Juneteenth in STEMM and the barriers to equitable science

Alfred Mays; Angela Byars-Winston; Antentor Hinton Jr; Andrea G Marshall; Annet Kirabo; Avery August; Bianca J Marlin; Blake Riggs; Blanton Tolbert; Celestine Wanjalla; Chad Womack; Chantell S Evans; Christopher Barnes; Chrystal Starbird; Clintoria Williams; Corey Reynolds; Cornelius Taabazuing; Craig E Cameron; Debra D Murray; Derek Applewhite; Derrick J Morton; Dexter Lee; Dionna W Williams; Donald Lynch; Donita Brady; Erin Lynch; Florentine U N Rutaganira; Gustavo M Silva; Haysetta Shuler; Ishmail Abdus Saboor; Jamaine Davis; Kafui Dzirasa; Latanya Hammonds-Odie; Loretta Reyes; Mariya T Sweetwyne; Melanie R McReynolds; Michael D L Johnson; Nathan A Smith; Nikea Pittman; Olujimi A Ajijola; Quinton Smith; Renã A S Robinson; Samantha C Lewis; Sandra A Murray; Sherilynn Black; Sonya E Neal; Stanley Andrisse; Steven Townsend; Steven M Damo; Theanne N Griffith; W Marcus Lambert; William M Clemons Jr

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.016

Juneteenth in STEMM and the barriers to equitable science

Cell. 2023 Jun 8;186(12):2510-2517. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.016. Epub 2023 Jun 8.

Authors

Alfred Mays¹, Angela Byars-Winston², Antentor Hinton Jr³, Andrea G Marshall⁴, Annet Kirabo⁵, Avery August⁶, Bianca J Marlin⁷, Blake Riggs⁸, Blanton Tolbert⁹, Celestine Wanjalla¹⁰, Chad Womack¹¹, Chantell S Evans¹², Christopher Barnes¹³, Chrystal Starbird¹⁴, Clintoria Williams¹⁵, Corey Reynolds¹⁶, Cornelius Taabazuing¹⁷, Craig E Cameron¹⁸, Debra D Murray¹⁹, Derek Applewhite²⁰, Derrick J Morton²¹, Dexter Lee²², Dionna W Williams²³, Donald Lynch²⁴, Donita Brady²⁵, Erin Lynch²⁶, Florentine U N Rutaganira²⁷, Gustavo M Silva²⁸, Haysetta Shuler²⁹, Ishmail Abdus Saboor³⁰, Jamaine Davis³¹, Kafui Dzirasa³², Latanya Hammonds-Odie³³, Loretta Reyes³⁴, Mariya T Sweetwyne³⁵, Melanie R McReynolds³⁶, Michael D L Johnson³⁷, Nathan A Smith³⁸, Nikea Pittman¹⁴, Olujimi A Ajijola³⁹, Quinton Smith⁴⁰, Renã A S Robinson⁴¹, Samantha C Lewis⁴², Sandra A Murray⁴³, Sherilynn Black⁴⁴, Sonya E Neal⁴⁵, Stanley Andrisse⁴⁶, Steven Townsend⁴¹, Steven M Damo⁴⁷, Theanne N Griffith⁴⁸, W Marcus Lambert⁴⁹, William M Clemons Jr⁵⁰

Affiliations

¹ Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Durham, NC 27709, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Institute for Diversity Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53715, USA.
³ Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA. Electronic address: antentor.o.hinton.jr@Vanderbilt.Edu.
⁴ Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
⁵ Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
⁶ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
⁷ Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA; Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
⁸ Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
¹⁰ Division of Infectious Diseases, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
¹¹ National STEM Programs and Tech Initiatives at the education philanthropic charity, UNCF, Washington, DC 20001, USA.
¹² Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
¹³ Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology & Physiology, College of Science and Mathematics, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, OH 45435, USA.
¹⁶ Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Mouse Phenotyping Core, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
²⁰ Department of Biology, Reed College, Portland, OR 97202, USA.
²¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
²² Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20059, USA.
²³ Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
²⁴ Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
²⁵ Department of Cancer Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: bradyd@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
²⁶ University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
²⁷ Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
²⁸ Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
²⁹ Winston-Salem State University Department of Biological Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC 27110, USA.
³⁰ Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA; Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. Electronic address: ia2458@columbia.edu.
³¹ Department of Biochemistry, Cancer Biology, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
³² Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. Electronic address: kafui.dzirasa@duke.edu.
³³ Department of Biological Sciences before School of Science and Technology, Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA 30043, USA.
³⁴ Division of Pediatric Nephrology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
³⁵ Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
³⁶ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
³⁷ Department of Immunobiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA; BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA; Valley Fever Center for Excellence, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
³⁸ Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
³⁹ UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center and Neurocardiology Research Program of Excellence, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁴⁰ School of Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-3975, USA.
⁴¹ Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
⁴² Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁴³ Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 52013, USA. Electronic address: smurray@pitt.edu.
⁴⁴ Office of the Provost and Division of Medical Education, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA. Electronic address: sherilynn.black@duke.edu.
⁴⁵ Division of Biological Sciences, Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20059, USA; Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
⁴⁷ Center for Structural Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232, USA; Department of Life and Physical Sciences, Fisk University, Nashville, TN 37208, USA. Electronic address: sdamo@fisk.edu.
⁴⁸ Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
⁴⁹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, New York, NY 11203, USA.
⁵⁰ Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

PMID: 37295396
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.016

Abstract

We are 52 Black scientists. Here, we establish the context of Juneteenth in STEMM and discuss the barriers Black scientists face, the struggles they endure, and the lack of recognition they receive. We review racism's history in science and provide institutional-level solutions to reduce the burdens on Black scientists.

Keywords: Juneteenth; STEMM; diversity; scientific racism.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Black People*
Humans

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding