND THAT'S VERY CHALLENGING. AND IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO OVERCOME. I THINK THE STEP ONE, WE REALLY NEED TO IDENTIFY THE PROBLEMS. AND THEN WE CAN ADDRESS THIS IMPLICIT SYSTEM BIASES SO THAT AS LISA ELOQUENTLY ILLUSTRATED, OR TOLD IN HER DISCUSSION, ONLY AFTER WE RECOGNIZE THE PROBLEM WE CAN PRECISELY SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS. AND THE IDEA, THE OUTCOME, WE BRING IN DIVERSE IDEAS TO PRODUCE MORE INNOVATIVE AWARD, BETTER SCIENCE, BETTER TRANSLATION. AND I THINK THIS WOULD REQUIRE THE INSTITUTIONS INCLUDING NIDCD TO PROVIDE EXPLICIT TRAINING AND MAYBE REQUIREMENT FUNDING, PUT THEM ON THE TABLE, OPENLY AND COMFORTABLY TALKING ABOUT THESE ISSUES, SO WE CAN ACHIEVE THAT IDEA OR UTOPIA LISA MENTIONED, OR DEB ENVISIONED. BECAUSE THE GOAL, WE WANT GOOD SCIENCE, THAT'S WHAT MATTERS. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION ARE AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THAT. I THINK THERE ARE IDEAS PUT OUT THERE, IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING. >> THANK YOU. I THINK WE CAN OPEN THIS UP NOW. WE'VE THROWN OUT -- THIS HAS BEEN A VERY ENGAGED PASSIONATE PROCESS. WE WOULD OPEN IT UP AND GET EVERYBODY ELSE'S INPUT NOW. >> I'M TAKING NOTES. >> YEAH, ME TOO. >> ME TOO, YEAH. SO, PLEASE, CHARLOTTE. >> I'M NEVER SHY ABOUT SPEAKING UP, AS YOU CAN TELL. ONCE AGAIN, I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU BOTH FOR THE DATA. FOR THE PASSION. AND JUST THE GREAT ARTICULATION OF THE ISSUES. SO, FIRST OF ALL, FOR THE NIH AND NIDCD YOU'RE NOT FACING THINGS THAT ARE DIFFERENT THAN ARE HAPPENING ACROSS INDUSTRY AND MULTIPLE SECTORS. SO, YOU'RE NOT ALONE IN THIS. BUT WHAT I HEARD FROM YOU WAS REALLY WE HAVE TWO ISSUES, A PIPELINE ISSUE AND FRANKLY LEADERSHIP REPRESENTATION. I THINK WE AS NIDCD OR AS THE NIH YOU SHOULD BE THINKING OF BOTH CATEGORIES. I JUST HAVE A COUPLE ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS AND I LOVED WHAT YOU LAID OUT, TOTALLY SUPPORT IT. BUT TWO JUST THOUGHTS, I DON'T KNOW IF THEY WOULD APPLY TO NIH AND NIDCD OR NOT. ON THE PIPELINE ISSUE, I'M THINKING BACK OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES LIKE THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, IT'S NOT JUST THAT THEY OFFER TO THE RESEARCH GRANTS AND, YOU KNOW, ALLOW FUNDING FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS. THEY ACTUALLY OFFER SUMMER PROGRAMS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, SOMETIMES EVEN YOUNGER, I THINK OF STEM-E PROGRAMS DESIGNED FOR GRADE SCHOOL AND ABOVE TO SPARK THE INTEREST AND SO COULD THE NIH ACTUALLY HAVE A SUMMER PROGRAM FOR EXCITING YOUNG RESEARCHERS STARTING IN JUNIOR HIGH, HIGH SCHOOL, THAT REALLY PRIME THE PUMP? YOU KNOW, BECAUSE I KNOW FOR THE NSF THAT'S HELPFUL. FOR ME PERSONALLY, NSF GRANT I DID WHEN I WAS 16 AND KNEW NOTHING ABOUT ANY OF THIS REALLY HAS SPARKED MY INTEREST IN THE LIFE SCIENCES, WHICH IS HOW I ENDED UP HERE. THE SECOND IS I NOTICED A LOT OF EMPHASIS YOU TALKED ABOUT SOME PEOPLE, BUT I -- PERHAPS SOME TOPICS, BUT I ALSO THINK PART OF THE REVIEW PROCESS OUGHT TO LOOK AT THE POPULATIONS, WHEN THERE ARE CLINICAL TRIALS AND CLINICAL STUDIES TO BE DIVERSE, TO REACH PEOPLE NOT WITHIN DRIVING DISTANCE OR CAN'T TAKE OFF WORK TO PARTICIPATE IN A TRIAL. BECAUSE I ALSO BELIEVE THAT IF YOU TAKE COMMUNITIES AND SAY, WOW, THEY ARE DOING RESEARCH ON PEOPLE THAT LOOK LIKE ME, I MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN RESEARCH. OTHERWISE YOU IGNORE IT BECAUSE IT'S NOT RELEVANT. I THOUGHT I WOULD THROW THOSE TWO IDEAS FOR THE PIPELINE SIDE. ON THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT I THINK DATA IS REALLY POWERFUL. SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE INDUSTRY SIDE OR