NIH FIRST Cohort Cluster Hiring Initiative at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

SUMMARY
The barriers to research and career success for underrepresented groups in academic medicine have been
widely documented—an inhospitable climate, discriminatory policies, lower financial compensation, lack of
leadership opportunities, a sense of marginalization, and racism, among others. Strategies to eliminate these
barriers have been largely unsuccessful as evidenced by the persistent “representation gap.” Research suggests
that while strategies focused on individuals are useful, an integrated approach will be necessary to effect
systemic change. Efforts toward inclusive excellence are underway at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount
Sinai (ISMMS) with such transformative initiatives as the Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) Task Force to
Address Racism; a novel recruitment program to attract junior and senior Black/AA and Latinx faculty (The
Biomedical Laureates Program); creation of the Office for Gender Equity; establishment of the Institute for Health
Equity Research; and launch of The Center for Scientific Diversity. The purpose of the proposed FIRST Cohort
program is to accelerate inclusive excellence at our institution and, by extension, contribute to accelerating
inclusive excellence more broadly in the national biomedical research enterprise. Building on current initiatives,
our goals are to (1) foster sustainable culture/climate change; (2) promote inclusive excellence by hiring a diverse
cohort of new early-career faculty; and (3) support faculty development, mentoring, sponsorship, and promotion.
Our primary outcome is for FIRST Cohort faculty hires to secure an NIH R-award by the conclusion of the grant
period. We will pursue three related aims. First, we will modify the MSHS Task Force To Address Racism
Roadmap for Change with key strategies as the basis for an ISMMS Roadmap for Inclusive Excellence to include
(1) development of a process to collect accurate, comprehensive demographic faculty data and to make this
data accessible; (2) engagement of the faculty in regular climate surveys and the sharing of results with faculty
and institutional leaders; (3) departmental/Institute level review of advancement & promotion practices, policies,
and processes; among other key strategies. Second, we will recruit a diverse Cohort comprised of 4 clusters of
3 faculty per cluster to be embedded within our interdisciplinary Institutes. We will develop a new recruitment
protocol to ensure fairness and equity in the hiring process, require bias reduction training for search committee
members, and establish standardized interview processes. Next, we will provide an integrated program of faculty
development to include both career advancement and professional development activities (e.g., individual
development plans, mentor/sponsor committees, Grants-in-Progress workshops, individual coaching around
such issues as work-life integration, peer mentoring, etc.) Cluster Sponsors will lead the way in identifying
opportunities for formal and informal networking across the ISMMS and in the larger scientific community. With
the support of an institutional investment, all FIRST Cohort faculty will be retained at the conclusion of the award
period. We will conduct a rigorous evaluation of the program and collaborate closely with NIH CEC as required.

Grant Number: 5U54CA267776-04
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Emma Benn