Hughes Institute Moves To Bolster Female And Minority Participation

Among the 44 scientists--triple the usual number of new nominees--expected to be named Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigators, 20 are women and six are members of minority groups, say institute officials. According to an HHMI spokesman, African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics are among the represented ethnic minorities, but the number of women included in this minority group was unavailable at press time. When scientists accept a nomination to become Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigators, they become employees of HHMI, receiving full financial support for salary, staff, and equipment in renewable appointments of three, five, or seven years. However, HHMI investigators--who conduct their work at universities and medical centers across the United States-- still maintain their institutional appointments. Under a collaborative agreement between these institutions and HHMI, investigators must spend 75 percent of their time doing research, while the other 25 percent can be devoted to activities such as teaching, mentoring graduate students, and serving on committees. In return, the investigators receive support for themselves, research technicians, and post- doctoral fellows. HHMI also pays for administrative services and laboratory overhead and supplies. Institute officials say the number of new female appointees for this year will nearly double the current roster of 25 women who are HHMI investigators. At the same time, the total number of minority scientists will increase from three to nine. The new investigators will join an existing body of 225 United States researchers, which includes five Nobel laureates and 21 members of the National Academy of Sciences. At press time, Purnell Choppin, president of the Chevy Case, Md.-based philanthropy, had declined to release names of the new appointees, since, a spokesman explained, details of "the employment process" had yet to be finalized for all of them. According to the spokesman, publication of the list-- which would reveal the identities of the new women and minority researchers--was expected by April 1. Choppin and other HHMI officials say that their organization made a conscious effort to recruit underrepresented groups of scientists in this latest expansion. Says Choppin: "We indicated [in the nomination solicitation] that we were interested in having outstanding women and minorities nominated .... I am gratified that this took place." He notes, however, that quality of research--rather than consideration of race or gender--was the main attribute for selection. HHMI solicited nominations from biomedical institutions from around the country. The 44 appointees were then selected from this group by a review panel of eminent researchers. To some HHMI officials and other observers, the unprecedented focus on women and minorities serves to correct a past imbalance. Applauding the move, for example, is Shirley Tilghman, a professor of molecular biology at Princeton University and a Hughes investigator for the past five years. Tilghman, who is a forceful advocate for women in science, says there was room for improvement by HHMI in this area. (According to an HHMI spokesman, only nine women were among the 83 scientists hired by HHMI from 1990 through early 1994.) Commenting on the new group of appointees, Tilghman adds, "I think some really excellent scientists will be recognized." Also praising the institute's selections is N. Maxwell Cowan, a neuroscientist and vice president-chief scientific officer at HHMI. Cowan says he has been concerned about the underrepresentation of women and minorities since he started at HHMI six years ago. The institute "has made great strides towards rectifying this," says Cowan, describing the current effort as "affirmative action in the very best sense of the word." And Irving S. Shapiro, chairman of the HHMI board of trustees, says that selecting women and minorities brings a "broader diversification of people" to HHMI research, as well as a better representation "of the population of our country than we have had in the past." The group of appointees to be named is notable for its size in addition to its makeup, since the 44 appointees is triple the number of scientists that HHMI is in the habit of bringing on each year. From 1988 to 1992, for example, the institute hired about 16 new investigators annually. The current crop of 44 investigators was harvested from a field of 287 nominees, says Cowan. "The competition was extremely steep," he says. "Being among those nominated is in itself a mark of distinction." "We're delighted," says Choppin, "at a time when opportunities [for discovery] are great and when funding is tight overall that we're able to increase our activities." He explains that an outstanding return on HHMI's endowment investment allowed for "the current jump forward" in funding. HHMI, the largest private philanthropy in the U.S. (with 1993 assets greater than $8 billion), spent $268 million on biomedical research in 1993. This is more than 21 percent of the total support for biomedical research in the U.S. from nonprofit groups, according to HHMI. For Princeton's Tilghman, the take-home message of the expansion is that there has been a major injection of funding for biomedical research. She lauds HHMI's policy of supporting individual researchers rather than, like the National Institutes of Health and other organizations, specific research projects. This investment in people, Tilghman says, "is a critical part of [HHMI's] success." She says that this approach to funding biomedical research lends value and importance to the independent, free-thinking aspects of scientific inquiry. Choppin says that this year's anticipated appointments reflect the institute's interest in encouraging and supporting younger talent. Scientists, he explains, can become HHMI investigators at one of three levels--assistant, associate, and full--a structure that roughly corresponds to the professorial structure of universities. Each level has a progressively longer period of review for renewal--three years for assistant, five years for associate, and seven for full investigators. In the current round of appointments, Choppin says, there are more assistant investigators nominated than at any other rank. "We have been encouraging more nominations at the assistant level, but not to the exclusion of senior-level ranks," he adds. Nevertheless, Shapiro points out, the latest group of investigators poses more opportunities for young researchers who, in his words, "have the potential to be great scientists." According to institute officials, as a result of the latest round of appointments, the number of institutions that have HHMI laboratories will increase from 53 to 63 and, consequently, the national research staff supported by HHMI (now nearly 2,000 people) will increase substantially. The names of these laboratories will not be made public, however, until all of the individual appointments have been announced.

Hughes Institute Moves To Bolster Female And Minority Participation

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