IN THE PUBLIC CORPORATION SIDE IS ACTUALLY PUBLICIZING WHAT'S THE DIVERSITY OF YOUR BOARDS, YOUR LEADERSHIP, YOUR EMPLOYEES. AND THAT CAN BE A START, BECAUSE THAT'S A SPARK BECAUSE NOW IT'S PUBLIC, PEOPLE WANT TO CHANGE THEIR NUMBERS. AND YOU MIGHT WANT TO TAKE A LOOK, MANY OF THESE COMPANIES THAT ARE STARTING TO TAKE INCLUSION SERIOUSLY, ACTUALLY HAVE ANNUAL REPORTS, DIVERSITY PLANS, THAT THEY SHARE PUBLICLY. SO, YOU MIGHT BE ASKING THAT. FINALLY, IT'S THAT OPPORTUNITIES FROM LEADERSHIP, I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE IMPLICIT AND UNCONSCIOUS BIAS, BUT ARE THERE SUPPORTS WE CAN HELP IN BUILDING CVs AND RƒSUMES BECAUSE HOW YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK IS ALSO ESPECIALLY IN AN ONLINE VIRTUAL WORLD THESE DAYS, ARE ALSO HOW YOU GARNERS ATTENTION, HOW SEARCH FIRMS THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY GET THE ATTENTION OF SEARCH FIRMS. THERE MIGHT BE SOME EFFORT AT HELPING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLES, COACHING AND SUPPORT FOR RƒSUMES, CV WRITING, SO THAT YOU ACTUALLY CAN GET TO THE POINT OF AN INTERVIEW, THEN YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN. JUST MY COUPLE OF THOUGHTS TO OFFER. >> THANK YOU. AS ALWAYS, GREAT. I SEE RUTH ANNE HAND GO UP. I WANT TO DO THIS FAIRLY. >> I JUST WANTED TO ENDORSE THE COMMENTS ABOUT COHORTS. THAT-- FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU, THAT WAS EXCITING. FOR ME I MAKE CONNECTIONS TO WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO WITH PEOPLE WORKING GROUPS TRYING TO COME UP WITH IDEAS TO IMPROVE OUR DIVERSITY, THIS MOTION OF SUPPORTING YOUNG-ISH COHORTS, TO IMPROVING, READING ABOUT THAT WE NEED TO GET PEOPLE INTO FACULTY POSITIONS, WHICH WE'RE NOT DOING, AND I THINK NIDCD IS SUFFERING BECAUSE THERE AREN'T ENOUGH FACULTY AROUND TO ASK FOR GRANT FUNDING, SO NUMBERS WILL NEVER BE GOOD. THIS COHORT IDEA IS MAYBE IN THE AIR, I DOUBT THAT WE THOUGHT OF IT, IT JUST REALLY IS SOMETHING THAT I HEARD OF, ENGAGING WITH UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS WHEN ASKED WHY THEY DON'T WANT TO TAKE A JOB IN A PARTICULAR DEPARTMENT WILL SAY I'M THE ONLY PERSON WHO LOOKS LIKE ME THERE. YET WE CAN SEE IN OUR OWN PIPELINE WE SEE COHORT OF PEOPLE GRAVITATING TOGETHER BECAUSE THEY SHAE SOME EXPERIENCE, AND WITH THINKING ABOUT HOW DO WE WORK WITH THOSE PEOPLE TO TRY TO GET THEM AS A GROUP SO THEY CAN CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT THEY ARE WELCOME IN. I WANTED TO MAKE ONE MORE COMMENT ABOUT THE DATA, I WAS REALLY INTERESTED IN WHAT DEB TUCCI PRESENTED EARLIER. ARE WE GOING SO WELL WITH WOMEN BECAUSE WE HAVE A LOT OF WOMEN APPLYING? I THINK THE NUMBERS WERE ALL WRONG NUMBERS, WRONG PERCENTAGES. AND SO HOW IS HER APPLICATION, NORMALIZED BY THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE APPLYING, RELATIVE TO OTHER INSTITUTES. AND THIS IS -- I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO LEARN IF YOU DIVIDE ACROSS THE TOPIC AREAS OF NIDCD, MALE PARTICIPATION, TOPIC AREAS DRIVING THE HIGH RANKINGS FOR PEOPLE. SO JUST MORE DATA AND, YOU KNOW, MORE GRANULAR DATA WILL HELP US IDENTIFY WHAT WE ARE DOING WELL AND WHY OUR NUMBERS ARE DIFFERENT. THANKS FOR ALL THE IDEAS. >> I DON'T KNOW IF DEB WANTED TO RESPOND OR GO TO -- >> YEAH, I'LL DO LESS TALKING AND LET YOU ALL DO MORE TALKING. >> OKAY. ARGYE, I THINK YOU'RE UP. HELP ME IF I'M MISSING PEOPLE. >> SO, I THOUGHT THAT WAS A WONDERFUL PRESENTATION, THOUGHTFUL, GAVE US A LOT OF IDEAS TO CONSIDER. ONE THING THAT YOU MENTIONED WAS SORT OF GETTING UNDERGRADS OR EVEN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TRAINED AND WORKING AS RESEARCH ASSISTANTS, AND WE CERTAINLY DO THAT AT HOPKINS. WE HAVE A PREP PROGRAM, WE ALSO HAVE A PROGRAM