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OTHER LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STAY-AT-HOME SCIENTISTS

Note: Please email Alexis Schirling if you find any broken links, have opportunities that you would like to add, or have any questions about this page. 

 

You can find daily events at NIH at https://calendar.nih.gov/.

NIH Library Services: Earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) Credits with Library Resources; Adobe Creative Cloud Software and Classes; NIH Library Online Training Classes; Other Online Services, Training, and Resources; 3D Printing Medical Supplies; JoVE Science Education Videos; Enhance Your Data Science Skills with the SAGE Data Science Video Collection; Biomedical and Life Sciences Lectures from HSTalk; PubMed - use a special version for NIH staff; Embase 
Two Online NIH courses are still open: Principles of Clinical Pharmacology and Principles and Practice of Clinical Research
 

Registration for the 2021-2022 NIH Introduction to the Principles and Practice of Clinical Research (IPPCR) course is now open!

This free, self-paced, online course runs from September 1, 2021 to August 1, 2022. Graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, medical, dental, and pharmacy students, scientists, nurses, and other health professionals are encouraged to enroll now.

The IPPCR course is a lecture series from thought-leaders around the world covering:

  • Study Designs, Measurement and Statistics
  • Ethical, Legal, Monitoring, and Regulatory Considerations
  • Preparing and Implementing Clinical Studies
  • Communicating research findings and other topics 

To register, please visit the IPPCR website at https://ocr.od.nih.gov/courses/ippcr.html or contact the course coordinator at ippcr2@mail.nih.gov.    

Please feel free to share the course information website link with any internal or external colleagues. We aim to continue to make this course a national and international success!   

Individuals with disabilities who need Sign Language Interpreters and/or reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Rebecca Hwang, Office of Clinical Research, rebecca.hwang@nih.gov, 301-451-1468, and/or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).

 

Registration is now open for the 2021-2022 NIH Principles of Clinical Pharmacology (PCP) Course!

The PCP course is a free online lecture series covering the fundamentals of clinical pharmacology as a translational scientific discipline focused on rational drug development and utilization in therapeutics. Topics covered in the course include pharmacokinetics, drug therapy in special populations, drug discovery and development, and pharmacogenomics. 

PCP Course Details

The course will be of interest to graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, medical and pharmacy students, scientists, and health professionals interested in expanding their pharmacology knowledge base. For additional information on the course, please visit the website above or contact the course coordinator at odpcp@mail.nih.gov. Please feel free to share the course information with any internal or external colleagues that you feel may benefit from the course. 

Individuals with disabilities who need Sign Language Interpreters and/or reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Rebecca Hwang, NIH Office of Clinical Research, odpcp@mail.nih.gov, 301-451-1468, and/or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).

CIT Technology Training Program - Winter Training Term (1-6-21)
 
Winter is the time for comfort, for warmth beside a fire, and for our Winter training term to begin.
As the outbreak of COVID-19 continues, we will present our training sessions via WebEx; at this time, space will be limited for better facilitation.
 
Would you like to learn more about virtual meetings?  Are you looking to make your documents Section 508 compliant?  Are you using Microsoft Office 2016 applications?  We can be of assistance.  There is no charge for most of the courses and seminars (any charges would be listed with the course description), and registration is open to NIH staff as well as all users of CIT computing facilities. Please use the links below to find more details about the courses and to register online.
 
Would you like to learn more about Microsoft Office 2016 applications:
Do you work with a Mac:
Are you interested in unified communications and web technologies:
We also have Accessibility sessions available:
Additional sessions include:
Information to join a webinar session will be sent to those who are enrolled via e-mail from the instructor. Any documents required for the training will be included. If you have not received this information by the day of the session, please e-mail us at cittraining@mail.nih.gov.
 
If you have expertise you would consider sharing with those in the NIH community, please contact us. We have extensive instructor support services (e.g. obtaining publications for instructors, polishing course descriptions, e-mailing course materials, setting up projection systems, etc.) to make efficient use of your time and make your presentation effective.
 
We also coordinate outside training personnel, classroom rental, resources, registration, and other related activities in support of training events for a nominal fee to cover complete cost recovery.
If you have any questions or need assistance with registering for sessions, please contact us by email at CITTraining@mail.nih.gov.
Science Communication in the Context of a Pandemic: Highlights and Lessons
September 24, 2020
 
During the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic, timely, accurate, and concise communication is vital to ensure public understanding of the scientific basis for the advice they receive. The panelists will identify difficulties in science communication scenarios where there is uncertainty and urgency, together with optimal strategies for scientists and science communication professionals to cope with these challenges.
SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science)
 
On-Demand Webinar: Public Health in Indigenous Populations 

In this new webinar, Donald Warne, MD, MPH, (Oglala Lakota) shares what Native people and communities need to be aware of and consider when dealing with COVID-19, by providing an in-depth look into Indigenous health, history, and policy. Dr. Warne is Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Director, MPH Program & INMED Program; and Professor, Family & Community Medicine at UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Watch now.
ASCB (American Society for Cell Biology) Webinars
 
ASM (American Society for Microbiology) Events
 
NLM/MLA Leiter Lecture - Dr. John Brownstein On Digital Epidemiology And The Covid-19 Pandemic: August 11, 2020
 
John S. Brownstein is professor of biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School and is the chief innovation officer of Boston Children’s Hospital. He also directs the Computational Epidemiology Lab and the Innovation and Digital Health Accelerator, both at Boston Children’s Hospital. Brownstein is also Uber’s health care advisor and cofounder of the digital health companies Epidemico and Circulation. He will be speaking on the surveillance, control, and prevention of disease, the development and application of data mining, and citizen science to public health in relation to his work with the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Published by Scientific American, information updated as we learn more
NINR Artificial Intelligence Virtual Boot Camp
 
In August, the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) will hold a four-day virtual boot camp to explore the impact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has in the evolving healthcare environment, and overall efforts to improve the quality of care for patients and families. The goal is to enable attendees to understand basic principles of AI and how clinicians can form strategic alliances with data scientists to carry out research on data-driven intelligent hardware and software approaches to health-related issues. The event will be broadcast live via VideoCast and archived for later viewing.
 
Objectives:
  • Describe the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and explore the role of AI to promote health, and to prevent illness.
  • Discuss strategies to build partnerships and collaborations among clinicians and scientists.
  • Explore AI data collection, including ethical, legal, and social implications.
  • Analyze clinical and translational AI applications that can reach more diverse patient populations and improve the safety, efficacy, and quality of healthcare.
Boot Camp Agenda:
  • [8/3/2020] Session I: Innovations and Improvements in Health Outcomes
  • [8/4/2020] Session II: Clinical Applications
  • [8/5/2020] Session III: Ethical, Legal, And Social Implications
  • [8/6/2020] Session IV: Collaborative Science

ABRCMS (The Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students) has created ABRCMS Online 

ABRCMS Online is an extension of the conference that allows the biomedical sciences community to continue learning, with resources for students, trainees, faculty, and community.

NLM’s Ada Lovelace Lecture Series "AI in the Age of COVID-19: Computational Tools for a Pandemic”

Tackling Diabetic Retinopathy in a Safety Net Healthcare Setting with Telehealth and Machine Learning

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working age adults in the United States. It is challenging to address in both rural and urban underserved settings, which suffer from shortages of eye specialists. This talk will describe the approach taken to address this condition in a medically underserved area (South Los Angeles) by researchers in the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, using telehealth and machine learning on data from patient electronic health records.

Brief Bio:

Omolola Ogunyemi, PhD, FACMI is the Director of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science's Center for Biomedical Informatics and a co-chair of the UCLA CTSI's biomedical informatics program. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Radiological Sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA with the Medical and Imaging Informatics group. She was recently a Principal Investigator on a National Library of Medicine (NLM)-funded R01 grant to develop a variety of machine learning approaches for identifying patients with latent/undiagnosed diabetic retinopathy from electronic health records or digital retinal images. Dr. Ogunyemi’s research at the CBI focuses on novel biomedical informatics solutions for problems that affect medically underserved communities. Her research interests include computerized medical decision support, reasoning under uncertainty, 3D graphics and visualization, and machine learning.

Prior to her role at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Dr. Ogunyemi was a biomedical informatics faculty member in the Department of Radiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She was also a member of the affiliated faculty in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. Dr. Ogunyemi holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Barnard College, Columbia University and an M.S.E, and Ph.D. in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

How to Join:

This talk will be broadcast live and archived at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=43839. 
Date: Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Time: 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET
 

Interpreting services are available upon request. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate in this lecture should contact Ms. Queenmoore Okeke at queenmoore.okeke@nih.gov  or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).

Sequence-Structure-Function Modeling for the 3D Genome
 
The National Library of Medicine’s Ada Lovelace Computational Health Lecture Series presents, "Sequence-Structure-Function Modeling for the 3D Genome", Thursday, January 28, 2021 | 2:00 to 3:00 pm | NIH Videocast
 
The talk will be delivered by Katherine S. Pollard, PhD, Director, Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology, Professor and Investigator, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub at the University of California San Francisco.
 
Ada Bryon Lovelace developed the idea of Poetical Science, which emphasizes the importance of intuition and image in mathematics and science. Poetical Science comprises three key features: observation, interpretation, and integration. A brilliant mathematician, Lovelace is broadly recognized as the first computer programmer. A key example of Poetical Science is her observation of a punch card-driven loom in a weaving factory that subsequently led to the mathematics that operationalized Charles Babbage's computing machine. In this talk, Dr. Pollard will discuss how the human genome sequence folds in three dimensions (3D) into a rich variety of locus-specific contact patterns.
 
Despite growing appreciation for the importance of 3D genome folding in various aspects of cell biology, there is a lack of models for relating mutations in genome sequences to changes in genome structure and function. Towards that goal, Dr. Pollard and her colleagues discovered that the organization of gene regulatory domains within this structure and the specific sequences that sit at boundaries between domains are under strong negative selection in the human population and over primate evolution. Motivated by this signature of functional importance, Dr. Pollard’s team developed a deep convolutional neural network, called Akita, that accurately predicts genome folding from DNA sequence alone. Representations learned by Akita underscore the importance of the structural protein CTCF but also reveal a complex grammar beyond CTCF binding sites that underlies genome folding. Akita has enabled rapid in silico predictions for effects of sequence mutagenesis on the 3D genome, including differences in genome folding across species and in disease cohorts, which are being validated with CRISPR-edited genomes. This prediction-first strategy exemplifies Dr. Pollard’s vision for a more proactive, rather than reactive, role for data science in biomedical research.
 
Dr. Pollard earned her BA at Pomona College and her master’s degree and PhD in biostatistics from UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, she developed computationally intensive statistical methods for the analysis of microarray data with applications in cancer biology. She implemented these approaches in Bioconductor, an open-source software program used with high-throughput genomic data. As a comparative genomics postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Cruz, Pollard participated in the Chimpanzee Genome Project and used this sequence to identify the fastest-evolving regions in the human genome, known as Human Accelerated Regions.
 
Before joining Gladstone, Dr. Pollard was an assistant professor in the Genome Center and Department of Statistics at UC Davis. She was awarded the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 1995 and the Sloan Research Fellowship in 2008. Dr. Pollard is a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. In 2018, she became the founding director of the Gladstone Institute of Biotechnology and Data Science. Dr. Pollard is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, the American Statistical Association, and the International Society for Computational Biology.
This lecture is sponsored by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Acting Scientific Director and David Landsman, PhD, Chief, Computational Biology Branch at NLM's National Center for Biotechnology Information.
 
This lecture will be live-streamed globally, and subsequently archived and available for viewing, at: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=41362.
 
Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Valerie Bartlett, bartletv@mail.nih.gov and/or the Federal Relay at 1-800-877-8339. Requests should be made five days in advance.
 
Submit questions during the meeting to: NLMEPInfo@mail.nih.gov.
 
Implications of Poetical Science for Advancing Health Equity through Information Visualization

Suzanne Bakken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, FIAHSI, Alumni Professor of Nursing and Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University presented the National Library of Medicine’s Ada Lovelace Computational Health Lecture on December 7, 2020. The title of her talk was “Implications of Poetical Science for Advancing Health Equity through Information Visualization”
In this talk, Dr. Bakken will use the lens of Poetical Science to describe a program of research focused on advancing health equity of urban Latinos through use of information visualization. This will include the integration of perspectives from the fields of health equity, nursing science, health literacy, health communication, and information visualization.
 
Suzanne Bakken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, FIAHSI, is the Alumni Professor of Nursing and Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University. Following her doctorate in Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Medical Informatics at Stanford University. Her program of research has focused on the intersection of informatics and health equity for more than 30 years and has been funded by AHRQ, NCI, NIMH, NINR, and NLM. Dr. Bakken’s program of research has resulted in more than 300 peer-reviewed papers. At Columbia Nursing, she leads the NINR-funded Precision in Symptom Self-Management (PriSSM) Center and Reducing Health Disparities Through Informatics (RHeaDI) Pre- and Post-doctoral Training Program.
 
She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, American College of Medical Informatics, International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Bakken has received multiple awards for her research including the Pathfinder Award from the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Nursing Informatics Award from the Friends of the National Library of Medicine, the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researchers Hall of Fame, and the Virginia K. Saba Award from the American Medical Informatics Association. Most recently, she was the first nurse recipient of the Francois Gremy Award from the International Medical Informatics Association. Dr. Bakken currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association and a member of the National Library of Medicine’s Board of Regents.
This lecture is sponsored by Dr. Milton Corn, MD, Acting Scientific Director, National Library of Medicine and David Landsman, PhD, Chief, Computational Biology Branch at the NLM’s National Center for Biotechnology Information.
 
This lecture will be live-streamed globally, and subsequently archived, by NIH video casting: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=40070.
 
Dynamic Genome Rearrangements in the Ciliate Oxytricha

The talk was delivered on October 13, 2020, by Dr. Laura Landweber, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and of Biological Sciences, Columbia University.
 
Topic: The ciliate Oxytricha trifallax possesses a complex pair of genomes, and massive DNA rearrangements produce a highly fragmented but functional somatic macronucleus from a complex germline micronucleus. This process eliminates nearly all noncoding DNA, including transposons, and rearranges over 225,000 short DNA segments to produce a second genome containing thousands of gene-sized "nanochromosomes”. The mature, somatic genome contains over 17,000 nanochromosomes. Noncoding RNAs regulate the entire process of genome rearrangement. Millions of parental 27nt small RNAs provide the critical information to mark and protect the retained DNA segments of the genome. These and other processes illustrate the multifaceted ability of noncoding RNAs to transmit heritable information to the next generation.
 
Dr. Laura Landweber is a Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Biological Sciences, and Systems Biology, in the Colleges of Physicians & Surgeons and Arts & Sciences. Prior to moving her lab to Columbia University Medical Center she was faculty at Princeton University from 1994-2016, and a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, where she received her PhD in 1993. She has authored over 150 publications in molecular and evolutionary biology and edited 3 books, in areas ranging from genetics and evolution to biological computation. She is President (2017) of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) and has served on several panels, working groups, and advisory committees for the NSF, NIH, and NASA, including co-chairing the NHGRI Comparative Genome Evolution Working Group from 2003-2007. Recent awards include a Guggenheim fellowship (2012) and a Blavatnik award for young scientists (2008), and she was elected a Fellow of AAAS for probing the diversity of genetic systems in microbial eukaryotes, including scrambled genes, RNA editing, variant genetic codes, and comparative genomics. Her work investigates the origin of novel genetic systems and complex genome architectures, using the ciliate Oxytricha as a model. Recent discoveries include the ability of small and long non-coding RNA molecules to program genome organization across generations, bypassing the information encoded in DNA.
 
This lecture is sponsored by David Landsman, PhD, Director of the Computational Biology Branch, NCBI, and Dr. Milton Corn, MD, Acting Scientific Director, National Library of Medicine
This lecture is archived at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=38902
 
Computational Tools for the Classification, Prediction, and Characterization of a Pandemic
 
The first lecture in NLM’s Ada Lovelace Computational Health Lecture Series "AI in the Age of COVID-19: Computational Tools for a Pandemic”, was presented Wednesday, June 24, 2020, by by Dr. John H. Holmes, PhD, FACE, FACMI, FIAHSI, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
 
Traditional methods of epidemic modeling continue to be used fruitfully for characterizing outbreaks and predicting the spread of disease in populations. However, these methods, typically rely on what are known as “compartment models”, requiring assumptions that are not necessarily sensitive to the ever-changing environmental, behavioral, temporospatial, and social phenomena that influence disease spread. Compartment models can be enriched by the judicious use of robust methods drawn from the field of artificial intelligence that allow us to model more accurately and more quickly the population and disease dynamics that are central to developing policies for prevention, detection, and treatment. We will explore these approaches, including some that are currently in use as well as a proposal for novel, next-generation machine learning tools for epidemiologic investigation.
 
