NIH Issues Statement and Resources on Sexual Harassment
(from the AAMC 09/24/18))
NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, published on the NIH website a September 17 statement titled "Changing the culture of science to end sexual harassment." Dr. Collins states that sexual harassment is unacceptable, "and it presents a major obstacle that is keeping women from achieving their rightful place in science." In recognizing that NIH needs to "increase [its] transparency on the issue," NIH launched an anti-sexual harassment website to highlight NIH policies pertinent to the extramural and intramural programs. In conjunction with Dr. Collins statement, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research, Michael Lauer, MD, authored an Open Mike blog post to update the community on NIH's sexual harassment policies. Articles in Nature and Science also discuss the NIH's policies. After the National Science Foundation (NSF) released its new policy on sexual harassment (see item below), the NIH provided additional information on its existing policies, clarifying that "legal constraints that apply differently to NSF and NIH currently prevent NIH from immediate implementation of an identical policy."