WITH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES FROM THE SCHOOLS AROUND HOPKINS TO HAVE THEM COME IN AND WORK IN THE SUMMER AND LABS. IT WORKS INCREDIBLY WELL. A LOT OF THEM GO ON TO BECOME RESEARCH ASSISTANTS, AND I THINK THERE ARE -- THERE COULD BE GRANT MECHANISMS TO GIVE UNIVERSITIES MONEY TO SUPPORT THAT, TO SUPPORT -- IT WOULDN'T HAVE TO BE A LOT, LIKE CONFERENCE GRANTS, GETTING, YOU KNOW, MONEY TO ADVERTISE AND TO RECRUIT MAYBE EVEN GIVE A LITTLE BIT OF SUPPORT TO INVESTIGATORS WHO ARE -- WHO ARE WILLING TO PUT IN A LOT OF TIME MENTORING STUDENTS. THAT'S THE PIPELINE ISSUE. I DO THINK WHEN THEY GET EXCITED ABOUT IT AND THEY BECOME RESEARCH ASSISTANTS IT DOES HELP TO HAVE PARTICIPANTS IN CLINICAL TRIALS WHO LOOK LIKE THEM. AND I KNOW AT HOPKINS WE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE A LARGE NUMBER OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES, ALL OF MY GRANTS HAVE PARTICIPANTS, HALF AFRICAN AMERICANS, AND I THINK THE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS NOT ONLY BENEFIT AND ARE ATTRACTED TO THAT KIND OF RESEARCH BUT THEY ARE ALSO BETTER AT RECRUITING PEOPLE WHO LOOK LIKE THEM. AND SO I THINK THERE'S REALLY A TWO-WAY STREET THERE. THE OTHER QUESTION I HAD IS A LOT OF TIMES AS REVIEWERS I'M NOT SURE WE ACTUALLY HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT WHICH R01s ARE FROM -- ABOUT THE MINORITY STATUS OF THE INVESTIGATORS OF R01s AT LEAST, AND I WONDER IF WE COULD -- IF THAT INFORMATION COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE, IF THE PEOPLE WANT TO SELF REPORT, AND THEN THEY COULD BE GIVEN PRIORITY, THE OPPORTUNITY FOR HIGH PRIORITY LIKE EARLY-STAGE INVESTIGATORS, SO IF YOU ARE FROM AN UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY AND GET A SCORE OF, YOU KNOW, 30 PERCENTILE OR SOMETHING COULD YOU WRITE A LETTER, INCLUDE IN THAT LETTER I'M FROM THIS MINORITY AND IT'S UNDERREPRESENTED, IN THE FIELD. BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I'VE ACTUALLY TALKED TO PROGRAM OFFICERS AND KIND OF ADVOCATED, THAT'S SOMETIMES BEEN HELPFUL. I THINK WE HAVE -- REVIEWERS HAVE TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KNOW THAT INFORMATION IN ORDER TO GET FROM THE EARLY STAGE SCHOLARSHIP GRANTS AND SO ON, K AWARDS, TO GET TO THAT R01, WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT. >> THANK YOU. DID I SEE CAROL AND THEN CYNTHIA? DID I SEE YOUR HAND UP, CAROL? NO. CYNTHIA AND THEN SANDRA. OKAY. >> I'LL SAY I HAVE TO THANK THE NIH FOR PUSHING ME IN A WAY OVER THE YEARS AS PROGRAM DIRECTOR OF A T32, MEDICAL GENETICS, WHERE I HAVE TO OUTLINE OUR -- NOT ONLY OUR RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION BUT ALSO REPORT OUR OUTCOMES IN TERMS OF BRINGING UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY GROUPS INTO THE FIELD OF GENETICS AND LET'S FACE IT, WHAT FIELD, THE INFRASTRUCTURE HAS BEEN, YOU KNOW, GENETICS HAS BEEN WHERE WE'VE BEEN PRACTICING MEDICINE IN TERMS OF ETHNICITY FOR ALL OF OUR LIVES. SO, THE T32 DIRECTORS IN MEDICAL GENETICS DECIDED A FEW YEARS AGO TO HAVE MONTHLY PHONE CALLS, WE'RE TRYING TO DO THINGS TO FLOATS ALL BOATS SO WE STARTED WITH DIVERSITY BREAKFASTS, LUNCHES THAT ARE MOST COMMON NATIONAL MEETINGS, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HUMAN GENETICS, AND THAT ALSO THEN TURNED INTO US VISITING INSTITUTIONS IN THE CITY IN WHICH THOSE MEETINGS WERE HELD. SO WE NOW VISITED QUITE A FEW OF THE HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, TALKING ABOUT SUMMER PROGRAMS IN OUR INSTITUTIONS, AND SO THE EVOLUTION OF THAT HAS RESULTED IN A PROGRAM CALLED THE HUMAN GENETICS SCHOLARS INITIATIVE WHICH IS CO-FUNDED BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HUMAN GENETICS AND NHGRI, WHERE WE JUST HAVE CHOSEN OUR