This lecture was sponsored by Valerie Florance, PhD, Associate Director of the National Library of Medicine, Division of Extramural Programs and Dr. Milton Corn, MD, Acting Scientific Director, National Library of Medicine
 
A recording of the lecture is available: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=37909.
Supporting People With Addiction During Covid-19: A Webinar Series From The National Academy Of Medicine
 
Individuals experiencing addiction are a vulnerable population that have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical distancing protocols have separated patients from their clinicians, made medications to treat addiction much more challenging to obtain, and shuttered many long-term recovery groups. 
 
A new webinar series from the NAM and the American Society of Addiction Medicine will provide insight and targeted guidance on how to ensure that these individuals are cared for and protected during this ongoing public health crisis.
NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research presentation: "What are we learning from talking to scientists about scientific communication?" May 19, 2020, 2:00 - 3:00 pm EDT
 
Presentation Overview:
In recent years, Dr. John Besley has shifted his research from the study of public opinion about science to trying to understand scientists' opinion about the public. As part of this work, he and his collaborators have advanced a framework for strategic science communication that emphasizes setting clear behavioral goals and then working backwards to identify communication objectives that have the potential of affecting desired behaviors, as well as tactics to help achieve the communication objectives. This perspective puts identifying and prioritizing specific communication objectives at the core of being an effective communicator.
 
Dr. Besley will share his thinking along with selected data from his surveys and interviews of scientists.
John Besley, Ph.D., is Ellis N. Brandt Professor of Public Relations at Michigan State University.
The slides will be available with closed captioning on OBSSR’s website approximately two weeks following the webinar: https://obssr.od.nih.gov/what-we-are-learning-from-talking-to-scientists-about-science-communication.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Activities:
 
FORUM:
 
Series
 
Special Events
 
Podcasts of Forum events with The World from PRX & WGBH
 
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health YouTube
National Academy of Sciences COVID-19 Update
 
Saturday, April 25, 2020
2:00 p.m. EDT
  • Jeremy Farrar, Director, Wellcome Trust
  • Anthony S. Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
  • George F. Gao, Director-General, Chinese Center for Disease Control & Prevention
  • Susan R. Weiss, Professor of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
  • Richard J. Hatchett, CEO, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
  • Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN
Virtual Radcliffe Discussion Series: Health Inequity in The Age Of Covid-19
 
The Radcliffe Institute is launching a new Virtual Radcliffe programming platform to offer lectures and conferences that connect leading scholars and practitioners with the public and advance discourse on pressing issues. Beginning on Thursday, April 23, Radcliffe will host a series of discussions examining the grave health inequities revealed and exacerbated by COVID-19, which is disproportionately impacting vulnerable and marginalized communities. Recordings are now available.
 
April 28, 2020
International experience in recent months has powerfully illustrated that the COVID-19 virus has particularly harmful and disproportionate effects on already vulnerable populations. Mary Bassett and Khalil Gibran Muhammad will discuss inequity and public health in the time of COVID-19, exploring how the virus encounters existing inequalities, replicates these inequalities, and, in many cases, amplifies them.
 
Thursday, April 23, 2020
As COVID-19 threatens to push hospital resources beyond capacity, states, hospitals, and advocacy organizations have formulated protocols to address potential discrimination against persons with disabilities. Highly influential statements by the Arc and the University of Pittsburgh are setting new standards for the ethical treatment of persons with disabilities. This Radcliffe webinar places these triaging policies within the context of the history of disability civil rights, culture, and bioethics and considers what is necessary to achieve equitable health outcomes for persons with disabilities during this time of crisis.
1918 Spanish Flu Historical Documentary | Swine Flu Pandemic | Deadly Plague of 1918
 
Historical documentary about 1918 Swine Flu or Spanish Flu and the role of World War I in spreading the disease among troops making it into a worldwide plague of devastating proportions. The video covers where it began, how and where it spread, the symptoms, how it affected America and whether it could happen again.
NLM Research Symposium: Reporting, Recording, and Remembering the 1918 Influenza Epidemic
 
The symposium will be held virtually on Wednesday, April 29, 2020, 2:00-4:00pm ET, via streamlined Webex to reduce bandwidth usage, while being livestreamed and subsequently archived by NIH Videocasting as part of its archive of past NLM history of medicine events.
 
Watch and hear the program via this URL: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=36347
Join us to learn the research outcomes of Virginia Tech students studying the history of data in social context through individual and collaborative primary-source research here at the NLM and elsewhere, and as part of their course Topics in the History of Data in Social Context, being taught by Dr. E. Thomas Ewing.
 
During the symposium, the students will present their research on various aspects of the 1918 pandemic, including newspaper reporting at the peak of the epidemic (late September to early November 1918), contemporary social distancing policies and procedures, and how contemporaries determined that the epidemic was ending, and how they remembered the remarkable experience of this intense, but relatively brief, crisis in community health. Discussants will include Dr. Nancy Bristow of the University of Puget Sound and author of American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic (Oxford University Press, 2012), among others to be announced.
 
All are welcome to tune-in to this research symposium which advances the NLM 2017-2027 strategic plan emphasizing data-driven discovery, enhanced stakeholder engagement, and the role of libraries and archives in providing trusted information. Reporting, Recording, and Remembering the 1918 Influenza Epidemic is sponsored by the NLM History of Medicine Division in cooperation with the National Endowment (NEH) for the Humanities Office of Digital Humanities—as part of the ongoing NLM/NEH partnership to collaborate on research, education, and career initiatives.
 
Individuals with disabilities who need sign language interpreting and/or other reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact Dr. Stephen Greenberg at greenbes@mail.nlm.nih.gov and/or the Federal Relay at 1-800-877-8339. Requests should be made five days in advance.
PBS Film: “Ken Burns presents The Gene: An Intimate History” -- aired April 7 & 14. You can now stream it from https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-gene/.
 
A new PBS film, “Ken Burns presents The Gene: An Intimate History,” based on the book by Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, will air in two parts: April 7 at 8 pm ET and April 14 at 8 pm ET.  Dr. Mukherjee shared his insights on the book with NIH staff in April 2017 as part of the NIH Big Read series (
For more than two years, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has been proud to support the education and outreach associated with this film, and the NIH Office of the Director, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and others across NIH have also contributed substantially.
The film describes the history of genetics, from Mendel to modern day. It brings to life the story of today’s revolution in medical science through present-day tales of patients and doctors at the forefront of the search for genetic treatments, interwoven with a compelling history of the discoveries that made this possible and the ethical challenges raised by the ability to edit DNA with precision.
 
The filmmakers interviewed many NIH staff and NIH-funded researchers in making the documentary, and you will see multiple NIH employees featured in the final cut. For example, Dr. Francis Collins and I were given the opportunity to recount the excitement of the Human Genome Project and its incredible legacy, including the birth of NHGRI and the increased investments in genetics and genomics by all parts of NIH.
NIH Begins Study to Quantify Undetected Cases of Coronavirus Infection
 
Published April 10, 2020
New Science Webinar from AAAS: Coronavirus: A Survival Guide
 
Thursday, 16 April 2020, 11 a.m. Eastern, 8 a.m. Pacific, 4 p.m. UK (BST), 5 p.m. Central Europe (CEST)
Now available on demand.
  • What the coronavirus is and how it makes you sick
  • What you can do to protect yourself, and keep your friends and family safe
  • How you can build resilience to deal with this new way of life
  • What the end of this pandemic might look like 
  • Where you can get the latest information about the virus that is accurate and trustworthy.
FAES Offerings
 
New January Intersession with Special Coding Course for Beginners
FAES is pleased to offer BIOF101 Introductory Coding, a new online course that will teach novice students the needed programming skills for success in academic, scientific and industrial settings. Students will first learn the basic components of programming, such as variables, conditionals, loops, object-oriented programming and simple data structures.  Students will also be taught how to properly prepare a computer for efficient and effective programming. Students will then apply basic programming principles by using the Python programming language to complete assignments that reflect real-word tasks. Finally, students will put together a plan for further programming education. No prior knowledge of programming is necessary to be successful in this class.
 
BIOF101 will run from January 11 - January 29th.  For students affiliated with NIH, tuition is $75 and for non-NIH students, tuition is $100. To register, go to https://faes.org/courses.
 
If you have any questions, please email registrar@faes.org or call 301-496-7976. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to take FAES classes should contact registrar@faes.org. Requests should be made at least five days in advance.
 
Upcoming FAES Online Workshops: ... Register Now!
 
Pricing varies by workshop. Pricing and registration information is at: https://faes.org/workshops-conferences.
Questions: registrar@faes.org or call 301-496-7977
Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to take FAES classes should contact registrar@faes.org. Requests should be made at least five days in advance.
 
An afternoon with an NIH PI, a new lecture series hosted by FAES
 
We are excited to announce a new virtual lecture series called “An afternoon with an NIH PI” during May 2020 in which prominent scientists from the NIH will share their latest research and insights into their career path. Attendees will be able to submit questions during and after the seminar via chat, and those will be discussed at the end of the seminar. Recordings of all the lectures are now available at https://faes.org/content/an-afternoon-with-an-NIH-PI.
 
  1. A Drug's Purpose: From ED to Viral Hepatitis to COVID-19
    Jake Liang​, MD | NIH Distinguished Investigator, Chief, Liver Diseases Branch, NIDDK
  2. Role of the Microbiota in Immunity and Repair
    Yasmine Belkaid, PhD​ | Chief, Metaorganism Immunity Section, NIAID
  3. Big-Small, Tall-Short, Big Ears-Little Ears: What is the Genetics of it All?
    Elaine Ostrander, PhD | NIH Distinguished Investigator, Cancer Genetics and Comparative Genomics Branch, NHGRI
  4. Self-Renewal, Differentiation and Transformation in Hematopoiesis and in Science
    Cynthia Dunbar, MD | Chief, Translational Stem Cell Biology Branch, NHLBI
  5. From Axon Damage to Disease: Common Pathways in Neurodegeneration
    Claire Le Pichon, PhD | Investigator, Unit on the Development of Neurodegeneration, NICHD
  6. scRNAseq Developmental Trajectories to Investigate Differentiation
    Jeff Farrell, PhD | Earl Stadtman Investigator, Unit on Cell Specification and Differentiation, NICHD
  7. Biological Imaging at High Spatiotemporal Resolution (and How I Got into This)
    Hari Shroff, PhD | Senior Investigator, Laboratory of High Resolution Optical Imaging, NIBIB
NIH COVID-19 Lecture Series
 
Fall 2020 Lectures
 
The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group (SIG) Lecture Series will resume on October 1, 2020. We are writing to let you know that the lecture series has a new day and time: the first and third Thursday of each month at 12:00 pm (ET). The lectures will be available live and archived at videocast.nih.gov.
 
October 1: Paul Bieniasz (Rockefeller University) "Neutralizing Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2."
October 15: Kizzmekia Corbett (NIH) "SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccine Development Enabled by Prototype Pathogen Preparedness."
November 5: E. John Wherry (Perelman School of Medicine, UPenn) "Immune Profiling to Understand COVID-19 Pathogenesis."
November 19: Christine Grady (NIH) "Ethical Quandaries in the COVID-19 Pandemic."
December 3: Helen Su (NIH) "Genetic Studies Illuminating Pathways Important for Controlling COVID Disease."
December 17: James J. Collins (Wyss Institute at Harvard) "Harnessing Synthetic Biology and Deep Learning to Address the COVID-19 Pandemic."
 
For more information about the COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group, refer to https://oir.nih.gov/sigs/covid-19-scientific-interest-group. Sign-language interpreters can be provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Jacqueline Roberts, robertsjm@od.nih.gov, 301-594-6747, or the Federal Relay, 800-877-8339.
— The COVID-19 SIG Leadership
 
Spring and Summer 2020 Lectures
 
SARS-CoV-2 T Cell Responses in Exposed and Non-Exposed Subjects

The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "SARS-CoV-2 T Cell Responses in Exposed and Non-Exposed Subjects," by Alessandro Sette, Ph.D., professor and member of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, La Jolla, CA, July 29. This lecture is now archived.
For his lecture, Dr. Sette will review data examining the nature and specificity of T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 from convalescent and acute donors, and in non-exposed subjects.  Over the past three decades, the Sette lab has defined in chemical terms the specific structures that the immune system recognizes, and it has capitalized on this knowledge to measure and understand immune responses.  This approach uses epitopes as specific probes to define the immune signatures associated with productive/protective immunity versus deficient immunity/immunopathology.  Turning to SARS-CoV-2, Dr. Sette and his colleagues applied this approach to provide the one of the first assessments of whether the immune system can mount a substantial and lasting response, finding evidence of T cell reactivity against and pre-existing immunity to SARS-CoV-2.  Dr. Sette will highlight these and other findings in his talk.
 
COVID-19 Autopsy Findings: A Joint Effort Between NYU Winthrop Hospital and NCI — What Have We Learned So Far

The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "COVID-19 Autopsy Findings: A Joint Effort Between NYU Winthrop Hospital and NCI — What Have We Learned So Far," by Stefania Pittaluga, M.D., and David Kleiner, M.D., Ph.D., senior research physicians in the NCI-CCR Laboratory of Pathology, July 22. This lecture is now archived.
 
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 disease, caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, many studies focusing on clinical course, outcome, clinical parameters, prognostic markers, treatment strategies have been published.  Although most patients experience mild symptoms, some have serious complications—including diffuse alveolar damage, hemodynamic shock, acute kidney failure, cardiac injury, and arrhythmia—that contribute to the high mortality rate.  Autopsies can offer a better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology.  Unfortunately, few autopsies were performed early in the pandemic because of the potential risks.  Untreated patients who died of SARS-CoV-2 were rarely autopsied.  Most of the published autopsy studies have focused on lung disease with a few describing findings in other organs.  We will discuss our experience with the first set of patient autopsies performed at NYU Winthrop Hospital as well as some of our own experience here at the NIH.  We will review some of the key findings in major organ systems accompanied by immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization studies that examined some of the cytokines/chemokines that have been implicated in the pathogenesis of this viral infection.
 
Nucleic Acid Delivery Systems for RNA Therapy and Gene Editing
 
The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "Nucleic Acid Delivery Systems for RNA Therapy and Gene Editing," by Dan Anderson, Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering and of health sciences and technology at the MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, July 15. This lecture is now archived.
 
High–throughput, combinatorial approaches have revolutionized small-molecule drug discovery.  Dan Anderson will describe his work on the combinatorial development of nanoparticulate, intracellular delivery systems for RNA therapy and gene editing.  Libraries of degradable polymers and lipid-like materials have been synthesized, formulated, and screened for their ability to deliver macromolecular payloads inside of cells.  These nanoformulations facilitate in vivo delivery, enabling gene suppression with small-interfering RNA, gene expression with messenger RNA, or permanent genetic editing using the CRISPR/Cas9 system.  Formulations have been developed with in vivo efficacy and show potential therapeutic applications for a range of different diseases.  This lecture will focus on the application of these formulations toward controlling the immune system and in particular as vaccines for infectious disease.
 
Lessons Learned: Management and Treatment during COVID-19 Pandemic
 
The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "Lessons Learned: Management and Treatment during COVID-19 Pandemic," by Judith A. Aberg, M.D., chief of Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and a member of the panel developing NIH COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines, July 8. This lecture is now archived.
 
Dr. Aberg will briefly discuss what is new in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and how this affected the decision-making processes on the management and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. Even in the absence of data and insufficient knowledge of what may or may not work, the Mount Sinai Health System created treatment guidelines that were updated frequently based on physicians' observations and information gathered from multiple disciplines across the system. Dr. Aberg will present a few lessons learned that affected the quality-of-care of patients. The majority of her talk will focus on how clinical observations at the Mount Sinai Health System and how social media and knowledge imparted from colleagues across the globe influenced clinical decision making. Dr. Aberg will close the talk with a summary of how she and her colleagues are better prepared for the future, the knowledge they have gained, and the potential therapeutic options currently under investigation.
 
High Seroprevalence, Drastic Decline of Incidence and Low Infection Fatality Rate of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children and Adults in the Ski Resort Ischgl, Austria

The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "High Seroprevalence, Drastic Decline of Incidence and Low Infection Fatality Rate of SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children and Adults in the Ski Resort Ischgl, Austria," by Dorothee von Laer, M.D., Medical University of Innsbruck, July 1. This lecture is now archived.
 
