The NIH Common Fund FIRST program announced its second round of awardees to enhance diversity and inclusion among biomedical faculty. These awards provide funds to recruit diverse cohorts of early-stage research faculty and establish inclusive environments to help those faculty succeed. The new set of five grants totals more than $75 million over five years, pending availability of funds. 

The NIH FIRST Cohort awardee institutions are: 

• The Northwestern University at Chicago Recruitment to Transform Under-Representation and achieve Equity (NURTURE) program aims to disrupt systemic barriers that impede full participation of underrepresented groups by hiring new faculty in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular, and brain and behavioral sciences. 

• The University of California, San Diego FIRST Program aims to transform cultures of inclusive excellence by hiring a diverse cohort of biomedical scientists in four clusters of research excellence, namely in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases/immunology, and neurosciences. 

• The University of Maryland Baltimore FIRST Program is a partnership between the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Baltimore County to hire a diverse cohort of faculty in the fields of cancer biology, neuroscience, and microbiology/immunology/infectious diseases. 

• The University of New Mexico FIRST program aims to promote sustained inclusive excellence through hiring of a diverse cohort of early-career faculty in the areas of neuroscience and data science. 

• The University of South Carolina at Columbia Faculty Initiative for Improved Recruitment, Retention, and Experience (FIIRRE) aims to create inclusive environmental change and support a cohort of faculty within the areas of health disparities and equity research. 

Through the FIRST program, these awardee institutions will build self-reinforcing communities of scientists committed to diversity and inclusive excellence through recruitment of early-career faculty who are competitive for Assistant Professor (or equivalent) positions and have a demonstrated commitment to promoting diversity and inclusive excellence. The institutions aim to foster sustainable institutional culture change and positively impact faculty development, retention, progression, and eventual promotion. 

The FIRST Cohort awardees will work with the FIRST Coordination and Evaluation Center (CEC) at Morehouse School of Medicine to determine if their systematic approach to hiring faculty cohorts with demonstrated commitments to inclusion and diversity and integrating, along with other evidence-based strategies, will accelerate inclusive excellence, as measured by clearly defined metrics of institutional culture change, diversity, and inclusion.  

More information about each awardee is available on the FIRST Funded Research Page and in the individual institutional announcements: 

• $15.6 million National Institutes of Health grant to hire nine biomedical faculty, boost inclusive excellence efforts at UNM (link is external)
• Northwestern Grant Will Help Support Underrepresented Faculty Recruitment and Equity (link is external)
• Public Health and Nursing unite to fast-track faculty diversity using $13 million grant at UofSC (link is external)
• UC San Diego Receives $16 Million NIH FIRST Award (link is external)
• University of Maryland School of Medicine and UMBC Receive NIH FIRST Grant to Recruit New Underrepresented Faculty (link is external)

NIH FIRST funding comes from the NIH Common Fund, which supports cross-cutting programs expected to have exceptionally high impact. With a strong level of enthusiasm generated within NIH, several Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs) made additional funding available to bring the total cohort awardees to five for FY22. These ICOs include: 

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 

• Fogarty International Center 

• National Cancer Institute 

• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health   

• National Eye Institute 

• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 

• National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering 

• National Institute of Mental Health 

• National Institute on Aging 

• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 

• National Institute on Drug Abuse 

• National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases 

• National Library of Medicine 

• Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research 

• Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity office 
   

NIH issued a total of three rounds of the FIRST Cohort funding opportunity. NIH will announce the final round of FIRST Cohort awardees in 2023. For more information about Common Fund opportunities, join the Common Fund Listserv or subscribe to the Weekly E-Mail with New NIH Guide Postings.