SECOND CLASS OF SCHOLARS AND WE HAVE EIGHT SCHOLARS IN EACH CLASS, AND THEY ARE EITHER GRADUATE STUDENTS, POSTDOCS, EARLY INVESTIGATORS, AND THEY GET, YOU KNOW, A SMALL PACKAGE WHERE IT'S SORT OF FUNDING TO ATTEND THE NATIONAL MEETING, OUR NATIONAL MEETING, SO TRAVEL, MEMBERSHIP TO THE SOCIETY, SMALL AMOUNT OF CASH, AROUND A THOUSAND DOLLARS TO HELP WITH RESEARCH, PAIRED WITH A MENTOR OUTSIDE THE LOCAL SPECTRUM. I THINK IT'S DEVELOPING A WONDERFUL COHORT OF PEOPLE THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, BONDED AND SUPPORTED, AND WE HAVE MONTHLY WEBINARS WITH THEM ABOUT YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW TO WRITE A GRANT, HOW TO WRITE A PAPER, ALL THESE OTHER THINGS, WHICH WE CALL THE HPSI COMMUNITY CHAT, SO THIS COULD BE REPLICATED IN ALL THE AREAS OF SCIENCE, AND I THINK IT'S, YOU KNOW, FROM LITTLE ACORNS BIG OAK TREES GROW, RIGHT? s I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MUCH JOY THIS ACTIVITY HAS BROUGHT TO THOSE OF US INVOLVED WITH IT. >> THANK YOU. SANDY AND I HEARD ON THE CHAT THAT NIRUPA WANTED TO SPEAK AND CAROL. I SEE YOUR HAND. WE'LL GO IN THAT ORDER. SANDY, YOU'RE UP. >> THANK YOU. I HAVE TO LEAVE AT 4:00 SO IT'S PERFECT FOR ME. I WANTED TO ALSO ECHO THE SENTIMENTS OF APPRECIATION TO LISA AND FAN-GANG FOR YOUR STIMULATING PRESENTATION. I WAS LISTENING COMMENTS FAN-GANG MADE, REMINDED ME OF THE ADVANCE PROGRAMS, DIVERSITY AND INCLUES THAT CAROL ESPY-WILSON AND I PARTICIPATED IN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. SO, YOU MAY OR MAY NOT BE FAMILIAR WITH THE NSF ADVANCE PROGRAM, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SET UP TEN YEARS AGO, AND WHAT THE WAY THEY STRUCTURED IT AT MARYLAND WAS TO HAVE PROFESSOR IN EACH COLLEGE WHO PROVIDED TRAINING AND WORKSHOPS FOR WOMEN FACULTY, FACULTY OF COLOR, TO, YOU KNOW, REALLY HELP THEM BE SUCCESSFUL FOR THE UNIVERSITY. AND THROUGH THE PROMOTION PROCESS. WE GOT TO BE CLOSE WITH THE PEOPLE WE WERE WORKING WITH. WE FOLLOWED THEIR CAREERS OVER TIME. WE AS ADVANCED PROFESSORS GOT TRAINING OURSELVES HOW TO BE BETTER ADVOCATES FOR THE PEOPLE WE WERE WORKING WITH. IT WAS AN ABSOLUTELY SUPERB PROGRAM. I'M THINKING THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE IN A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT THAN A UNIVERSITY BUT WONDERING IF SOME ELEMENTS OF THE ADVANCE PROGRAM COULD BE IMPLEMENTED THROUGH THE NIDCD. MAYBE MANAGED THROUGH THE NEW DIVERSITY OFFICER THAT IS GOING TO BE COMING ON BOARD. SO TO HAVE A COMMITTED SET OF PEOPLE AT NIDCD, AMONG OUR GROUP OR REVIEWERS, OR FUNDED INVESTIGATORS, WHO WANT TO PROVIDE THIS KIND OF PROGRAMMING AND WORKSHOPS FOR PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT CAREER STAGES, INCLUDING THOSE AT THE LOWER LEVEL. AND THE OTHER THING I WANTED TO MENTION WAS PROBABLY THE BEST THING THAT EVER HELPED MY CAREER AND GAIN SUCCESS GETTING GRANTS, FOR DECADES NOW, WAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN GRANT REVIEWS, THAT WAS THE BEST LEARNING LESSON I EVER HAD. AND IT SEEMS LIKE I NEVER STOPPED LEARNING. BUT I ENCOURAGED, I'VE SEEN THE MOST RECENTLY ON STUDY SECTION STARTED TO HAVE JUNIOR INVESTIGATORS WHO RECENTLY GOT GRANTS JOINING IN GRANT REVIEW, AND IF WE COULD INCLUDE, YOU KNOW, UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY INDIVIDUALS TO JOIN IN THAT GRANT REVIEW PROCESS, PERSONALLY THAT'S THE BEST EXPERIENCE WE COULD PROVIDE. THANK YOU. >> GREAT IDEAS, EVERYONE. NIRUPA AND THEN CAROL, IF I'M TRACKING. >> YEAH. SO ACTUALLY THAT WAS JUST A PERFECT LEAD-IN. SANDRA'S POINT -- [ NO AUDIO ] >> WE LOST YOU, AT LEAST I DID. >> NIRUPA, YOU'RE MUTED. >> SORRY. SO, I REALLY APPRECIATE WHAT SANDRA SAID, AND SO IT SORT OF LEADS INTO A COUPLE THINGS I WAS THINKING OF WHILE HAVING THIS