In early March 2020, a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak at a ski resort in Ischgl, Austria, initiated the spread of SARS-CoV-2 throughout Austria and Northern Europe. Thousands of infections can be traced back to Ischgl. In a recent study by Medical University of Innsbruck investigators, 42.4 percent of those living in Ischgl were shown to be carrying the new coronavirus antibodies, indicating they had been infected in the COVID-19 pandemic. Between April 21 and 27, a cross-sectional epidemiologic study targeting the full population of Ischgl (n= app. 1,867), of which 79 percent could be included (n=1473), was performed. For each individual, the study involved a SARS-CoV-2 PCR test for the virus, antibody testing, and a questionnaire. In addition, the SARS-CoV-2 PCR+ cases reported to the authorities were included. The seroprevalence was 42 percent and individuals under 18 showed a significantly lower seroprevalence (27 percent) than adults (45 percent). However, only 105 study participants remembered if they had a previous positive PCR result. The clinical course was generally mild and only two individuals in Ischgl had died from infection corresponding to an infection fatality rate (IFR) of 0.26 percent. In the first week of April, a public screening in Ischgl had found 19 percent of the population to be PCR+. However, only 8 (0.5 percent) individuals were newly diagnosed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the study conducted 2-3 weeks later.  Ischgl was hit early and hard by SARS-CoV-2, which led to a high local seroprevalence of 42 percent, that was lower in individuals below the age of 18 than in adults with a low IFR. As nonpharmaceutical interventions (e.g. social distancing, mask wearing) had already reduced virus spread, mathematical models conclude that the high seroprevalence significantly contributed to the drastic decline of new infections during April.
 
Covid-19: A SARS-CoV-2 Protein Interaction Map Reveals Targets for Drug Repurposing
 
The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "A SARS-CoV-2 Protein Interaction Map Reveals Targets for Drug Repurposing," by Nevan Krogan, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, June 24. This lecture is now archived.
 
Efforts to develop antiviral drugs versus COVID-19 or vaccines for its prevention have been hampered by limited knowledge of the molecular details of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This webinar will describe Nevan Krogan's efforts to address this challenge. He and his lab expressed 26 of the 29 SARS-CoV-2 proteins in human cells and are using affinity–purification mass spectrometry to identify the human proteins physically associated with each. Among 332 high–confidence SARS-CoV-2-human protein–protein interactions, Krogan's lab has identified 66 druggable human proteins or host factors targeted by 69 compounds (29 FDA-approved drugs, 12 drugs in clinical trials, and 28 preclinical compounds). Within a subset of these, Krogan's lab has used several viral assays to identify two sets of pharmacological agents that displayed antiviral activity.
 
COVID-19: The Australian Experience and a Perspective Through a SARS-1 Lens

The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "COVID-19: the Australian Experience and a Perspective Through a SARS-1 Lens," by Kanta Subbarao, M.B.B.S., Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Melbourne, Australia, June 17. This lecture is now archived.
 
In a few short months, SARS-CoV-2 has swept through the world infecting more than 7 million people and causing more than 400,000 deaths.  However, the pandemic experience and response in different countries around the world has varied.  The peak of the outbreak has passed in Australia, with more than 7,000 cases and more than 100 deaths, but there is a real possibility of a second wave of infection. The viruses that caused the SARS outbreak of 2002/2003 and the current COVID-19 pandemic are related betacoronaviruses.  Experience with SARS-1 provides some insights into the COVID-19 pandemic.  In this seminar, Dr. Subbarao will discuss the Australian COVID-19 experience and response and will look back on SARS-1 vaccine development for important lessons that can inform SARS-CoV-2 vaccine design, testing, and implementation.
 
Toward Understanding COVID-19 Infection, Transmission, and Pathogenesis at Single-Cell Resolution with the Human Cell Atlas
 
The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "Toward Understanding COVID-19 Infection, Transmission, and Pathogenesis at Single-Cell Resolution with the Human Cell Atlas," by Aviv Regev, Ph.D., Broad Institute, June 3. This lecture is now archived.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, creates an urgent need for identifying molecular mechanisms that mediate viral entry, propagation, and tissue pathology. Single-cell analysis of healthy- and SARS-CoV-2-infected tissues offers a unique lens to identify these mechanisms. In an international integrated analysis of the Human Cell Atlas Lung Biological Network--which spans more than 100 single-cell and single-nucleus RNA-Seq datasets previously collected from healthy tissues and includes many previously unpublished studies--we identified the cell types throughout the body most likely to be susceptible to viral entry. In line with epidemiological observations, we also identified increased expression of key mediators of SARS-CoV-2 cellular entry associated with increasing age, male gender, and smoking. In addition, we identified a gene program shared by these cells that includes genes that may mediate viral entry and play key immune roles, such as IL6 and its receptor and co-receptor, IL1R; TNF-response pathways; and complement genes. Following these studies, as the pandemic reached our local Boston community, we have adapted existing sample-processing pipelines with our collaborators in Boston hospitals and are using single-cell and spatial genomics techniques to procure, process, and analyze blood and post-mortem tissue from COVID-19 patients. We are using these pipelines to examine the tissue and immune cellular response to COVID-19, particularly to understand the factors underlying its severity in some individuals and will share our preliminary results.
 
Structural Studies of Coronavirus Fusion Glycoproteins
 
The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "Structural Studies of Coronavirus Fusion Glycoproteins," by David Veesler, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, University of Washington, May 27. This lecture is now archived.
 
SARS-CoV-2 is a newly emerged coronavirus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic. Coronavirus spike (S) glycoprotein trimers promote the virus’s entry into cells and are the main targets of the humoral immune response. We demonstrated that Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a functional entry receptor for this novel coronavirus and that the receptor-binding domains of SARS-CoV-2 S and SARS-CoV S bind with similar affinities to ACE2, which correlates with the efficient spread of SARS-CoV-2 among humans. We used cryo-electron microscopy to determine the structures of the SARS-CoV-2 S ectodomain trimer, demonstrating spontaneous opening of the receptor-binding domain, and providing a blueprint for the design of vaccines and inhibitors of viral entry. SARS-CoV S murine polyclonal sera potently inhibited SARS-CoV-2 S-mediated entry into target cells, indicating that vaccination can elicit cross-neutralizing antibodies targeting conserved S epitopes. We subsequently isolated a monoclonal antibody (termed S309) from the memory B cells of an individual who recovered from SARS-CoV in 2003 and showed that S309 potently neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV pseudoviruses as well as authentic SARS-CoV-2. Using cryo-electron microscopy and binding assays, we show that S309 recognizes a receptor-binding domain--glycan-containing epitope, which is conserved within the sarbecovirus subgenus--without competing with receptor attachment. Antibody cocktails including S309 further enhanced SARS-CoV-2 neutralization and may limit the emergence of neutralization-escape mutants. These results pave the way for using S309- and S309-containing antibody cocktails for prophylaxis in individuals at high risk of exposure or as a post-exposure therapy to limit or treat severe disease.
 
Sailing Close to the Breeze: Hospital Epidemiology in the COVID-19 Pandemic
 
The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "Sailing Close to the Breeze: Hospital Epidemiology in the COVID-19 Pandemic," by Tara N. Palmore, M.D., Hospital Epidemiologist, NIH Clinical Center, May 20. This lecture is now archived.
 
Dr. Palmore will discuss infection control related to COVID-19.  Dr. Palmore began her career at the NIH as a staff clinician in the NIAID Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases.  She became deputy hospital epidemiologist in the NIH Clinical Center in 2007 and became hospital epidemiologist in 2014.  As hospital epidemiologist, Dr. Palmore aims to optimize patient safety through prevention of hospital-acquired infections.  Her research interests include modes of nosocomial transmission of multidrug-resistant bacteria, Clostridium difficile and antimicrobial stewardship.
 
Clinical Trials in Public Health Emergencies: the Ebola and COVID Experiences
 
The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "Clinical Trials in Public Health Emergencies: the Ebola and COVID Experiences," by Lori Dodd, Ph.D., Mathematical Statistician, Biostatistics Research Branch, NIAID Division of Clinical Research, May 13. This lecture is now archived.
 
Designing and implementing clinical trials for novel infectious disease treatments brings many challenges, especially during a rapidly evolving pandemic.  A new disease brings uncertainties arising from an imperfect understanding about illness, limited information about proposed countermeasures, and complexities in measuring relevant patient outcomes.  A pandemic adds an overloaded medical system with limited resources for research, heightened pressure to find cures quickly, and unpredictability about potential case numbers.  I will discuss issues related to designing and conducting treatment trials in outbreaks of Ebola and COVID based on my experience with three studies: Prevail II (the West African Ebola virus disease study of ZMapp), PALM (the Democratic Republic of the Congo Ebola virus disease study of ZMapp, mAb114, REGN-EB3 and remdesivir) and ACTT-1 (the multinational, platform COVID-19 study of remdesivir vs placebo.
 
Animal Models for COVID-19: A Critical Component of the Response to the Pandemic
 
The NIH COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group is pleased to announce its next lecture, "Animal Models for COVID-19: A Critical Component of the Response to the Pandemic," by Emmie de Wit, Ph.D., chief of the NIAID Molecular Pathogenesis Unit, May 6. This lecture is now archived at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=37432.
 
We are learning more about different aspects of COVID-19 disease manifestations on an almost daily basis. Although data on disease in humans are emerging at a steady pace, certain aspects of the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 can only be studied in detail in animal models where repeated sampling and tissue collection is possible. Non-human primate models that recapitulate aspects of human disease are essential for our understanding of the pathogenic processes involved in severe respiratory disease and for the development of medical countermeasures such as vaccines and antivirals. We have developed a rhesus macaque model that recapitulates COVID-19 with regard to virus replication and shedding, the presence of pulmonary infiltrates, histological lesions, and seroconversion. These data allow us to bridge between the rhesus macaques model and the disease observed in humans and to use this animal model to assess the efficacy of medical countermeasures. While a large number of investigational, approved, and repurposed drugs have been suggested for the treatment of COVID-19, preclinical data from animal models can guide a more focused search for effective treatments in humans by ruling out treatments that have no proven efficacy in vivo. Remdesivir (GS-5734) is a nucleotide analog prodrug with broad antiviral activity, including against coronaviruses, that is currently being investigated in COVID-19 clinical trials worldwide. The therapeutic efficacy of remdesivir was tested in our rhesus macaque model of COVID-19. Remdesivir treatment initiated early during infection had a clear clinical benefit in SARS-CoV-2-infected rhesus macaques.
 
COVID-19 Diagnostics: The Challenge of Rapid, High-Volume Detection of SARS-CoV-2

Please join us for "COVID-19 Diagnostics: The Challenge of Rapid, High-Volume Detection of SARS-CoV-2," by Karen Frank, M.D., Ph.D., Chief, Department of Laboratory Medicine, NIH Clinical Center, April 29. This lecture is now archived at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=37377.
 
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, detection of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, followed by contact tracing and quarantine, has been critical to slow the spread of disease. After discovery, the coronavirus was sequenced extremely rapidly, and multiple RT-PCR assays were quickly developed, and the details shared for use by laboratories worldwide. The molecular assays have excellent performance characteristics with very high sensitivity and specificity. In the United States, the assay designed by the CDC and granted Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA was adopted across the country. In addition, many academic laboratories and commercial manufacturers designed different versions of SARS-CoV-2 tests. The unprecedented need for testing resulted in a severe shortage of all reagents and supplies including collection swabs, transport media, extraction kits, and RT-PCR enzyme mixtures. Creative solutions such as the 3D printing of swabs resulted. A number of studies are underway to determine which specimens (nasopharyngeal, nasal, oropharyngeal, or saliva) are acceptable for testing. Studies that examine viral load from exposure to the end of the disease course are critical for characterizing this sometimes-fatal disease as we work to find treatments. As we develop an algorithm to move out of "stay-at-home lockdown," there is a scramble to develop a high-quality serological assay that would detect neutralizing antibodies.
 
Rapid COVID-19 Vaccine Development: An Example of the Prototype Pathogen Approach for Pandemic Preparedness
 
Please join us for "Rapid COVID-19 Vaccine Development: An Example of the Prototype Pathogen Approach for Pandemic Preparedness," by Barney S. Graham, M.D., Ph.D., deputy director of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center, April 22. This lecture is now archived at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=36377. 
 
The prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness has been applied to the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS CoV) over the last seven years.  It was informed by structure-based immunogen-design concepts established for respiratory syncytial virus fusion (RSV F) subunit vaccines, and focused on solving coronavirus spike structures, defining mechanisms of CoV neutralization, and evaluating MERS CoV vaccine candidates in collaboration with a commercial mRNA manufacturer.  Prior spike protein engineering experience resulted in rapid sequence selection and using the mRNA manufacturing platform provided rapid Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) production a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in record time.  This candidate was tested in mice in approximately 25 days and humans in approximately 65 days from the time the sequence was released.  Clinical and nonclinical evaluation are now proceeding in parallel with hopes to begin efficacy testing before next winter.  The proactive preparation not only facilitated vaccine development but provided a stabilized spike protein reagent that is supporting the development of serological assays.
 
The Biomedical Research Response to COVID-19: A View from NIAID
 
Please join us for a special remote lecture, "The Biomedical Research Response to COVID-19: A View from NIAID," by Hilary D.  Marston, M.D., M.P.H., on Wednesday, April 15. This lecture is now archived.
 
NIAID has a long-standing dual mandate to maintain a robust portfolio of research in its key focus areas and to respond to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (EIDs).  With this mandate, NIAID has also sought to improve EID-response preparedness, working in partnership with other U.S.  government research entities, industry, academia, and international public-health organizations.  This preparedness planning helped the institute respond rapidly to COVID-19.  NIAID tapped existing coronavirus expertise and other assets to stand up research programs spanning basic virology and immunology through to countermeasure development (diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines).  As the outbreak has expanded, so too has the NIAID research program and the scope of the problems it seeks to solve.  As the COVID-19 pandemic has grown, it has become increasingly clear that the biomedical research response must draw upon the collective expertise of many NIH Institutes and Centers. 

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  • How People Learn, Volumes I and II
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Virtual Keystone Symposia
 
Free, on-demand, and live-streaming of scientific content, highlighting today's breakthroughs in basic research, translational impacts and global health topics. Videos are available on-demand after the live sessions.
NIGMS Offerings
 
NIGMS Webinar Series 
 
NIGMS is hosting a series of webinars that may be of interest to you/your trainees. The next webinar is Monday, May 11 at 4 PM ET and focuses on "Infectious Disease Modeling Research and the MIDAS Network."  Others topics include "Virtual Teaching and Learning," "Cryo-EM: Present and Future," "Computational Biology and Biomedical Data Science", and "Culturally Aware Practices for Virtual Mentoring, Teaching, and Learning."
 
See the full list here: 
https://www.nigms.nih.gov/News/meetings/Pages/webinars-for-trainees.aspx
Log in information will be available under the "date" column in the table of topics and speakers.
 
NIGMS Virtual Learning Resources for Scientists at All Career Stages
To assist with virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, NIGMS has assembled valuable resources to support its trainee and educator communities. These resources apply to all levels, ranging from community college students to faculty.
 
  • Clearinghouse for Training Modules to Enhance Data Reproducibility
    A variety of free training modules, workshops, and online courses aimed at enhancing rigor and reproducibility in research.
  • iBiology 
    A collection of high-quality, free online videos of scientists talking about their research, career paths, and related topics. Several complete courses are also available in areas including experimental design, microscopy, and image analysis. iBiology also has resources for flipped-classroom teaching.
  • National Research Mentoring Network 
    A free, web-based platform designed to help undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs connect professionally through online mentoring and networking activities.
NIAID Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch Presents NIAID BEST: Training Webinars in Times of Teleworking
 
Are your teleworking days giving you some additional flexibility in your schedule? If so, this could be a great opportunity to learn or strengthen your bioinformatics and computational skills! The NIAID Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch (BCBB) is launching the Bioinformatics Education Support Training (NIAD BEST) program to offer free webinars for all NIH employees over the next few weeks.
 
In summer 2020, the seminars included:
  • Publishing to NCBI SRA the Easy Way Using METAGENOTE
  • Customizing Your Graphs Using GraphPad Prism 8
  • Practical Training on GraphPad Prism for Statistical Testing - Parts I & II
  • Introduction to UNIX
  • Finding Master Genes Through Gene Regulatory Network Analysis
  • Studying the Microbiome Using the Nephele Web Platform
  • Molecular Visualization with Chimera
  • Preparing and Submitting Protein Structures to the NIAID 3D Printing Service
All webinars were recorded and posted for self-paced learning at https://bioinformatics.niaid.nih.gov/resources.
Contact us at bioinformatics@niaid.nih.gov for questions or suggestions for additional topics.
Ethical and Regulatory Aspects Of Clinical Research
 
Register for the course Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research. This 7-week course covers essential topics in the ethics of clinical research and is designed for researchers and research teams, clinical staff, IRB members, and others interested in the ethics of clinical research. Presentations are given by experts from both within and outside the NIH. 
The course runs from 22 September 2021 – 3 November 2021 and will be broadcast live. The course meets Wednesday mornings from 8:30 –11:30 am Eastern. In addition to lectures, we will host conversations with experts and engage in case discussions.  Due to the uncertainty about COVID the course will be delivered virtually this year.
 
Information about the course including the syllabus are available at https://bioethics.nih.gov/courses/ethical-regulatory-aspects.shtml    
 
This course is available to anyone via live video-cast at http://videocast.nih.gov. There is no charge.  Videos from last year’s course as well as many years prior are posted here: https://videocast.nih.gov/PastEvents?c=22
Translational Research in Clinical Oncology
 
The NCI Center for Cancer Training is pleased to announce that the Translational Research in Clinical Oncology (TRACO) course will be offered virtually from September 7, 2021 to November 29, 2021.  The TRACO course is designed to provide an overview of the general principles of cancer biology and treatment, genomics, precision medicine, mechanisms of resistance, use of preclinical models and identification of novel molecular targets.  Participants will have an opportunity to learn new information, glimpse into the future developments of translational research in clinical oncology and see leaders in cancer research.  NIH Postdoctoral and Clinical Fellows are encouraged to participate.
 
The TRACO course usually occurs on Monday afternoons from 4:00-6:00 p.m.  Due to the pandemic, this year's course will be held by WebEx.  Registration, at no cost, is available at http://www.cancer.gov/grants-training/training/resources-trainees/courses-fellowships/translational-research-clinical-oncology and is due by Sept. 7, 2021.  The registration limit is 200 and the course schedule is shown below. 
 
Sept. 7: Introduction by T. Moody; Cervical Cancer by J. Schiller. 
Sept. 13: Global Health and Cancer by S. Gopal; Covid-19 and Cancer by W. Dahut.
Sept. 20: Ovarian Cancer by C. Annunziata; Immune Checkpoints by S. Goff. 
Sept. 27: Small Molecules by A. Simeonov; Clinical Trials by J. Smith. 
Oct. 4: Radiation Oncology by E. Nichols; Tumor Imaging by P. Choyke. 
Oct. 12: Prostate Cancer by R. Madan; Cannabis and Cancer by A. Freedman.
Oct. 18: Genomics by J. Wei; CAR-T cells by J. Brudno. 
Oct. 25: Breast Cancer by F. Zia; SCLC by H. Chen.
Nov. 1: KRAS by J. Luo; Brain Cancer by W. Timmer. 
Nov. 8: NSCLC by E. Szabo; HIV by F. Maldarelli.
Nov. 15: Epigenetics by M. Verma; Case reports by O. Olaku. 
Nov. 22: Precision Medicine by C. Harris: Topoisomerase by Y Pommier. 
Nov. 29: Pancreatic Cancer by P. Hussain; Nanotechnology by M. Dobrovolskaia.
 
All lectures will be recorded and archived.  Individuals with disabilities who need Sign Language Interpreters and/or reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Dr. T. Moody at 9609 Medical Ctr. Dr., Rm. 2W340, moodyt@nih.gov, 240-276-7785 and/or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).
Advancing NIH Research on The Health Of Women: A 2021 Conference
 
On behalf of the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and in accordance with the efforts outlined in the new NIH-Wide Strategic Plan, I want to bring to your attention an opportunity to provide comments to help inform an upcoming virtual NIH event, “Advancing NIH Research on the Health of Women: A 2021 Conference,” on October 20, 2021. ORWH, in conjunction with the Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health, will host this conference in response to a congressional request asking NIH to review its research efforts related to the following:
  • Rising maternal morbidity and mortality rates
  • Increasing rates of chronic debilitating conditions in women
  • Stagnant cervical cancer survival rates
To participate in the conference, please register at https://bit.ly/3eKSeHC.
In preparation for the conference, the open comment period will assist in identifying gaps in research and clinical practice pertaining to the topics mentioned above. More information on this comment period can be found here or in this Federal Register notice (FRN). We would appreciate your support by responding to the request for comments and sharing this FRN with your network. Comments will be accepted through September 15, 2021 and must be submitted by email to WHCC@od.nih.gov. Sample social media messages can be found here.
Molecular Mechanisms and Evolution Of Vocal Learning
 
Please join the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) for a virtual presentation by Erich D. Jarvis, Ph.D., Rockefeller University, on September 14, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm ET.
 
Register for this virtual event: https://bit.ly/3guwbpq.
 
Presentation Overview:
Vocal learning is the most critical behavior for spoken language. It has evolved multiple independent times among mammals and birds. Remarkably, although all vocal learning species are distantly related and have closer relatives that are non-vocal learners, humans and the vocal learning birds have evolved convergent forebrain pathways that control vocal learning. We used comparative genomics and transcriptomics to discover convergent changes in multiple genes in song learning pathways in birds and speech pathways in humans. The vocal learning brain pathways have convergent specialized changes in genes that control connectivity, neuroprotection, and synaptic plasticity. We have found that specialized regulation is associated with convergent accelerated regions in the genomes of these species, which in turn have differential epigenetic availability in enhancer regions of some of the genes, inside the neurons of the vocal learning brain regions. To explain these findings, we propose a motor theory of vocal learning origin, in which brain pathways for vocal learning evolved by brain pathway duplication of an ancestral motor learning pathway, using mostly the same genes, but with some divergences in gene regulation via sequence and epigenetic changes, that control divergent connectivity and other functions.
 
Presenter Biography:
Erich D. Jarvis, Ph.D.
Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language, Rockefeller University, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
 
Individuals who need reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Erica Moore, erica.moore2@nih.gov, 301-594-4392, and/or the Federal Relay at 1-800-877-8339.
NIMH Director’s Innovation Speaker Series
 
Title: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience in the Era of Big Data
 
Speaker: Damien Fair PA-C, Ph.D.
 
Date: September 9, 2021, 3:00-4:00 PM ET
 
Zoom registration required: ATTENDEE REGISTRATION LINK https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YZhJpThlSmCUQKdwWX1QXQ
Webinar ID: 972 2572 5678
 
Please join the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) on September 9, 2021, for its annual Director’s Innovation Speaker Series, dedicated to innovation, invention, and scientific discovery.
 
The guest speaker is Damien Fair PA-C, Ph.D., a founding co-director of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Fair’s research focuses on mechanisms and principles underlying child and adolescent brain development. Most of his work uses functional MRI and resting-state functional connectivity MRI to assess typical and atypical populations.
 
The field of cognitive neuroscience, particularly developmental cognitive neuroscience, continues to evolve in ways that its founders may not have recognized nearly 50 years ago. The past decade has witnessed the emergence of a series of openly available, large-scale (N > 1000) neuroimaging data resources, spanning a range of populations and experimental designs. Over the same period, the growth of small N studies (N ~ 1-10) with massive amounts of within-subject imaging (>10 hrs) and phenotyping have also emerged. These “big data” areas have brought about new concepts and technologies but have also highlighted new challenges and pitfalls in the field. On the one hand, these growing pains revealed the promise of the work for understanding complex human brain function and its translational potential. On the other hand, it exposed practices slowing progress.
 
Modern-day efforts toward characterizing correspondence of complex behavioral phenotypes to networks and systems in the brain require new sample collection strategies, study designs, and analytic strategies. During his talk, Dr. Fair will highlight positive developments in functional neuroimaging with the potential to put the field on a more solid footing moving forward and realize the translational potential of these non-invasive methodologies.
 
More information is available on the NIMH website at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/innovation-speaker-series/.   
 
For questions, please email InnovationSpeakers@mail.nih.gov.
 
Sign Language Interpreters will be provided. Individuals with disabilities who need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this program should contact the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).

Complementary and Integrative Medicine

The NCI Center for Cancer Training is pleased to announce the Complementary and Integrative Medicine course (IM), 2021 Fall Term (September 15 to December 2).
 
This course is designed for NIH fellows who want to enhance and broaden their knowledge of evidence-based comprehensive integrative healthcare to improve the lives of patients, including those with cancer. Topics will be presented with research evidence, followed by clinical scenarios. Students will have the opportunity to better understand the current state of the science of each subject, as well as be introduced to cutting-edge advances in medical research. 
 
There will be two-hour sessions each day with two 45 min lectures. It will usually occur on Thursday, 3-5 p.m., except September 15 at 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Due to the pandemic, the course sessions will be conducted via WebEx ONLY.  Speakers will be representative of experts in their field, domestic and international, drawn broadly from government, academia, and the integrative medicine community.  NIH staff, Postdoctoral and Clinical fellows are encouraged to participate. The lectures are open to the public.
 
 
COURSE SCHEDULE AND CURRICULUM
 
September 15: Traditional Chinese Medicine: Philosophy & Research by W. Lu; Acupuncture by H. Langevin.
September 30: Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer by D. Abrams.
October 14: Light Therapy and Circadian Clock by U. Albrecht; Circadian Clock and Cancer by B. Altman.
October 28: Tai Chi and Qigong: Practice & Research by Y. Yang; Physical Activity (NIH Common Fund) by C. Nierras.
November 4: Music Therapy by A. Pantelyat; Natural Product by C. Paller.
November 18: Exercise and Cancer by L. Jones; Mindfulness and COVID-19 by R. Ameli.
December 2: Cannabinoid and Immune System by A. Oláh; Integrative Medicine Education in Acupuncture Training by L. Lao.
 
Trans-NIH Integrative Medicine Training Course Committee.
  1. Xi, Ph.D., IM Course Director; A. Berger, M.D.; T. Moody, Ph.D.; D. Shurtleff, Ph.D.; and F. Zia, M.D.
Individuals with disabilities who need Sign Language Interpreters and/or reasonable accommodation to participate in this course should contact Dr. Terry Moody, moodyt@nih.gov, 240-276-7785, or Dr. Dan Xi, xida@mail.nih.gov, 240-276-6143, and/or the Federal Relay (1-800-877-8339).
Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the United States
 
Title: “Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the United States: Highlights from the 2020 Census”
Date: Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Time: 10:30–11:30 a.m. ET
 

Speaker: Nicholas A. Jones, Director and Senior Advisor of Race and Ethnic Research and Outreach, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau

Link: https://nih.webex.com/nih/onstage/g.php?MTID=e896c3646f128c861f64e3ccfe84ad938

Please join the Health Disparities Interest Group and the NIMHD Division of Intramural Research for a seminar by Mr. Nicholas A. Jones, Director and Senior Advisor of Race and Ethnic Research and Outreach, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau.

Mr. Jones began his career at the Census Bureau in 2000 as an analyst in the Racial Statistics Branch. His research helped shed light on race reporting patterns and the demographic characteristics of children in interracial families. As an analyst, Mr. Jones authored numerous reports and presentations and became a renowned expert on the multiracial population and the racial and ethnic diversity of the United States.

Mr. Jones has presented his work at numerous academic conferences and professional meetings and discussed race and ethnicity trends with a wide variety of media outlets. He was honored by American Demographics magazine as one of the top young demographers for his research on the multiracial population and earned two Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Awards for the review and analysis of race data from the 2000 and 2010 Censuses.

Mr. Jones received a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

For lecture questions, please email Dr. Kelvin Choi at Kelvin.Choi@nih.gov.

Individuals who need reasonable accommodations to participate, please contact Edgar Dews at Edgar.Dews@nih.gov or the Federal Relay at 1-800-877-8339.

Methodological Approaches for Whole Person Research
 
Please join us for “Methodological Approaches for Whole Person Research,” which represents a trans–National Institutes of Health (NIH) effort. Ten NIH institutes, centers, and offices were involved in planning this event (see list of collaborators below).
 
Methodological Approaches for Whole Person Research (September 29–30, 2021)
11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. ET
 
View the agenda and register at https://bit.ly/3zjYAF2.
This free workshop will be live-streamed and archived online.
 
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health's new strategic plan defines whole person research as including three components:
 
  1. Exploring the fundamental science of interconnected systems
  2. Investigating multicomponent interventions or therapeutic systems
  3. Examining the impact of these interventions on multisystem or multiorgan outcomes
 
The “Methodological Approaches for Whole Person Research” workshop will provide examples of research studies in these three areas from diverse fields. The workshop will also identify opportunities for this type of research in complementary and integrative health and discuss:
 
  • Relevant study designs
  • Statistical methods
  • Computational approaches.
Whether you are a scientist in the fields of system/computational biology or complex clinical trials, or a complementary and integrative health provider or researcher, whole person researcher, or just interested in the topic, we welcome you to register and participate.
 
NIH Collaborators:
 
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health; National Institute on Aging; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities; National Institute of Nursing Research; National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research; Fogarty International Center; Office of Research on Women’s Health; Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research; Office of Disease Prevention; Office of Nutrition Research
 
Accommodations:
To request sign language interpretation or other reasonable accommodations to participate, contact the NCCIH Clearinghouse at info@nccih.nih.gov or 1-888-644-6226 or the Federal Relay Service (1-800-877-8339).
Disabilities in Science
 
 
2021 Annual Interagency Accessibility Forum
 

September 20, 2021 - Please join us for the virtual 2021 Annual Interagency Accessibility Forum this October 12-14.

Attendees of this year’s IAAF will hear presentations and panel discussions that will focus on accessibility as a foundation for inclusion, diversity, and equity within the federal government. In addition, the forum will include virtual exhibitions by accessibility consultants and IT companies with accessibility products and services that support those with disabilities.

SAVE YOUR SEAT
When: October 12-14, 2021; from 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET
Where: Virtual - Note that the event will be recorded for reuse and archiving
Who: There is something for everyone - contracting officials, business analysts, project managers, developers, testers, content creators, Section 508 Program Managers, and members of agency management and leadership
How: Register Today!

For full event and registration information, visit Section508.gov/IAAF.
 
To rediscover keynote addresses and presentations from a range of presenters, panelists, and speakers over the years, visit the Interagency Accessibility Forum (IAAF) Archives.

The 2021 Interagency Accessibility Forum (IAAF) is sponsored by the Federal Chief Information Officer Council’s (Federal CIO Council) Accessibility Community of Practice (ACOP) and hosted by the Government-wide IT Accessibility Program from the Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP) of the General Services Administration (GSA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Labor (DOL), and Merit Service Protection Board (MSPB), in partnership with other federal agencies.

National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)

USDA TARGET Center Commemorates the Contributions of Individuals with Disabilities at USDA and America's Workplaces Lectures: https://www.targetcenter.dm.usda.gov/content/2021-ndeam

ODEP News Brief (including articles and talks about disabilities): https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/publications/news-brief?utm_source=govdelivery&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ODEP_Newsletter_footer_web-view

Celebrate NDEAM 2021 and the 20th Anniversary of the Office of Disability Employment Policy: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrate-national-disability-employment-awareness-month-2021-tickets-186087802627

The Accessibility of Motherhood - A Workshop on Disability and Pregnancy

November 1-3, 2021
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET.

Although existing research documents that women with disabilities experience inequities with reproductive health and quality of life compared to women without disabilities, the research remains nascent and incomplete. Further evidence is needed to expose and support the actions that improve equity for women with disabilities. The goal of this three-day interactive workshop of stakeholders is to identify priority areas of focus and create momentum for the research agenda needed to address inequities in pregnancy outcomes and related health care among women with disabilities, especially the inequities experienced by those from underserved and underrepresented populations.

Workshop Registration closes October 25. Space is limited.

The workshops will include real-time captioning and remote video American Sign Language interpreting. Presentations slides will be emailed to attendees prior to the event. If you need other disability-related accommodations, please specify your needs on the registration form. If you have any difficulties registering, please email events@1sourceevents.com.

Building your Personal Brand
 

Sponsored by the ASBMB Education and Professional Development Committee

What are personal brands, and how can scientists put them to work for their careers? In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about personal brands, create their own personal statements and identify ways to build their personal brands. To make the most of this session, bring paper and pen to write down your ideas and connect with other attendees about theirs.

Watch here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEoce-orzwpG9SfpE-eHROF4DIUhVs0Ngpg

This free workshop is part of the ASBMB's activities celebrating National Postdoc Appreciation Week.
Women Leaders in Academic Research
 

Invited monthly lecture series highlighting & honoring women leaders in academic research, especially related disciplines of Interventional Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, Radiology, Imaging Sciences, Data Science, & Image-Guided Oncology. The honorary lecture series was established by the NIH Center for Interventional Oncology as a small effort to help counter the under-representation of women in academic research & the impact of gender disparity & implicit bias on role modeling and mentoring. Monthly topics are open-ended & are geared towards highlighting successful female or other under-represented academic leaders, as role models for trainees.