DISCUSSION, I DID SOME REVIEWING FOR FORD FOUNDATION MANY YEARS AGO, AND SO IT SORT OF BRINGS TOGETHER THIS IDEA ABOUT THE COHORT OF STUDENTS SO THEY HAVE CONFERENCE EVERY YEAR WHERE ALL OF THEIR DIFFERENT RECIPIENTS OF THEIR GRANTS ATTEND GENERALLY IN ONE AREA OF A SCIENCE AND COME TOGETHER IN IRVINE, IT WAS JUST SUCH AN ENRICHING EXPERIENCE FOR ALL OF THEM. BUT SO THAT WHOLE COHORT IDEA IS REALLY GOOD BECAUSE THEN YOU SORT OF HAVE A LATERAL TRANSMISSION IN ADDITION TO VERTICAL TRANSMISSION OF SOME OF THESE SCIENCE CULTURE TYPE THINGS. BUT APART FROM THAT I SAW THE OTHER THING THAT I THINK ARGYE BROUGHT UP, THAT I'M VERY KEEN ON, SO UNIVERSITIES, WHEN JUST A REGULAR JUNIOR FACULTY MEMBER IS HIRED, GOOD UNIVERSITIES AND DEPARTMENTS HAVE A MENTOR OR MENTORING COMMITTEE ASSIGNED TO THEM. AND TO THE EXTENT THE NIDCD PROVIDES, SAY, A VERY JUNIOR PERSON, YOU KNOW, WHO IS AN UNDERGRADUATE OR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, AND SO THEY ARE RECIPIENTS OF A SUPPLEMENT, NIDCD SHOULD TRACK THEM. AND KIND OF GET THEM THAT SUPPORT THROUGH A CADRE OF MIDDLE LEVEL, SENIOR LEVEL, EVEN JUNIOR LEVEL FUNDED RESEARCHERS TO GIVE THEM TOPICAL APPROPRIATE AND, YOU KNOW, WELL RECEIVED ADVICE, AT VARIOUS STAGES, WHETHER IT'S, YOU KNOW, SELECTING RESEARCH DIRECTIONS, WHETHER IT'S SELECTING INSTITUTIONS TO GO TO NEXT, AND WHAT SORTS OF GRADUATE SCHOOLS, POSTDOCS, FACULTY POSITIONS, ALL OF THAT. AND GRANT APPLICATIONS. AND I THINK IT WOULD BE AT RELATIVELY LOW EXPENSE, YOU COULD ACTUALLY HAVE PEOPLE WHO ARE EXPERIENCED, YOU KNOW, HAVE A VERY MARGINAL, SAY, EFFORT FRACTION THAT GETS INCLUDED, SOMEWHERE IN THAT, AS A MEANS OF SUPPORTING THESE PEOPLE SO YOU COULD TRACK THEM. THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES TO GROW THE PIPELINE. SO WE'RE ALWAYS LOOKING AT THE VERY EARLY STAGES OF THE PIPELINE. BUT THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT THAT WHILE I APPRECIATE WHAT FAN-GANG SAID, THE SITUATION IS BETTER TODAY THAN IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO, THAT'S MY EXPERIENCE. SO WE MUST NOT IGNORE OUR SUCCESSES. TO GROW THAT SUCCESS IF YOU OFFER THE RIGHT KIND OF SUPPORT ALL ALONG, FOR MANY YEARS, PERHAPS, YOU KNOW, SOME PEOPLE ARE, YOU KNOW, NEED IT FOR A FEW YEARS, SOME PEOPLE NIGHT IT FOR LONGER. BUT I THINK THAT WE CAN SEE SUCCESS IF WE REALLY ENGAGE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY -- AND WE'RE ALSO SERVING ON STUDY SECTIONS SO THE EXPERIENCE TO THE MENTORS IS ENORMOUS AS WELL BECAUSE THOSE MENTORS CAN THEN BE ON STUDY SECTIONS SAYING, WAIT, YOU KNOW, WE CAN CUT THIS PERSON SOME SLACK, FOR EXAMPLE. OR WHATEVER ELSE. SO-- THE COHORT PART AND THE SUPPORT PART. >> YEAH. THANK YOU. GREAT. GREAT STUFF. CAROL? YOU'RE MUTED. >> OKAY. >> THERE YOU GO. >> SO I JUST WANTED TO SHARE SOME OF THE PROGRAMS THAT I THINK HAVE BEEN VERY HELPFUL TO ME THAT I PARTICIPATED IN TO HELP OTHERS, NIH COULD FIGURE SOME THINGS OUT THEY COULD DO TO BE HELPFUL IN THIS REGARD, STARTING WITH HIGH SCHOOL. I WENT TO AN NSF-FUNDED PROGRAM IN SCIENCE AT BENNETT COLLEGE FOR SIX WEEKS, BETWEEN MY SOPHOMORE AND JUNIOR YEAR IN HIGH SCHOOL. THAT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT. AND THEN I WENT TO ANOTHER NSF PROGRAM THE FOLLOWING SUMMER, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, PRE-ENGINEERING, BOTH WERE REALLY IMPORTANT TO PUTTING ME ON THE PATH THAT I'M ON TODAY. AND SO I HIGHLY SUPPORT THE IDEA OF NIH HAVING PROGRAMS FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS DURING THE SUMMER, TO GET THEM READY FOR CAREERS IN STEM, SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND I WANT TO SAY I KNOW YOU'RE DOING SOME THINGS BECAUSE MY SON PARTICIPATED IN AN INTRAMURAL PROGRAM WHEN HE WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL, THAT