Re-Thinking Mentoring:  Perspectives from a Biomedical Engineer - Jenna Mueller
 
Building New Roads: the importance of tenacity, resilience, and mentorship - Isabel Newton
 
Leading the Way to a Modern Data Ecosystem: Stories of Women (and Men) Making an Impact in Data Science at NIH – Susan Gregurick
 
Triple Threat of Teaching, Research, & Patient Care: Easy as 1-2-3 – Sarah White
 
Team Science: An IR’s Adventures in Academic Medicine- Alda Tam
 
Keep Calm and Break Glass: The Gender Equity Imperative – Carolyn Meltzer

STRIVE

NICHD launched STRIVE to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in all aspects of its research and workforce.

Led by the Office of Health Equity, STRIVE aims to:

  • Reinforce EDI within NICHD’s workforce
  • Foster EDI in the broader scientific workforce and among trainees
  • Understand how to mitigate, through research, the root causes of health disparities that may result from structural racism and discrimination, and develop potential solutions to reduce or address these disparities

NICHD’s STRIVE complements broader NIH efforts to promote EDI in its workforce and among those who participate in and conduct its research. The NIH UNITE initiative seeks to further these goals while also working to eliminate structural racism.

For access to future and past talks, check out https://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/org/strive/engagement.
Clinical Center Grand Rounds
 

The NIH Clinical Center Grand Rounds, which is a weekly CME activity, aims to offer its audience a wide variety of topics from a diverse group of speakers to not only help them remain current on the latest advances in medicine but also assist them as they continue to grow professionally. All physicians, clinicians, biomedical researchers, nurses, and all other healthcare professionals within and outside the NIH community are welcome to attend.

The CME activity code will be posted at the beginning and end of the 12:00 pm lecture. If you need the code or have questions, email Rita Stevens, CME Administrator at rita.stevens@nih.gov. More information about how to get CMS credit can be found in the link below.

Current month's meetings: https://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/about/news/grcurrent.html

Effective Approaches to Fostering Faculty Gender Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Celebrating Progress
 

The Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) invites you to attend a forum titled “Effective Approaches to Fostering Faculty Gender Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Celebrating Progress,” presented by NIH, in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) STEMM Equity Achievement (SEA) Change initiative and in collaboration with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

Event Details:

Tuesday, October 5, at 12:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

Registration: https://bit.ly/3BYk8ck.

Description:

The forum will feature opening remarks by the NIH Director and the ORWH Director, a presentation by leadership of the AAAS SEA Change initiative, and several panels, including one moderated by NASEM’s Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The panels for the forum include:

Panel - Vision for Institutional Change.
Panel - Training for Inclusive, Equity-Minded Environments.
Panel - Reducing Barriers to Career Advancement.
Panel - Effective Tools for Assessing and Monitoring Outcomes.
 
Featured Speakers:
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., NIH Director.
Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., FARVO, ORWH Director.
Sudip Parikh, Ph.D., CEO of AAAS.
Shirley Malcom, Ph.D., Senior Advisor to the CEO of AAAS and the Director of the AAAS SEA Change initiative.
Rita Colwell, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Maryland.
Representatives from the prizewinning institutions.
Representatives from the AAAS SEA Change initiative.
 
Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact Leika Inniss at leika.inniss@nih.gov, at 240-541-4764, and/or through the Federal Relay (800-877-8339).
National Work and Family Month
 

This October, NIH will again participate in National Work and Family Month with the theme “Taking Care of Your Personal Well-Being.” This year’s event is by far the most important due to the past 18 challenging months of the pandemic. We pivoted our priorities at the beginning of the pandemic and have not faltered in our response efforts to ensure that NIH continues to be the National Institutes of Hope. During this period, however, many of us have placed our own well-being on hold.  Today, I am asking you to pause and “reboot” yourself by engaging in some very important activities. 

The Office of Research Services (ORS) and the Office of Human Resources (OHR) have outdone themselves this year as they once again partnered to provide over 70 archived and live events and work-life and well-being resources. I encourage everyone—federal employees, trainees, fellows and contractors—to explore and rediscover how to start taking care of yourself this month, but also throughout the year.

With sincere appreciation for all you do to support the NIH mission,
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
NIH Director
 

The Role for Feasible and Sustainable Interventions in Reducing Health Disparities

Date: Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Time: 10:30-11:30 a.m. ET
 
Speaker:
Margarita Alegría, Ph.D.
Chief, Disparities Research Unit
Massachusetts General Hospital
Professor, Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry Harvard Medical School
 

Location: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=43957

Please join the NIMHD joint Health Disparities Interest Group and Division of Intramural Research lecture by Margarita Alegría, Ph.D., the chief of the Disparities Research Unit in the Mongan Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a professor in the departments of medicine and psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Alegría has spent most of her career working on how to reduce health disparities for populations of color, immigrants, and linguistic minorities. Her research focuses on the improvement of health care services delivery for diverse racial and ethnic populations, conceptual and methodological issues with multicultural populations, and ways to bring the community’s perspective into the design and implementation of health services.

Dr. Alegría is currently the principal investigator of four NIH-funded research studies and has published more than 300 papers, editorials, intervention training manuals, and several book chapters. Prior to her work at Harvard, she was the director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research at Cambridge Health Alliance and was previously the director of the Center for Evaluation and Sociomedical Research at the University of Puerto Rico.

Dr. Alegría was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in acknowledgement of her scientific contributions to her field and has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards. She obtained her B.A. in psychology from Georgetown University and her Ph.D. from Temple University.

For lecture questions, please email Dr. Kelvin Choi at Kelvin.Choi@nih.gov.

Individuals who need reasonable accommodation to participate, please contact Edgar Dews at Edgar.Dews@nih.gov.
Reading Between the Tweets: Social Technologies for Predicting and Changing Health Behavior
 

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

1-2 p.m. ET

No registration is required, and all are welcome. This online-only presentation will be broadcast live and archived at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=43775 and on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/nih.nccih. More information is available at https://bit.ly/IMLSDrYoung. For questions or requests concerning this lecture, please email info@nccih.nih.gov.              

Social technologies and their associated data are increasingly being used as tools in public health research and practice. Examples include social media, mobile apps, internet searches, and wearable sensors. More than half of the world uses social media sites to create, share, and discuss content—often personal and/or medical in nature. Dr. Young will discuss how social technologies and data (e.g., artificial intelligence and data science modeling) are being used to impact public health, and how researchers and health departments/agencies might apply them in public health surveillance/intervention efforts. He will also present his team’s research on how these tools can be employed to predict and change health behaviors as well as implementation-related issues. Studies to be discussed involve populations affected by HIV, mental health and substance use disorders, COVID-19, and car crashes.
PLOS Writing Center
 

We understand that the rapid publication of credible, peer-reviewed studies is essential to you as a researcher.

That’s why we have compiled an author resource hub, which includes resources and insight into best practices for every stage of the writing and publishing process. From tips on writing a great title, reporting statistics, or editing your work, the PLOS Writing Center has proven to be an invaluable resource for authors.

Explore the PLOS Writing Center and discover the resources that thousands of researchers use to maximize the impact of their work.

Explore the PLOS Writing Center

Research in Understudied Populations and Cancer Disparities Webinar Series 

This quarterly webinar series, Research in Understudied Populations and Cancer Disparities, is hosted by the Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program. The series is designed to highlight research on both understudied populations and disparities associated with outcomes across the cancer control spectrum. Invited speakers will discuss the current state of the science, innovative approaches (e.g., study design and technologies), gaps in current scientific knowledge or resources, and challenges/opportunities in the field. Understudied populations are groups about which there are limited data regarding cancer risks and outcomes to inform cancer control policies and interventions.

Examples of understudied populations include the following:

  • racial or ethnic minority groups
  • individuals of low socio-economic status
  • non-metropolitan/rural populations
  • sexual and gender minorities
  • immigrant, migrant, or refugee populations
  • the incarcerated
  • the elderly

All interested individuals are invited to participate, but pre-registration is required. Each presentation will be about 30-40 minutes in length and allow for 30 minutes of discussion. Instructions for connecting to the webinars will be sent via e-mail to individuals who register.

Presentation topics on understudied populations in cancer epidemiologic research may include:
  • cancer and health disparities
  • transdisciplinary and innovative approaches (e.g., study design/methodology) for observational studies and intervention trials in understudied populations
  • putative risk or prognostic factors relevant to and associated with adverse risk and/or survivorship outcomes in understudied populations

For more information, please visit Think Tank on Understudied Populations in Cancer Epidemiologic Research: Implications for Future Needs.

National Native American Heritage Month
 
The National Institutes of Health celebrates National Native American Heritage Month during November as part of a commitment to the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in our research and workplace. During this month we pay tribute to the many contributions made by Native Americans. Our hope in the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion is to continue to acknowledge the contributions of Native Americans and work to help eliminate discrimination throughout the year.
The Science of Health Disparities: The Social Determinants of Health Meet the NIH Mission
 

Please join us for the Anita B. Roberts Lecture Series on Monday, November 1, 2021, from 1:00 – 2:30 pm, with a talk by Dr. Michele K. Evans, Chief of the Health Disparities Research Section, Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Science, NIA.

Her seminar, titled “The Science of Health Disparities: The Social Determinants of Health Meet the NIH Mission” will be videocast via https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=41534 

This lecture series highlights outstanding research achievements of women scientists at the NIH. This seminar is dedicated to Dr. Anita B. Roberts and honors her role as an exceptional mentor and scientist. This lecture is sponsored by the Women Scientists Advisors Committee, NIA and NICHD.
The Child Opportunity Index: Health Equity Applications
 

The Child Opportunity Index: Health Equity Applications

Thursday, November 4, 2021
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
 
Speaker:
Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Ph.D., MPA-URP
Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy Director, Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy Brandeis University
 
Watch live or later at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=42689 

Join us for the NIMHD Director’s Seminar Series with Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Ph.D., MPA-URP on Thursday, November 4 at 2:00 p.m. ET. She will present “The Child Opportunity Index: Health Equity Applications,” which will:

-Introduce the Child Opportunity Index (COI), a measure of children's neighborhood environment, and discuss its applications to measure neighborhood social determinants of health and racial/ethnic equity.

­-Present examples of applications of the COI for measuring and addressing health equity in health research, public health, and the health care sector (e.g., community health needs assessments).

­-Discuss extensions of the COI such as new data on historic neighborhood redlining practices and their potential applications to health equity.

Dr. Acevedo-Garcia is the Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, and Director of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Her research focuses on the social determinants of racial/ethnic inequities in health, the role of social policies in reducing those inequities, and the health and well-being of children with special needs and their families.

Questions prior to and during the seminar can be submitted to NIMHDDSS@mail.nih.gov.   

Do What You Love, Love What You Do: An Anthology of Perspectives on Choosing the Right Path for YOU

Speaker: Natasha Sheybani, PhD, University of Virginia
Date: Tuesday November 16th, 2021, 2:00pm, ET
 
Lecture Synopsis:
Life is all about choices. In order to discover the things we love and subsequently pursue them, we are faced with myriad decisions that relate to our own unique circumstances in life. These choices - and the circumstances underscoring them - often go unspoken or under-appreciated when we consider how our peers, mentors, advocates, and role models got to where they are. This talk will unveil key aspects of my personal journey in doing what I love and loving what I do as a biomedical engineer and translationally-minded cancer researcher - which most recently led me back to my alma mater as one of the youngest faculty ever hired at the UVA School of Engineering & Applied Science. As well, this talk will synthesize a rich and unique collection of stories, experiences, and wisdom outside of my own. These anecdotes, carefully curated from a diverse group of scholars spanning science, healthcare and administration, will speak more broadly to and invite discourse on the influences, circumstances and/or decisions that often bear a critical role in shaping our personal and/or career trajectories.
 
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Natasha Sheybani is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering and (by courtesy) Radiology & Medical Imaging at the University of Virginia. She was a Eugene P. Trani Scholar at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she received her B.S. (with Honors) in Biomedical Engineering, as well as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and Robert R. Wagner Fellow at the University of Virginia, where she earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. As a graduate student, Dr. Sheybani became the University of Virginia’s first recipient of The NCI Predoctoral-to-Postdoctoral Fellow Transition Award (F99/K00), which also supported her postdoctoral fellowship in Oncology, Biomedical Data Science and Radiology at Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Sheybani's laboratory explores the use of focused ultrasound technology for potentiation of cancer immunotherapy in solid tumors of the brain and periphery. With the goal of ushering focused ultrasound into the burgeoning era of precision immuno-oncology, her lab employs innovative translational approaches in liquid biopsy, quantitative imaging, and artificial intelligence to non-invasively inform risk stratification, therapeutic monitoring, and individualized treatment paradigms for patients receiving focused ultrasound in combination with immunotherapy. Dr. Sheybani is a 2021 recipient of the NIH Director's Early Independence Award (DP5) and, in 2020, was named a STAT Wunderkind.
 
Series Description:
Invited monthly lecture series highlighting & honoring women leaders in academic research, especially related disciplines of Interventional Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, Radiology, Imaging Sciences, Data Science, & Image-Guided Oncology. The honorary lecture series was established by the NIH Center for Interventional Oncology as a small effort to help counter the under-representation of women in academic research & the impact of gender disparity & implicit bias on role modeling and mentoring. Monthly topics are open-ended & are geared towards highlighting successful female or other under-represented academic leaders, as role models for trainees.
 

Individuals with disabilities who need sign language interpreters and/or reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact Dr. Brad Wood - 301-443-8191.

For more information and archived lectures, visit https://www.cc.nih.gov/centerio/women_leaders.html 

Addressing Racism as a Public Health Issue Through the Lens of Environmental Health Disparities and Environmental Justice: From Problems to Solutions

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) will host a virtual workshop titled, "Addressing Racism as a Public Health Issue Through the Lens of Environmental Health Disparities and Environmental Justice: From Problems to Solutions," on Friday, December 10, 2021, 9:00 a.m. – 4:45 p.m. ET.

The workshop will offer opportunities for learning and discussion with environmental justice (EJ) researchers, grassroots organizations, and members of the community. The goal is to identify possible collaborative solutions to environmental health disparities and EJ issues that affect communities that have been disproportionately impacted.

This workshop is free and open to the public. Preregistration is required at https://bit.ly/2XJJiwy 

For more information, please visit https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/conference/ejworkshop2021/  

Individuals with disabilities who need Sign Language Interpreters and/or reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Dr. Darlene Dixon at dixon@niehs.nih.gov or 984-287-3848.

The Ethics of Vaccine Mandates

Wednesday, December 1st, 12:00 - 1:00 pm

Available at: https://videocast.nih.gov

Despite extensive protective measures (e.g. mask-wearing, distancing) the COVID-19 pandemic continues, with 5 million deaths worldwide, more than 750,000 deaths in the US, and extensive social, physical, and economic harm. Given data that several vaccines are safe, and effective at preventing hospitalization and death, restaurants, hospitals, universities, businesses, and governments have, or are considering mandating COVID-19 vaccination. These efforts raise a critical question: When are vaccine mandates appropriate?

Community Outreach and Engagement Strategies to Increase Accrual of Black Participants to Cancer Clinical Trials

CCR Cancer Health Disparities Seminar Series

TOPIC
Community Outreach and Engagement Strategies to Increase Accrual of Black Participants to Cancer Clinical Trials
 
SPEAKER
Carmen E. Guerra, M.D., M.S.C.E., F.A.C.P.
Ruth C. and Raymond G. Perelman Associate Professor of Medicine.
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
 
DATE/TIME
Tuesday, January 11, 2022 12:00-1:00 p.m.
 
WEBEx EVENT INFORMATION
When it's time, join the meeting: https://bit.ly/3H1b2Ok.
Join by phone
1-650-479-3207 Call-in toll number (US/Canada)
 

Dr. Carmen Guerra is the Ruth C. and Raymond G. Perelman Associate Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  Dr. Guerra is a general internist and health equity researcher.  She is the Vice Chair of Diversity and Inclusion for the Department of Medicine and the Associate Director of Diversity and Outreach for the Abramson Cancer Center where she also co-leads Community Outreach and Engagement.  Dr. Guerra serves as the American Cancer Society Board Scientific Officer for the National Board of Directors and as an advisor for industry for the equitable access to multicancer early detection research and testing.

For conference-related questions, please contact ccrconferences@mail.nih.gov.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

Sign language interpreting services are available upon request. Individuals who need interpreting services and/or other reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact CCR Conferences, ccrconferences@mail.nih.gov. Requests should be made five days in advance of the event. 
Thinking Critically About How We Do Science
 

Next up in the Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series is a more contemplative talk for the NIH scientific community, titled "Thinking Critically About How We Do Science," by Dani Bassett, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, on January 5 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. via https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44188. 

Lecture summary: "How does science happen?  How do we choose scientific questions to pursue?  How do we map fields of inquiry?  How do we determine where the frontiers are, and then step beyond them?  In this talk, I will canvas this broader research agenda while foregrounding recent advances at the intersection of science of science, machine learning, and big data.  Along the way, I will uncover gender, racial, and ethnic inequalities in the most obvious of places (the demographics of scientists) and also in the most unexpected and out-of-the-way places (the reference list of journal articles).  I will consider what these data mean for the way we think about science—for our theories of what science is.  What opportunities might we have to see past old theories and build a new one?  What possibilities to lay down a new praxis for a science of tomorrow?"

Download the full WALS schedule of the 2021–2022 WALS season at https://oir.nih.gov/sites/default/files/fields/lecture-season/wals_2021-2022_season_poster_1.pdf.  More information about WALS is at https://oir.nih.gov/wals.

COVID-19 Two Years Later: The Impact on Research and Public Health in Diverse Communities

Please join us for a virtual, informal "brown-bag" panel discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on diverse communities in the United States, on Thursday, January 13, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. ET via https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44308.  

This virtual panel is co-hosted by the NIAID Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the NIH–FDA COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group and is a part of the NIAID Diversity Series, which hosts events to celebrate diversity and promote discussion of relevant topics.  

This upcoming event, moderated by NINR Director Shannon Zenk, Ph.D., R.N., will highlight the disproportionate health and socioeconomic effects of the pandemic on specific communities in the United States and discuss strategies for researchers and public health professionals who are engaging with these communities. 

Our distinguished participants are:

* Janine Austin Clayton, M.D., Director, NIH Office of Research on Women's Health
* Carlos del Rio, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Emory University* Jodie Guest, Ph.D., Vice Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Emory University
* Jacqueline Leung, J.D., Executive Director, Micronesian Islander Community
* Leon McDougle, M.D., Chief Diversity Officer, Ohio State Wexner Medical Center
* Van Ta Park, Ph.D., Professor, Community Health Systems, UCSF
* Stephaun E. Wallace, Ph.D., HIV Vaccine Trials Network, Fred Hutch 
 

This event is not meant to be a purely scientific seminar but rather offer a space for thought-provoking conversations for a more general audience. Add this to your Outlook calendar now by linking to https://videocast.nih.gov/ical.ics?live=44308. The panel will be recorded and made available to the public on NIH VideoCast. You can view previous seminars on the NIAID Diversity and Inclusion Microsoft Stream Channel, https://bit.ly/3n5RGA7. 

A neural basis behind the hardships of dieting

SPEAKER
Michael J. Krashes, Ph.D.
Section Chief: Section on Motivational Processes Underlying Appetite, Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch NIDDK
 
TITLE
A neural basis behind the hardships of dieting
 
Maintaining healthy body weight is increasingly difficult in our obesogenic environment. Dieting efforts are often overpowered by the internal drive to consume energy-dense foods. Although the selection of calorically rich substrates over healthier options is identifiable across species, the mechanisms behind this choice remain poorly understood. Using a passive devaluation paradigm, we found that exposure to high-fat diet (HFD) suppresses the intake of nutritionally balanced standard chow diet (SD) irrespective of age, sex, body mass accrual and functional leptin or melanocortin-4 receptor signaling. Longitudinal recordings revealed that this SD devaluation and subsequent shift toward HFD consumption is encoded at the level of hypothalamic agouti-related peptide neurons and mesolimbic dopamine signaling. Prior HFD consumption vastly diminished the capacity of SD to alleviate the negative valence associated with hunger and the rewarding properties of food discovery even after periods of HFD abstinence. These data reveal a neural basis behind the hardships of dieting.
 
To watch the lecture on line, please visit: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44460
You Can’t Always Get What You Want: But, Wait, What Do I Even Want?
 
Women Leaders in Academic Research / Empowerment of Under-represented Researchers (EUR)
 
A lecture series organized by the NIH Center for Interventional Oncology
 
Tuesday, January 25th, 2022, 2:30pm Eastern Time (US and Canada) "You Can’t Always Get What You Want: But, Wait, What Do I Even Want?" presented by Amy Deipolyi, MD, PhD.
 
NIH Videocast accessible worldwide at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44595.
 
Lecture Synopsis:
Being a woman in medicine involves challenges and many of those challenges are amplified in interventional radiology. After spending years doing clinical research, I have shifted focus to administrative and practice-building activities. I will talk about how planned and unexpected life events shaped my career path, shifted my priorities, altered what I define as "success," and reframed what I believe yields happiness. I will discuss how mentors have shaped my decisions and helped me identify and overcome barriers. No mentor is perfect and even well-meaning ones can give bad advice. But - even bad advice can be helpful.
 
Series Description:
Invited monthly lecture series highlighting and honoring women and underrepresented leaders in science, industry, academics, policy and advocacy. Originally from a combined effort of Interventional Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, Imaging Sciences, Data Science, and Oncology, the series aimed to honor and promote women and confront gender and other disparities within these fields and beyond. This honorary lecture series uses experiential tales to challenge the implicit bias on role modeling and mentoring of underrepresented minorities. Monthly topics are open-ended and geared towards highlighting successful female or other under-represented leaders as role models for trainees. Speakers focus on mentoring, career building, implicit bias, inclusive team science, and empowerment to counter under-representation in science and medical research.
 
For more information and to watch the archived lectures, visit: https://www.cc.nih.gov/centerio/women_leaders.html 
What History Reveals: Slavery and the Development of U.S. Gynecology
 
You are cordially invited to the next NLM History Talk, “What History Reveals: Slavery and the Development of U.S. Gynecology,” to be held virtually this Thursday, February 10, at 2pm ET, https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44351 
     
Join us to welcome Deirdre Cooper Owens, PhD, The Charles and Linda Wilson Professor in the History of Medicine & Director of the Humanities in Medicine Program, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
 
In her talk, Dr. Cooper Owens will reveal the genealogical origins of American modern gynecology. She explains how the institution of American slavery was directly linked to the development of reproductive medicine in the United States. Dr. Cooper Owens provides context for how and why physicians denied black women their full humanity; but also valued them as “medical superbodies” highly suited for experimentation to cure all women. Engaging with 19th-century ideas about so-called racial difference, Dr. Cooper Owens sheds light on the contemporary legacy of medical racism.
 
Visit Circulating Now, the blog of the NLM History of Medicine Division at https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2022/02/03/what-history-reveals-slavery-and-the-development-of-u-s-gynecology/ to learn more about Dr. Cooper Owens and the focus of her talk. 
 
This free program, like all NLM History Talks, will be live-streamed globally, closed-captioned live, and subsequently archived in the NIH Videocast archive of History of Medicine programs https://videocast.nih.gov/PastEvents?c=221. Individuals with disabilities who need other reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact Lindsay Franz at Lindsay.Franz@nih.gov. Requests should be made as early as possible to allow time for coordination. 
Antivirals for Coronaviruses: Mechanism, Resistance, and Regulation
 
The COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group lecture series continues with a talk by Mark Denison, M.D., of Vanderbilt University, on Thursday, February 17, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. ET via https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44539. 
 
This talk is titled "Antivirals for Coronaviruses: Mechanism, Resistance, and Regulation."  Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits will be available; the code will be announced at the start of the lecture.
 
Dr. Denison is a professor of pediatrics, a professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology, and the Edward Claiborne Stahlman Chair in Pediatric Physiology and Cell Metabolism at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.  For more than 30 years, the Denison Lab has investigated coronavirus replication, pathogenesis and evolution, including SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2. 
 
Denison and his colleagues have identified multiple critical and unique viral enzymes as novel targets for antivirals and virus attenuation.  They have focused on antiviral development since 2013, directing preclinical testing for anti-CoV antivirals such as Remdesivir and Molnupiravir. 
 
Lecture Summary: SARS-CoV-2 has demonstrated remarkable adaptation over the course of the pandemic, particularly with the potential for escape from countermeasures aimed at virus neutralization, thus highlighting an ongoing need to define direct acting antivirals targeting virus replication. The coronaviruses express a large replicase polyprotein from the input genome RNA, containing 16 nonstructural proteins (nsp1-16) that include two proteases, polymerase, helicase, capping functions, RNA binding proteins, and the novel nsp14 RNA proofreading function, and which together assemble into a multi-protein replicase complex.  The seminar will summarize the remarkable biology of the CoV replicase, highlight the targets and mechanisms of EUA / approved antivirals, and define paths forward to prevent resistance and enhance activity against SARS-CoV-2. 
Women AI Panel: Making the cut. What does it take?
 
Tuesday, Feb 22nd, 2022, 2:00 pm Eastern Time (US and Canada)
 
Panel Synopsis:
The landscape of research, medicine, and technology is changing. Evolving the paradigm of mostly men panels, this “wanel” presents three female luminaries as they discuss their career journeys and how they rose to their current positions despite the odds. Three different career tracks, three different paths.
 
NIH Videocast accessible worldwide at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44780
Moderator: Mona Flores, MD, Global Head of Medical Artificial Intelligence, NVIDIA
 
Panelists:
(1) Anima Anandkumar, Director of Machine Learning Research at NVIDIA and Bren Professor at Caltech
(2) Caroline Chung, Vice President, Chief Data Officer, MD Anderson Cancer Center Co-Chair, Tumor Measurement Initiative, MD Anderson Cancer Center
(3) Claire Bloomfield, Deputy Director, Centre for Improving Data Collaboration at NHSX, National Health Service, UK
 
For more information, archived lectures, and speaker biographies, please see:
Origin of Life: Viewed by an Evolutionary Biochemist and Cell Biologist
 
The Demystifying Medicine course series continues with complementary lectures about the origin of life, on March 1 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. exclusively on NIH VideoCast at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44357.  
 
The presentation is titled "Origin of Life: Viewed by an Evolutionary Biochemist and Cell Biologist," and the speakers are Nick Lane, Ph.D., University College London, and Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 
 
Four billion years ago, on a Tuesday, life arose on Earth from non-living matter.  The how, where, and why remain a mystery.  These earliest life forms were simple and microscopic yet had two distinct properties that set them apart from other organic chemical chains in the environment: they could metabolize and replicate.
 
About two billion years ago, also coincidentally on a Tuesday, life exploded with dazzling variety and complexity to include multicellular life with eukaryotic cells.  A few key things happened between abiogenesis and the rise of our first eukaryotic ancestors, and this will be the subject of this Tuesday's Demystifying Medicine presentation.
 
Dr. Nick Lane is a professor of evolutionary biochemistry in the Division of Biosciences at University College London.  His research is on the origin of life and the origin of the eukaryotic cell with a focus on the role of chemiosmosis, the process through which cells generate energy in the form of ATP by way of proton gradients across membranes.  
 
Lane is also an award-winning author.  His most recent book, from 2015, is "The Vital Question: Why Is Life the Way It Is?"
 
Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz is a senior group leader at Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus and a founding member of its Neuronal Cell Biology Program.  Previously, from 1993 to 2016, she was chief of the NIH NICHD Section on Organelle Biology.  Her research has revealed how the organelles of eukaryotic cells are dynamic, self-organized structures that constantly regenerate themselves through intracellular vesicle traffic, rather than static structures.
 
Lippincott-Schwartz also is an innovator of live, subcellular microscopy.  Her collaborative work at the NIH on photoactivatable GFP led to the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy, which was recognized in a 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to her colleague Eric Betzig. 
Beyond FDA Approval: Assessing the Value of New Health Technologies
 
Speaker: Dr. Foluso Agboola MBBS MPH 
March 8, 2022, 3-4 PM
Zoom Registration required: 
 
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) invites you to attend the next Director’s Innovation Speaker Series lecture featuring Foluso Agboola MBBS, MPH.
 
Dr. Foluso Agboola is the Vice President of Research at the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). This independent non-profit research institute generates evidence on the effectiveness and value of drugs and other medical services.
 
In her talk, Dr. Agboola will provide a brief background on ICER and describe the Value Assessment Framework (i.e., the conceptual framework and set of associated methods that guide the development of ICER’s evidence reports) using their review of esketamine for treatment-resistant depression as an example. Dr. Agboola will also provide examples of how ICER’s work is applied in the real world.
 
The NIMH Director’s Innovation Speaker Series is dedicated to innovation, invention, and scientific discovery. For more information, visit https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/innovation-speaker-series/.   
 
For questions, please email InnovationSpeakers@mail.nih.gov. 
Innovative Approaches to Understanding Eating Disorders
 
Please join the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) for a virtual presentation by Cynthia Bulik, Ph.D., FAED, University of North Carolina (UNC) Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders (CEED), on March 8, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm ET.
 
 
Presentation Overview:
Dr. Cynthia Bulik’s clinical work and research on eating disorders span decades and continents. The ground-breaking Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI) is the largest global research study on the genetics of eating disorders ever conducted. EDGI aims to identify the hundreds of genes that influence a person’s risk of developing anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, to improve treatment, and ultimately save lives. 
Focus on Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Mental Health
 
Date and Time: Wednesday, March 30th, 2022; 2:00pm-3:00pm EST
 
 
Historical, Social, and Cultural Determinants of Mental Health for Native Hawaiians
 
Joseph Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula, PhD
Professor and Chair
Department of Native Hawaiian Health
John A. Burns School of Medicine
University of Hawai‘i at Manoa
 
Native Hawaiians, the indigenous people of Hawai‘i, are the largest Pacific Islander group in the U.S., and their population size is expected to double over the next 40 years. Since the 1970s, they have revitalized many of their traditional values and practices, fought to maintain their unique identity, and asserted their indigenous prerogatives and aspirations. Despite their cultural resilience, a century of discrimination, marginalization, and compulsory acculturation strategies have led to disadvantages in education, employment, housing, and political influence for them.  As a result, they are more likely to experience adverse life events and mental health problems, such as substance use, depression, and suicide. In regards to Native Hawaiians, this presentation will 1) provide an historical overview of post-contact Hawai‘i, as it relates to sociopolitical changes affecting mental health; 2) highlight the most prevalent mental health disparities and the social and cultural determinants; 3) explore research finding on the psychosocial and sociocultural factors associated with depression and psychological distress among Native Hawaiians; 4) emphasize cultural resilience and assets to leverage for health promotion, and 4) provide research recommendations to advance health equity for Native Hawaiians. 
 
Mental Health and Substance Use among Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders
 
Andrew Subica, PhD
Associate Professor
Social Medicine, Population and Public Health
University of California Riverside School of Medicine
 
Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders (NH/PI) are an understudied U.S. racial group that has received limited mental health or substance use research attention—resulting in a lack of critical knowledge about NH/PI behavioral health. However, emerging data suggests that NH/PIs may endure heavy mental health and substance use disparities that have gone largely unaddressed by existing interventions and services. This talk will discuss current mental health and substance use findings within NH/PI communities—including during the COVID-19 pandemic—and potential approaches to studying and addressing these problems through culturally responsive research and services.
 
The NIH AANHPI-HSIG was established in 2021. It is open to all participants in the intramural and extramural NIH community, as well as HHS staff. It provides a scientific exchange and collaboration platform for assemblies of scientists and staff at NIH, HHS, extramural academia, or other federal and non-federal entities who have an interest and passion in advancing the NIH mission and improving AAPI-health.  AANHPI-HSIG serves as NIH high-quality trusted resources for AAPI-health research and education. The mission, goals, and vision of the AAPI interest group can be found at https://oir.nih.gov/sigs/AAPI-HSIG.         
 
Individuals with disabilities who need Sign Language Interpreters and/or reasonable accommodation to participate in this webinar should contact webinar host Catherine Yu (Catherine.yu@nih.gov). Requests should be made 5 days in advance of the event. 
Mucosal Immunity at the oral barrier: from bedside to bench
 
Friday, March 11th, 2022
12:00-1:00pm
 
Niki Moutsopoulos, D.D.S, Ph.D., NIDCR
Senior Investigator
Oral Immunity & Infection Section NIDCR
 
The oral mucosa is a barrier site of the human body and is exposed to a plethora of environmental stimuli, including a rich and diverse community of commensal microbiota, airborne antigens and allergens as well as food.  Yet, how the local immune cell network integrates these diverse exposures, protects from pathogens and tolerates innocuous elements, while helping maintain tissue integrity and functionality, remains largely understudied. Here, we present an overview of our research program at the NIH IRP which is focused on basic oral mucosal immunology and pathogenesis of the common oral inflammatory disease, periodontitis. Our studies implement an integrated beside to bench approach. We combine basic scientific experimentation in animal models with clinical and translational studies in patients with monogenic immune defects and susceptibility to the oral inflammatory disease, periodontitis. Our work has particularly focused on the Th17- neutrophil axis as a critical regulator of homeostatic immunity at the oral barrier.
 