WAS ON THE BETHESDA CAMPUS, WORKING WITH A SCIENTIST. THAT WAS REALLY UPLIFTING FOR HIM. HE GOT A CHANCE TO PRESENT HIS WORK, LIKE A POSTER SESSION. HE LEARNED A GREAT DEAL. AND NOW HE'S IN SCHOOL FOR NEUROSCIENCE IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, SO I WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT PROGRAM MAY HAVE HELPED HIM DECIDE TO TAKE ON A SCIENCE CAREER. BUT THAT PROGRAM IS NOT VERY WELL KNOWN AND I ONLY HAPPENED TO LEARN ABOUT THAT PROGRAM BECAUSE MY NIECE, AT HARVARD AT A Ph.D. PROGRAM, KNEW ABOUT IT AND TOLD US ABOUT IT. SHE HAD GONE TO A POSTBAC, HAD GONE TO SOME PROGRAM, I THINK BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL AND GOING ON FOR HER PhD, WHERE SHE WORKED AT NIH FOR A YEAR OR TWO. SO ANYWAY, I JUST DON'T THINK THAT IT'S WELL ADVERTISED, I DON'T KNOW ANY OTHER SCHOOLS THAT HAVE HIGH SCHOOLS THAT KNEW ABOUT THAT PROGRAM SO I THINK YOU COULD DO A MUCH BETTER JOB ADVERTISING WHAT'S ALREADY THERE. I DON'T KNOW THAT NIDCD PARTICIPATE, BUT SOME OF THE INSTITUTES THERE, AND THEN NSF ALSO HAS RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADS, YOU CAN GET SITE GRANTS, WHERE YOU CAN BRING IN STUDENTS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, OTHER UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS TO WORK AT YOUR UNIVERSITIES DURING THE SUMMER. THOSE ARE NSF PROGRAMS, I DON'T KNOW THAT NIH HAS ANYTHING LIKE THAT BUT I KNOW THAT THOSE HAVE BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL. WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO GET THOSE STUDENTS TO COME BACK TO U MARYLAND AT GRAD STUDENTS BECAUSE THEY HAD SUCH A GOOD EXPERIENCE WHILE THERE AT UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS. I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE PROGRAM -- SANDY IS GONE NOW, THE DIVERSITY PROGRAM WE DID, THAT WE'RE STILL DOING, DECIDED TO CONTINUE THAT PROGRAM BEYOND THE FUNDING, FROM NSF, IT WAS A REALLY BIG BUY IN FROM A WHOLE UNIVERSITY. NASA SCIENCE FOUNDATION GAVE THE MONEY FOR THE S.T.E.M. PART BUT OUR UNIVERSITY MATCHED WHAT NASA SCIENCE FOUNDATION GIVE SO FOR WOMEN ACROSS THE DEPARTMENTS. AND I WON'T REPEAT WHAT SANDY SAID BUT ANOTHER PROGRAM THAT WE STARTED WAS CALLED ADVANCING DIVERSITY, AND THAT PROGRAM HAS BEEN WILDLY SUCCESSFUL AT UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND WHERE WE BROUGHT TOGETHER ONCE A MONTH ANY FACULTY OF COLOR THAT WANTED TO PARTICIPATE. WE'VE HAD AFRICAN AMERICANS, BLACKS, HISPANICS, PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROGRAM. ASIANS, HISPANICS, AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THIS PROGRAM, AND YOU'RE TAKING PEOPLE WHO ARE JUNIOR FACULTY AS WELL AS ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS, AND TRYING TO GET THEM TO THE NEXT STAGE. HOW DO YOU GET THROUGH THE SENIOR PROCESS, FROM ASSOCIATE TO ADVANCED, WE HIT ON EVERY TOPIC POSSIBLE THAT IS IMPORTANT TO MAKING IT THROUGH THE UNIVERSITIES, HOW TO SAY NO, I WANT TO SAY THAT'S A REALLY BIG ONE FOR WOMEN IN PARTICULAR BECAUSE I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MANY COLLEAGUES I KNOW THAT ARE FEMALE THAT DIDN'T MAKE TENURE BECAUSE THEY WERE ASKED FOR SO MUCH SERVICE BY THEIR CHAIR AND SORT OF PEOPLE THEY DIDN'T HAVE A PUBLICATION RECORD THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD, SO JUST TEACHING PEOPLE WHAT ARE THE CRUCIAL THINGS TO PAY ATTENTION TO, HOW TO DEAL, ASKED TO DO A LOT OF THINGS, WHAT SHOULD YOUR C.V. LOOK LIKE, WHAT DOES THAT WHOLE PROMOTION PROCESS LOOK LIKE IN YOUR DEPARTMENT, AND THE COLLEGE, AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL, WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT THINGS THEY ARE LOOKING