To watch the lecture online, please visit: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44977 
 
Individuals with disabilities who need sign language interpreters and/or reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact Margaret McBurney at 301-496-1921 or mmcburney@od.nih.gov 
Cluster-Randomized Trial Designs in Cancer Care Delivery Research An NCI-Sponsored Short Course
 
May 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2022
11:00 AM EDT - 5:00 PM EDT
 
 
Purpose: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) invites attendance for a virtual short course that will provide training in the design, conduct, and analysis of cluster randomized trials (CRTs), including parallel CRTs, stepped-wedge CRTs, and cluster-randomized cross-over trials (CRXO). The course is jointly sponsored by NCI's Healthcare Delivery Research Program and Implementation Science Team. CRTs are increasingly used to evaluate interventions to improve care delivery and to study strategies for implementing evidence-based interventions into routine clinical practice. They require specific methods of design and statistical analysis. The course will address the rationale for using these designs, specific design considerations, the randomization process, sample size calculations, analytic methods, ethical considerations, practical issues in trial management, and trial reporting and interpretation. Principles will be illustrated using case studies of the different variations of CRTs across the cancer control continuum (prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and at end-of-life). 
 
Intended Audience: This course will address the training needs of doctorally prepared cancer care delivery researchers and implementation scientists, as well as post-doctoral fellows and other trainees, and other scientific team members such as project coordinators. Some of the sessions are specifically targeted at statisticians, methodologists, and researchers with an interest in more complex statistical topics.
 
Participation in the course is free of charge, but registration is required.
 
Questions about the workshop may be submitted at https://healthcaredelivery.cancer.gov/about/contact.html  
 
If you are an individual who needs reasonable accommodations to participate in this event, please contact Jennifer Leidenberger at jennifer.leidenberger@nih.gov by April 26, 2022. 
Genomics and Health Disparities Lecture Series
 

The Genomics and Health Disparities Lecture Series was formed to enhance opportunities for dialogue about how innovations in genomics research and technology can impact health disparities. Topics will range from basic science to translational research.

The lecture series is co-sponsored by institutes at the National Institutes of Health (National Human Genome Research Institute, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities) and the Office of Minority Health at the Food and Drug Administration.

To see upcoming lectures and recordings of past lectures, go to https://www.genome.gov/event-calendar/Genomics-Health-Disparities-Lecture-Series. 

Tackling Pain at the National Institutes of Health: Updates from the Bench, the Clinic, and the New NIH Pain Research Center
 
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health’s Division of Intramural Research invites you to join us for a 2-day symposium entitled, “Tackling Pain at the National Institutes of Health: Updates from the Bench, the Clinic, and the New NIH Pain Research Center.” The purpose of the event is to learn from and discuss with key stakeholders across NIH the current state and future directions of the intramural pain research program and to highlight current collaborations and discuss future research within the NIH Pain Research Center (PRC). Attendees will hear from NIH Institute, Center, and Office (ICO) leadership; NIH Clinical Center leadership and department representatives; and clinical and basic researchers across NIH and will learn about ongoing projects and collaborations that are underway in the PRC.
 
Dates: March 31–April 1, 2022
 
Agenda and Registration: https://bit.ly/PRCmeet
 
This meeting is NIH-only. Please register with your NIH email address.
 
About the PRC: The PRC, with support from the NIH Intramural Research Program Director’s Challenge Award, various NIH ICOs, the Clinical Center, and other contributors and collaborators, serves as a hub for clinical pain research, creating and continuing to develop a pain phenotyping platform to better characterize and understand mechanisms of diverse pain states, and to further develop and test therapies to better manage or prevent the development of chronic pain and opioid abuse.
Genomics and the Media Seminar Series
 

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) will host a virtual lecture series throughout 2021 and 2022 that features trailblazers in science communication. Each distinguished speaker is an expert in communicating about genomics across media, including radio, podcasting, writing, speaking, publishing, and everything in-between. The series aims to demonstrate the various approaches for communicating about genomics as well as the unique challenges and opportunities each medium can bring.

These lectures will provide communicators with the opportunity to talk about what it’s like to cover genomics today, such as the special challenges in reporting on the quickly growing scientific field, and how it’s changed since the Human Genome Project.

To see upcoming lectures and recordings of past lectures, go to https://www.genome.gov/event-calendar/Genomics-and-the-Media-Seminar-Series. 

Empowering Young Women - Becoming Positive Role Models and Mentors
 
Thursday, March 17.
1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET.
Online only.
 
In celebrating International Women's Day (March 8), this webinar will help parents and women in the workforce become strong role models and effective mentors to positively influence young women in their lives. On March 17, participants will learn of different ways to empower young women and understand their roles in shaping the next generation of independent and confident women leaders.
 
Join this webinar to hear from Ms. Sydney Wilson, Program Director of Girls, Inc., Washington D.C., as she creates innovative, engaging, and content-rich experiences and community partnerships to build relationships among girls in grades 6-8 and successfully transition young women from middle to high school. Additionally, Ms. Wilson holds Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Social Work and has 10 years of experience in nonprofit youth development.
 
This webinar is open to the entire NIH workforce. Reserve your webinar seat now at: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-2ejj-4gSBeyDRU5NuHQQg  
 
Sign language interpreting services are available upon request. Individuals who need interpreting services and/or other reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact Ms. Susan Borst at susan.borst@nih.gov and/or (301) 827-3250. Requests should be made five days in advance of this webinar.
 

To see upcoming lectures and recordings of past lectures about parenting and caregiving, go to https://ors.od.nih.gov/pes/dats/childcare/Pages/parent_seminars.aspx. 

Structural Racism And Black Women’s Employment In The US Health Care Sector
 
Date: April 5, 12 PM ET     
 
Seminar Hosted by: NIH-Wide Social Determinants of Health Research Coordinating Committee     
 
Speaker: Janette Dill is an Associate Professor in the Health Policy and Management Division of the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Dill is a sociologist whose research focuses on the health care workforce and how healthcare work is gendered and racialized.     
 
Presentation Overview: Dr. Dill will describe how structural racism and sexism shape the employment trajectories of Black women in the US health care system. Dr. Dill will discuss policy recommendations and levers for intervention, including raising wages across the low-wage end of the sector, providing accessible career ladders to allow those in low-wage health care to advance, and addressing racism in the pipeline of health care professions.     
 
Join ZoomGov Meeting
Meeting ID: 161 337 0249
Passcode: 349489  
 

To request reasonable accommodations, please contact Sam Sanchez at sanchezsa@mail.nih.gov at least five days before the event. 

Using Artificial Intelligence to Model and Understand Genetic Disease
 
Speaker: Matthew McCoy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Oncology, Georgetown University Medical Center
 
Date and Time: Wednesday, March 30, 2022, 10-11 am ET
 
 
Predicting how changes in the genome manifest as phenotypic differences is an extremely challenging problem that requires a deep understanding of multiscale biological mechanisms. And while we know a great deal about how information stored in a sequence of nucleotides translates into the complexities of life, our understanding of how subtle changes on the molecular scale can lead to drastic changes in phenotype is incomplete. In the age of genomic sequencing and the wealth of information on variation in the human genome, predicting the degree a variant of unknown significance will contribute to the pathogenicity of a disease is a challenge that can only be addressed by a computational approach. And not just because the prevalence of genomic variation makes experimental characterization intractable, advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) provide a means to learn the multiscale complexity and emergent properties that drive genetic disease. Our preliminary studies have shown AI trained on simulations of variant protein dynamics can segregate between related but distinct disease mechanisms and is even predictive of disease severity. As our knowledge of variant-disease associations continues to grow, AI models that connect variation in DNA to disease phenotypes will become an integral part of how we understand, assess, and treat genetic diseases.
 

Individuals with disabilities who need Sign Language Interpreters and/or reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Prisca N. Fall, fallpn@mail.nih.gov, 301-402-4582. 

Oral Viral Pathogenesis: Lessons from the Clinic
 
Presenter: Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, DDS, PhD 
Date: 3/18/2022
Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm **Webcast Only**
 
Overview:
Dr. Webster-Cyriaque’s presentation will include the current state of oral health research in the setting of HPV and HIV.
 
About the NIDCR Clinical Research Fellowship Grand Rounds:
NIDCR Clinical Research Fellowship Grand Rounds began in early 2014 and occur four times a year. Leading scientists and clinicians address advances in clinical, translational, and basic research in areas related to the dental, oral, and craniofacial complex and bone metabolism.
 
Sign Language Interpreters will be provided on request. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations to participate in this event should contact Kendra Pope, Kendra.pope@nih.gov, 301-827-7759. Requests should be made 5 days in advance.
 
Meeting ID: 161 507 1563
Passcode: 069996
One tap mobile
+16692545252,,1615071563#,,,,*069996# US (San Jose)

+16468287666,,1615071563#,,,,*069996# US (New York) 

The Brain Across the Lifespan: Tools and Methodologies for Measuring the Changing Brain Workshop
 
Join NIH, NICHD, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for an upcoming virtual workshop on April 18-19, 2022.
 
Mapping changes in brain composition and dynamics across the lifespan is critical to identifying sensitive developmental processes that, when disrupted, can lead to disease later in life. Better approaches are needed to link data collected from the brain across timepoints and identify biomarkers of atypical neurodevelopment that may signal neurodegenerative disorders in adulthood.
 
This workshop connects researchers who are focused on different timepoints and levels of resolution, in different model systems and over different timescales, to jointly explore existing and emerging tools and methods for measuring cellular identity, connectivity, and activity changes in the brain over time. Workshop participants will also identify research gaps and opportunities for bridging our understanding of early neurodevelopment to health and disease later in life.
 
Registration is free and open to the public: https://bit.ly/35HiaT8.
 
Individuals who need reasonable accommodations to participate in the webinar should contact Monica Barnette at mbarnette@thebizzellgroup.com at least 5 business days in advance of the event.
 
You can contact Dr. Amanda Price at amanda.price@nih.gov or Dr. Sonia Lee at sonia.lee@nih.gov with any questions about the webinar. The webinar is open to the public, so please share. We hope to see you there. 
Mind the Gap webinar—Choosing Sample Sizes for Multilevel and Longitudinal Studies Analyzed with Linear Mixed Models
 
Friday, April 29, 2022, 1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
 
Registration is required:
 
Planning a reproducible study requires selecting a sample size expected to ensure appropriate statistical power. Advances in statistical methods and free point and click software have made it easy to select a sample size for clustered and longitudinal designs with linear mixed models. The software, a suite of training modules, and reference materials are freely available online. The software interface and training materials are aimed at health scientists and have been validated in face-to-face and online courses. Dr. Keith Muller and Dr. Deborah Glueck will discuss what the software and training cover, what they do not cover, and what they hope to add. A longitudinal randomized trial will be used to illustrate the process of power analysis.
 
Can’t be there? A recording of this webinar will be available approximately 2 weeks after the session.
 
This event is open to the public and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation. Please feel free to share this information widely. 
The Lingering Toll of COVID
 
The Demystifying Medicine course series continues with complimentary lectures about the neurological and mental health effects of COVID-19, by NINDS Director Walter Koroshetz, M.D., and NIMH Director Joshua Gordon, M.D., Ph.D.
 
The presentations are on March 29, 2022, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. exclusively on NIH VideoCast at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44328.  Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits will be available.   
 
Chronic COVID is proving to be a complex puzzle to solve.  What role does the virus play, if any, in observed neurologic symptoms such as memory loss and malaise, and how might this be compounded by the social and emotional upheaval produced by the pandemic?  The next Demystifying Medicine course explores chronic COVID from the perspective of two leading neuroscientists who have helped shaped national research policy on COVID. 
Climate and Emergency Care (and Trauma) Systems
 
Friday, April 8, 2022
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EST
 
Dr. Newgard will focus on emergency care and trauma systems in the context of climate change, including a case study from 2021 and vulnerable aspects of these systems (as highlighted by the pandemic). He will also present current NICHD-supported research on emergency department preparedness for children to illustrate the potential synergy in improving the readiness of emergency care systems for day-to-day crises, climate effects, disasters, pandemics, and more.   
Should there be limits on the risks of research with competent adults?
 
Ethics Grand Rounds
Wednesday, April 6th, noon-1:00 pm
 
Regulations place strict limits on the risks of research with children, and others who cannot consent. In contrast, regulations around the world, including US regulations, place no upper limits on the risks of research with competent adults. Despite this, review committees tend to regard risky research with competent adults as ethically problematic. This difference raises the question of who is right. Are existing regulations overly permissive? Or are review committees inappropriately blocking valuable research in competent adults? 
Preventing Canine Separation Anxiety
 
Join other dog owners for an engaging seminar on preventing canine separation anxiety. The discussion will cover basic dog training tips, defining separation anxiety and its manifestation in dogs, as well as tips and tricks for sustaining a happy and healthy dog as we return to the physical workplace.
 
You can watch the recordings at:
 
Monday, April 25, 2022
1–2 p.m. ET
 
No registration is required, and all interested persons inside and outside the National Institutes of Health are welcome. This online-only presentation will be broadcast live and archived at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44774 and on Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/nih.nccih. More information is available at https://bit.ly/CRMcCurdy. For questions or requests concerning this lecture, email info@nccih.nih.gov.                 
 
Kratom (botanical name Mitragyna speciosa Korth) is a tree in the coffee family indigenous to Southeast Asia. Its leaves are the source of a traditional drug, kratom, with unique pharmacologic actions—e.g., both stimulant and depressant actions. In its countries of origin, kratom extract has been used as an opium substitute and a treatment for addiction. Little was known scientifically about this tree and drug.
 

Recently, human case reports have increased in the literature from its use in the United States, and the Drug Enforcement Agency announced an intention to place kratom into Schedule I. Studies in animal models and published case reports from the past few years on kratom have focused on its potential in the context of opioid withdrawal. Dr. McCurdy will discuss the traditional medicinal use of kratom, the chemistry of the current pharmacologic studies, and his team’s behavioral studies in rodent models. Kratom’s differing uses, availability, and preparation around the world will also be explored. 

What a Difference a Generation Makes
 
On behalf of the Office of the Deputy Director for Management (DDM), the NIH Training Center is pleased to announce the third event of the 2021-2022 DDM Seminar Series, on April 7th. This annual series hosts dynamic, experienced public speakers known for delivering meaningful insights into workplace concepts, challenges, and solutions. These seminars provide NIH staff the opportunity to advance their knowledge of best practices in a variety of leadership and management issues. This year’s topics will address resilience, engaging others, and regathering post-COVID. This seminar will feature Lynne Lancaster presenting on working with multiple generations in the workplace.
 
- Topic: "What a Difference a Generation Makes"
- Date: Thursday, April 7, 2022
- Location: Videocast at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=44578
- Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET
 
ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Lynne Lancaster is one of today’s most sought-after generational experts and keynote speakers. She knows what makes Traditionalists, Boomers, Generation Xers, Millennials, and Gen Z tick, and brings her original research, insights, humor, and practical tips to audiences eager to solve the generational puzzle. Ms. Lancaster is co-author of the best-seller, When Generations Collide, which introduced the U.S. workplace and marketplace to the generations concept. Her most recent book, The M-Factor, garnered a gold medal from the Axiom business book awards for its portrayal of this newest cohort. As an expert on workplace and social trends, Ms. Lancaster has been a guest on CNN, CNBC and National Public Radio, and has appeared in national publications including Fast Company, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. As the founder of two successful consulting firms, she has coached executives from major U.S. companies on decoding communication issues. Ms. Lancaster has also served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, and she is on the boards of several philanthropic organizations. She is a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in English Literature. 

Incorporating Sex and Gender in NIH research: Sex and Gender in Health and Disease SIG Panel Discussion
 
April 12, 2022; 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. ET; Zoom information below
This event is open to NIH staff, contractors, fellows, and trainees.
 
Presentation: Sex Differences in Taste and Smell Perception: Are there any?
Speaker: Paule Joseph, PhD, MS, FNP-BC, FAAN, Lasker Clinical Investigator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and National Institute of Nursing Research
Abstract: The chemical senses (taste and smell) mediate safety, nutrition, the sensation of pleasure, and general well-being. Taste and smell are involved in the perception of flavor for food and beverages. The question of whether men and women vary in their ability to taste, and smell has been investigated for many years. Regarding taste, sex differences have been reported in taste preference, detection thresholds, and reactivity to taste stimuli. While there is heterogeneity in the literature, some studies suggest that regarding smell, for specific odorants, women seem to have better of odor detection, identification, discrimination, and memory compared to men. In this talk, Dr. Joseph will discuss what is known about sex differences in taste and smell perception and future research directions.
 
Presentation: #SexMatters: Sex-Based Differences in Cancer
Speaker: Jill Barnholtz-Sloan, Ph.D., Associate Director for Informatics and Data Science, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology; Senior Investigator, Trans-Divisional Research Program; National Cancer Institute
Abstract: Sexual differentiation results in sex differences in cellular and systems biology. Traditionally, research studies have combined male and female results together in analysis. Sex-specific differences produce dimorphic traits such as body size, metabolism, and disease risk. Studies in autism and autoimmunity have revealed fundamental sex-based differences in development and pathophysiology, including genetic aberrations. However, sex-based differences in cancer have not been studied in the laboratory, clinic, or community. Thus, our understanding of the many factors that determine sex-based differences in cancer is limited. In cancer, these differences manifest, as significant sex differences in incidence of many tumors that arise in both sexes. Little is known about the biological basis for these sex differences. Recent guidance from the NIH now requires all grants to outline how they will address sex as a biological variable. Work from our group and others has demonstrated that there is an increase of cancer incidence in males. This increased incidence occurs across all stages of life. Sex differences in mutational burden, epigenetics, tumor suppressor activity, immunity, and cell cycle regulation are now being reported. Recent work by groups has demonstrated that females have increased adverse effects events when compared to males. Elucidating the mechanisms by which sex-based differences impact cancer development, prognosis, and treatment is essential. 
 
Presentation: Coordinating Committee for Research on Women's Health (CCRWH) COVID-19/Women's Health Working Group Update
Speakers: Koyeli Banerjee, Ph.D.; Scientific Program Analyst, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute & Nina F. Schor, MD, PhD; Deputy Director and Acting Scientific Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke The CCRWH COVID-19 Work Group has performed a portfolio analysis at the intersection of women’s health and COVID-19.  This includes funded grants for FY 2021 and was performed using RCDC keywords related to disorders and conditions that preferentially affect women, followed by manual curation of this list.  This portfolio analysis is intended to form the basis for ongoing performance of a gap analysis to enable NIH ICs to identify potential areas for enrichment of their COVID-19/women’s health grant opportunities.
 
Recordings of previous SGHD SIG Webinars available here: https://orwh.od.nih.gov/career-development-education/videocasts       
 
Join ZoomGov Meeting
Structural Racism and Discrimination and Whole Person Health Research: An NCCIH Conversation
 
April 19, 2022
11:30 a.m. ET to 12:30 p.m. ET
Register and view speaker bios at: https://go.usa.gov/xzztA
 
This NCCIH Hot Topics Webinar will feature a conversation on the intersection of research on structural racism and discrimination (SRD) and whole-person health. NCCIH senior staff will engage with leading scientists to discuss current research on the impact of SRD on whole-person health across the lifespan. They will also explore potential future research directions and consider how complementary and integrative health researchers might incorporate research on SRD into their work and inform intervention development to address the impact of SRD on whole-person health outcomes. The webinar will include time at the end to address audience questions. 
Scratching the Glass Ceiling: Recalling Challenges and Successes in a Healthcare and Research Career
 
Tuesday, April 12, 2022, 2:00 pm Eastern Time (US and Canada.
Presented by Christine Grady, BS, MSN, PhD.
NIH Videocast is accessible worldwide at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=45142.
 
Lecture/Discussion Synopsis & Brief Bio:
Dr. Christine Grady is a nurse-bioethicist, senior investigator, and Chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.  Her research focuses on clinical research ethics, including informed consent, vulnerability, study design, and recruitment, international research ethics, and on ethical issues faced by nurses and other healthcare providers.
 
Dr. Grady has authored more than 200 papers in the biomedical and bioethics literature and authored or edited several books, including The Oxford Textbook of Clinical Research Ethics. She is an elected fellow of the Hastings Center and the American Academy of Nursing, a research fellow at Kennedy Institute of Ethics and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Grady holds a B.S. in nursing and biology from Georgetown University, a MSN in community health nursing from Boston College, and a PhD in philosophy from Georgetown University. 
Respecting Autonomy and Enabling Diversity: The Critical Need for Demographic Variation in Research Datasets
 
Thursday, April 14, 1:00-2:00 p.m. Eastern Time
 
SPEAKER
Kayte Spector-Bagdady, J.D., M.Bioethics Associate Director, Center for Bioethics & Social Sciences Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology University of Michigan Medical School
 
Promising advances in precision oncology and other big data research rely on large datasets to analyze correlations between genetic variants, behavior, environment, and outcomes to improve population health. However, to ensure equitable access to scientific advances, datasets must include patients reflecting the demographic distribution of disease. This talk will discuss different theoretical as well as recruitment and consent approaches to improve data collection and sharing practices in ways that are both respectful of individual patient autonomy and equitable in impact across diverse communities.
 
Event contact: Charlisse Caga-anan, charlisse.caga-anan@nih.gov or Esmeralda Casas-Silva, emi.casas-silva@nih.gov. 
Understanding and Preventing Sport-Related Brain Injury Using a Public Health Prevention Framework
 
Christine Baugh, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 noon ET
Registration is required:
 
About the Lecture:
Millions of youth, adolescents, and young adults participate in sports and recreational activities annually. Although sports have numerous benefits, they also come with potential harms, including brain injury. In fact, 1.6–3.8 million such injuries occur as a result of sports and recreational activities annually in the United States. Understanding and addressing this health burden has been a focus of numerous scientific and public health efforts. The health consequences of sport-related brain injury range from acute to chronic and from minor to catastrophic. Given the wide array of health effects, a multimodal prevention strategy is essential. Thus, leveraging the public health framework of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention—preventing the injury from occurring, rapidly identifying those that do occur, and minimizing downstream effects—is helpful for framing prevention efforts. In this presentation, Dr. Christine Baugh will describe what is known about sport-related brain injury and its health consequences, and highlight a range of approaches for reducing harm. Finally, she will discuss ethical implications and current debates in the field.
 
About Christine Baugh:
Christine Baugh, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at University of Colorado School of Medicine. She conducts multidisciplinary research at the intersection of health, policy, ethics, and sport. Much of her work focuses on the primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of concussions and other sport injuries. Dr. Baugh is the author of 70 peer-reviewed research articles that have been collectively cited over 8,000 times in literature. Her work has been featured in high-profile media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and ESPN. She has won numerous awards, including being named on the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 list in sports. 
NIH Library Services

NOTE: Access to some of these resources may be limited to NIH personnel.
 
Earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) Credits with NIH Library Resources
Did you know that you can earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits through resources provided by the NIH Library? NIH staff can earn credits by researching clinical topics and completing evaluations and quizzes while using the resources below.
While on the NIH network, register for a free personal account in each of the following resources. Learn more about how to earn CME credits in each via the CME Information links. Then get started earning CMEs today.
 
Due to licensing, these resources are only available to NIH staff. New personal accounts must be set up while on the NIH network. For more information, contact Lisa Scanlon, lisa.scanlon@nih.gov. 

Enhance Your Data Science Skills with the SAGE Data Science Video Collection
Looking to enhance your data science skills this summer? Check out the SAGE Data Science, Big Data Analytics, and Digital Methods video collection made available by the NIH Library. Whether you are just starting out and want to learn how to program in R, or are an expert interested in brushing up on statistics or analytical tools and methods, this video collection can help. The collection is browsable, searchable, and, with an easy-to-create profile, users can save clips, playlists, and searches, and generate alerts. 

These online videos cover a wide range of innovative methods and best practices for data analysis, data visualization, and computational social science research. Over 3,200 videos comprising over 120 hours are available. Example topics include:
  • Programming (Python, R)
  • Data visualization
  • Data management
  • Data and text mining
  • Social media analytics
  • Statistical models and methods
  • Artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning
  • Networks and social network analysis
  • Spatial analysis
Check out the Data Science, Big Data Analytics, and Digital Methods video collection and start accelerating your data science training today.
 
Adobe Creative Cloud Software and Classes at the NIH Library (posted 6-10-21)
The NIH Library now provides remote access to the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of software, including After Effects, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro. These industry-standard applications can be used for graphic design, video editing, and more. To use one of these applications through the Library’s remote access service, make a reservation. You will receive instructions for accessing the workspace along with the reservation confirmation. To ensure NIH Library staff are available to facilitate your online access, 48 hours advance notice is requested.
 
If you are new to these tools or want to brush up your skills, we also offer training on some of the most popular Creative Cloud applications. Join us for one of our upcoming classes—click on the links below to learn more and register.
Introduction to Adobe Photoshop
June 24, 10:00–11:30 am
Introduction to Adobe Illustrator
July 29, 10:00–11:30 am
Introduction to Adobe Premiere Pro
August 24, 1:00–2:00 pm
Intermediate Adobe Premiere Pro
September 29, 1:30–3:00 pm

For more information about remote access to Adobe Creative Cloud software or the upcoming classes, contact Alicia Lillich, alicia.lillich@nih.gov.
 
NIH Library Online Training Classes for September and October:
NIH Library classes are available. All classes are online via WebEx. Descriptions and registration are available through the link.
 
NIH Library Online Training Classes
 
The NIH Library Training Program is a premier provider of information and data management training for the NIH intramural research community. NIH Library classes are free, available to NIH and select HHS staff, and are currently being offered entirely online via WebEx. All sessions are taught by dedicated subject matter experts including NIH Library staff, guest instructors, and industry experts.
The NIH Library Training Program also offers on-demand, online tutorials to accommodate self-paced learning. For personalized instruction, schedule an individual or group consultation with one of our information experts.
NIH Library staff are available for ongoing support and help with research questions, specific training needs, or with follow-up questions after classes.

Full-text online journals, the library catalog, and information about Library resources and services are available on the Library's website: https://nihlibrary.nih.gov. For more information, contact the Library at 301-496-1080 or nihlibrary@nih.gov.
To stay up to date on NIH Library classes, events, resources, and services, subscribe to our e-news.
The NIH Library serves the information needs of NIH staff and select Department of Health and Human Services agencies. The NIH Library is part of the Office of Research Services in the Office of the Director.
 
Online Services, Training, and Resources from the NIH Library
 
The NIH Library is here to help you—online—with your teleworking information and research needs. This week, we are sharing top-level online services, training, and resources available from the NIH Library. In the coming weeks, we will feature additional online offerings under each of these main areas. 
 
Services
  • Ask A Question: contact us with your information questions
  • Get Help: use our “get help” forms to request materials, suggest a resource, get editing assistance, and more (most of our library services remain available during this time)
  • Find Your Librarian: contact your librarian for personalized assistance—each Institute or Center has their own dedicated informationist or specialized librarian
Training
  • Training classes: sign up for online classes in bioinformatics, databases, technology, writing and publishing, and other topics
  • Consultations: contact us to get personalized help with using our resources, conducting a systematic review, getting help with your bioinformatics questions, and more
  • Tutorials: check out our collection of on-demand, online tutorials which are ideal for self-paced learning 
Resources
  • Journals: access over 12,000 online current and historical journals, most with complete archives
  • eBooks: extend your research with our collection of over 160,000 scholarly eBooks
  • Databases: search over 50 reference databases including PubMed@NIH, Web of Science, Scopus, and UpToDate
NIH staff can access these online resources via the NIH VPN, or by logging in through the NIH Library’s remote access service. Eligible HHS employees should connect through the remote access service. 
Contact us today for assistance with your information and research needs.
 
3D Printing Medical Supplies: A Web Guide from the NIH Library
 
During the COVID-19 pandemic, “makers” have come together to design, 3D print, and distribute medical supplies. In support of this effort, staff from the NIH Library Technology Hub Team collected and consolidated information about making personal protective equipment, or PPE, in a helpful web guide.
This page will be updated regularly with information about federal guidelines, maker initiatives, scholarly research, and NIH’s involvement. Please note that this is for informational purposes only; the NIH Library does not endorse any plans, models, or organization shared in this guide.
For questions or suggestions about this web guide contact Alicia Lillich, alicia.lillich@nih.gov.

Experience Science in Action with JoVE Science Education Videos

JoVE Science Education videos help you and your lab stay up to date on scientific fundamentals with easy-to-follow video demonstrations created by experts at top institutions. The videos can accelerate learning and improve lab productivity; use them to help train new employees, increase retention of techniques and concepts through the video transcripts, reduce time needed to learn new methods, and improve overall productivity and reproducibility.
 
The videos cover a wide range of subjects, including basic and advanced science topics, lab safety, and scientific and research methods. The NIH Library provides access to selected collections, which are available to NIH staff:
Check out the JoVE video collections today and experience science in action.
 
Watch Online Biomedical & Life Sciences Lectures from HSTalks

The NIH Library is pleased to offer the HSTalks Biomedical & Life Sciences Collection. This lecture series features renowned world experts (including NIH researchers and scientists) presenting on a broad range of topics from basic science to therapeutic interventions.

Whether you are interested in the latest on COVID-19 or the use of artificial intelligence in medicine, HSTalks provides access to over 2,900 lectures at introductory, intermediate, and highly advanced levels. Users can browse and search the collection by subject, speaker, and institution. New series and talks are added monthly, and users can sign up for an account to access content offline and earn CME and CPD credits.
 
Example subjects include:
Interested in learning more? Watch this six-minute video. For additional questions or more information, contact Lisa Scanlon, lisa.scanlon@nih.gov.
 
PubMed
 
Do you want to get the most out of PubMed? Use PubMed@NIH, a special edition of PubMed for NIH staff. While PubMed provides access to many published articles for free, many more full-text articles are available to the NIH research communities through PubMed@NIH. Using this tool connects your PubMed searches directly to the NIH Library collection and maximizes your access to full-text articles. It can even save you time when you need to order documents from the Library.
 
How to Access and Use PubMed@NIH
You must have NIH credentials (a PIV card) and be on the NIH campus or connected to the NIH VPN to use PubMed@NIH. Note: you will see “nihlib” at the end of the URL when connected to PubMed@NIH.
  1. Go to the NIH Library website> click on the PubMed@NIH button in the grey bar (below the main search box), or bookmark this link for future reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?otool=nihlib.
  2. Open asingle record in PubMed@NIH in the abstract or full record format.
  3. Click on the blue and green "NIH Library Go" icon in the top right-hand corner of the abstract/record. 
    • If the NIH Library has a subscription to the journal, you will be directed to the full-text article.
    • If the NIH Library does not have a subscription for the article, you will be directed to the NIH Library document delivery form, which will be automatically completed, allowing you to effortlessly submit the order. 
Learn more
For new and advanced PubMed users, join us for a class—click on the links below to learn more and register. Individual and group online tutorials are also available upon request.  
Contact Dera Tompkins, tompkins@nih.gov for more information about using PubMed@NIH, upcoming classes, or tutorials.
HHS and CMS staff: you also have your own PubMed tools. Look for an update from your Librarian. 
 

Are you looking to increase your search results? Try Embase, a comprehensive tool for searching for information about drugs, devices, and diseases. Embase includes conference abstracts and articles from 2,900 journals that are not in PubMed/MEDLINE and is especially effective for conducting drug and device searches. Embase can also be an important tool to use when doing systematic and other rigorous reviews. 

Embase

How to Access Embase 
You must have NIH credentials (a PIV card) and be on the NIH campus or connected to the NIH VPN to use Embase. Find it on the NIH Library website under the Resources tab at the top of the page, or bookmark this link for future reference: https://www.embase.com/. 

Learn More 
Join us for a class to learn more about Embase—click on the links below to register. Individual and group tutorials are also available upon request. 
 
September 9, 1:00‒2:00 pm 
This seminar will provide an overview of Embase and demonstrate how it compares to other databases like PubMed. The class will cover designing queries, using form-based queries, developing multiple search strategies, combining searches, and finding conference and literature information. This class was designed for beginners and intermediate users. 
 
September 16, 11:00 am‒12:00 pm 
This advanced training session will focus on using Embase for general literature searching and will cover how to use the database’s embedded tools to design advanced queries for systematic reviews and adverse drug reactions. Participants will also learn how to combine queries to increase search precision, and how to use the PICO (population, intervention, comparison, and outcome) and the PV (Pharmacovigilance) wizards. 
 
Contact Christine Caufield-Noll, christine.caufield-noll@nih.gov, for more information about Embase, upcoming classes, or tutorials. 
 
The NIH Library
301-496-1080