FOR, MICROAGGRESSIONS, HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THEM. EVERY TOPIC THAT WE COULD THINK OF WE TRIED TO DISCUSS, DURING THAT YEAR'S PROGRAM AND WE SOMETIMES HAD PEOPLE COME IN AND TALK, WHO ARE WRITTEN ON THESE TOPICS, SOMETIMES IT WAS JUST US TALKING TO EACH OTHER. AND THE NICE THING ABOUT THAT PROGRAM IS IT GAVE YOU A VERY SAFE AND BRAVE SPACE TO SAY THINGS THAT YOU MIGHT OTHERWISE NOT WANT TO SAY. BECAUSE WHATEVER WAS SAID IN THIS ROOM STAYS IN THAT ROOM. PEOPLE REALLY CONNECTED. I HAVE TO SAY THE SUCCESS RATE OF PEOPLE GETTING TENURED ALMOST AT 100%. AND I WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT PROGRAM HAD A LOT TO DO WITH IT. WE LOOKED OVER EACH OTHER'S CVs, WRITING OF PERSONAL STATEMENTS, IT WAS LIKE A GROUP EFFORT. SOME OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE EVEN ON WRITING GROUPS, SO I THINK THAT PROGRAMS LIKE THAT ARE VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE OFTEN BECAUSE THERE'S SO FEW OF US ON CAMPUS WE'RE ISOLATED. AND WE DON'T SEE PEOPLE THAT LOOK LIKE US ON A REGULAR BASIS. SO IT WAS GOOD TO HAVE THAT ONCE A MONTH YOU COME TOGETHER, SO EAR -- OTHER PEOPLE THAT LOOK LIKE YOU HAVING THE SAME EXPERIENCE. BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN SO SUCCESSFUL, OUR PRESIDENT, THE INAUGURAL EVENT, TALKS ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE. WE NOW HAVE AN AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT BUT THE ONE WE HAD BEFORE WAS ASIAN. AND SO HE HAD EXPERIENCED A LOT OF ISSUES WITH RACISM AND OTHER THINGS, SO HE WOULD SHARE THAT IN THE BEGINNING TO KICK THE EVENT OFF. SO THAT HAS BEEN -- THAT HAS BEEN PIVOTAL. THE MONEY EXPENDED, THE UNIVERSITY HAS PICKED UP THE FUNDING TO CONTINUE THESE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS BECAUSE IT'S BEEN SO SUCCESSFUL. I THINK YOU JUST HAVE TO HAVE THINGS ALL ALONG THE WAY BECAUSE ONE OF THESE I HAVE TO TELL A LOT OF YOUNG PEOPLE COMING UP, YOU HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO BE COMFORTABLE WITH BEING UNCOMFORTABLE BECAUSE YOU'RE OFTEN THE ONLY PERSON OF COLOR IN A ROOM. AND THAT'S -- THAT TAKES SOME GETTING USED TO. SO, I THINK YOU HAVE TO THINK CREATIVELY ABOUT HOW TO HELP ALL ALONG THAT PIPELINE SO YOU CAN GET A SIGNIFICANT COHORT OF PEOPLE TO GROOM. I THINK I TOUCHED ON ALL OF IT. >> STEFAN, DID YOU RAISE YOUR HAND? IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE. >> I DON'T KNOW HOW WE'RE GOING ON TIME. YOU GO AHEAD AND MAYBE WE CAN FIGURE OUT. >> I DIDN'T RAISE MY HAND BUT I NEED TO -- THIS DISCUSSION IS GOING ON EVERYWHERE, RIGHT? >> YEAH. >> I LIKE PRETTY MUCH EVERY POINT THAT WAS RAISED. I'M JUST WONDERING WHICH OF THESE POINTS ARE FEASIBLE FOR NIDCD TO WORK ON AND WHICH OF THESE POINTS ARE MERELY ENCOURAGEMENT FOR EVERYBODY WHO IS DOING RESEARCH AND WHO IS FUNDED BY NIDCD, TO IMPLEMENT AND I THINK IT MAYBE REQUIRES ALSO REACHING OUT TO THE ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN OTOLADIES AND GENTLEMEN OTOLARYNGOLOGY, FOR POSTDOCS AND GRADUATE STUDENTS TO SHOW AND EFFORT, FOR US IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT NOT ONLY FOR THE P.I.s TO GO OUT BUT ALSO FOR PEOPLE IN OUR LABS, TO TAKE ON RESPONSIBILITY AND REALLY TRAIN THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND GIVE A PLEAS PLEASANT EXPERIENCE IN THE LAB OR ANY SUGGESTS TO HELP THEM APPRECIATE A CAREER IN SCIENCE IS ACTUALLY REALLY HELPFUL. AND I THINK SOME EFFORT TO REMIND PEOPLE AND MAYBE WAYS HOW TO HELP THEM TO IMPLEMENT, IT WOULD BE GREAT. I HAVE A LITTLE FUND THAT I REIMBURSE MY POSTDOCS IF THEY GIVE A TALK IN A HIGH SCHOOL OR SO, THAT I GIVE THEM SOME MONEY TO GO THERE AND MAYBE INVITE A STUDENT FOR SOMETHING ELSE. I THINK THAT THESE LITTLE THINGS HELP A LOT. AND BUT OVERALL I AGREE WITH WHAT WAS SAID. >> ONE OTHER THING. NIBIB PARTICIPATE, THEY GAVE FUNDS TO UMBC, MEYERHOFF, WHICH IS A PROGRAM TO GET MORE PEOPLE OF COLOR WITH M.D.s AND PhDs, THEY HAVE DONE EXTREMELY WELL IN PRODUCING MORE PEOPLE OF COLOR WITH DOCTORATES. SO I THINK THERE'S A LOT OF DIFFERENT MECHANISMS, I'M JUST TRYING TO CONVEY THERE'S SO MANY WAYS OF TRYING TO HAVE AN IMPACT. >> THANK YOU. WE WERE TALKING TO PEOPLE, PEOPLE, SO MANY IDEAS MORE INSTITUTIONAL, THAT ARE MORE NIH, IT IS PEOPLE THAT WANTED TO TALK ABOUT THIS, CLEARLY THE MOMENT. I THINK THERE ARE A LOT OF WONDERFUL IDEAS HERE. I WONDER IS THERE A PLACEMENT OF PEOPLE, WE HAVE TO START WRAPPING UP, IS THERE A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE HAVE OTHER IDEAS THAT THEY COULD SUBMIT THEM OR SEND THEM OR TO US TO SHARE OR -- BECAUSE THIS HAS BEEN WONDERFUL. I KNOW PEOPLE ARE SITTING IN THIS SPACE GOING, I DIDN'T EXPRESS MY IDEAS, WOULD THAT BE A CLOSING POINT TO SEND OR IF YOU HAVE OTHER, DEB, ANY OTHER POINTS? >> THIS WAS A GREAT START TO THE CONVERSATION. WE VIEW IT AS A START. WE'LL BE CONTINUING TO ENGAGE COUNCIL IN THESE DISCUSSIONS, AND I'VE HEARD A LOT OF GREAT IDEAS, SOME OF THEM WE'VE THOUGHT OF ALREADY, SOME WE HAVEN'T. BUT PARTICULARLY THE PIPELINE, THE COHORT HIRING, I THINK, IN SUPPORT OF COHORT, ESPECIALLY FACULTY MEMBERS, I THINK WHAT CAROL TALKED ABOUT, ABOUT BEING THE ONLY PERSON OF COLOR IN THE ROOM IS A HUGE REASON WHY IT'S VERY DIFFICULT FOR INSTITUTIONS TO RECRUIT FACULTY, AND SO BEING ABLE TO SUPPORT COHORTS WITHIN INSTITUTIONS AND ACROSS DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS, I THINK IS IMPORTANT. AND THEN THE OTHER THING WE'VE TALKED ABOUT A LOT IS NATIONAL MENTORING NETWORKS, AND WHO IS THE RESPONSIBLE PARTY TO APPLY FOR THE GRANT, TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL MENTORING NETWORK, IS IT A SOCIETY, A FOUNDATION, YOU KNOW, WHO IS GOING TO STEP UP AND ACTUALLY DO THAT? AND SO THESE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE WRESTLING WITH BECAUSE WE HAVE MECHANISMS TO SUPPORT A LOT OF THESE THINGS. ANOTHER THING THAT WE'VE DISCUSSED QUITE A BIT IS THE PIPELINE. AND SO WE HAVE WITHIN THE BLUEPRINT PROGRAM, WHICH IS AN NIH NEUROSCIENCE PROGRAM, THE BRAIN PROGRAM, AND OTHERS, THERE ARE NEUROSCIENCE ORIENTED PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS, BUT WE DON'T ALWAYS SEE A LOT OF RETURN FROM THOSE BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, WE CAN ATTRACT TRAINEES TO NEUROSCIENCE BUT NOT NECESSARILY TO THE NIDCD SPECIFIC MISSION. SO IS IT ENOUGH JUST TO ATTRACT TO SCIENCE OR SHOULD IT BE MORE SPECIFIC TO OUR MISSION AREAS? AND SO THESE ARE A LOT OF THE THINGS THAT WE'VE BEEN DISCUSSING, AND I REALLY APPRECIATE THE ENTHUSIASM AND THE EFFORT THAT EVERYONE HAS BROUGHT TO THIS, THE PASSION IS EVIDENT, AND I THINK WE'RE REALLY FORTUNATE TO HAVE ALL OF YOU AS PARTNERS, AS WE EMBARK ON THIS BECAUSE I THINK THIS IS THE BEGINNING. SO, I WILL LET YOU, LISA AND FAN-GANG, WRAP UP WITH ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SAY AND WE'LL CONCLUDE FOR TODAY AND BRING BACK MORE NEXT TIME. >> I'VE SAID MY PIECE. >> IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU COULD PROVIDE A CONTACT INFO FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO INPUT TO THIS INITIATIVE. >> DEFINITELY WILL DO THAT. ALL RIGHT. CRAIG, DID YOU WANT TO SAY ANYTHING ELSE TO WRAP UP OR -- >> NO, I DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE. IN THE INTERIM IF YOU HAVE ADDITIONAL COMMENTS, SPECIFICALLY IF THEY ARE HOPPING IN YOUR MIND, SEND THEM TO ME. I CAN CERTAINLY SHARE THEM IN HOUSE, I'LL HAVE THEM AVAILABLE FOR FUTURE DISCUSSIONS IF WE NEED TO DO THAT. >> VERY GOOD. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU ALL. HAVE A GOOD EVENING.