some environmental groups and scien-
tists suspect that deliberate poisoning by
local hunters may be involved ( 5 , 6 ); such
poisonings occurred at MIW in 1994 and
2003 ( 5 , 7 ). According to the deputy head of
the Mazandaran Provincial Office of Iran’s
Department of Environment, birds were
found dead along only 10 km of 65 km of
shoreline, which suggested the cause may
not be botulinum, and some of these birds
were illegally brought to Fereydunkenar local
market for human consumption ( 8 ). The
Iranian government should take immediate
action to clearly identify the cause (botulism
or poisoning) of this mass mortality event.
If poisoning is the cause, we recom-
mend that the government consider
introducing national legislation to
enhance protection of these migratory
birds and increase enforcement presence
in Mazandaran’s wetlands—designated
as Wetlands of International Importance
in the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
( 9 )—to prevent illegal poisoning of birds.
Irrespective of cause, we encourage the
government to immediately remove any
migratory birds from the Fereydunkenar
local market, which remains open ( 10 )
and is the main market to sell migratory
birds in Mazandaran Province. Without
these actions, such disasters will likely be
repeated, with the loss of many migratory
birds and unnecessary potential risks to
human health.
Jamshid Parchizadeh^1 * and Jerrold L. Belant^2
(^1) Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran. (^2) Global Wildlife
Conservation Center, State University of New York
College of Environmental Science and Forestry,
Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.
*Corresponding author.
Email: [email protected]
REFERENCES AND NOTES
- “Thousands of birds found dead in north-east Iran,”
BirdGuides (2020); http://www.birdguides.com/news/
thousands-of-birds-found-dead-in-north-east-iran/. - “Miankaleh’s dead birds were found at local mar-
kets?,” Khabar Online (2020); http://www.khabaronline.ir/
news/1349600/ [in Farsi]. - “Migratory birds were killed in Miankaleh,” Iran’s
Metropolises News Agency (2020); http://www.imna.ir/
news/410799/ [in Farsi]. - “Flocks of migratory birds perish in peninsula in northern
Iran,” Mehr News Agency (2020); https://en.mehrnews.
com/news/155046/Flocks-of-migratory-birds-perish-in-
peninsula-in-northern-Iran. - “Deliberate poisoning in Miankaleh,” Salamat News
(2020); http://www.salamatnews.com/news/288876/ [in Farsi]. - “Environmental experts: The real cause of the death of
the birds in Miankaleh is hidden,” Deutsche Welle (2020);
https://p.dw.com/p/3Xr2W [in Farsi]. - “Seventeen thousand migratory birds were killed,”
Hamshahri Online (2020); http://www.hamshahrionline.ir/
news/484647/ [in Farsi]. - “Dead birds were brought to Fereydunkenar local market
for human consumption,” Iran International (2020); http://www.
instagram.com/tv/B8Q97zKKA8O/ [in Farsi]. - Ramsar List, “The list of wetlands of international
importance” (2020); http://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/
documents/library/sitelist.pdf. - “Fereydunkenar local market is still open!,” The
Islamic Republic News Agency (2020); http://www.irna.ir/
news/83662413/ [in Farsi].
10.1126/science.abb4887
NIH progress toward
inclusive excellence
In his News story “From service to
science: NIH shifts focus of mentor-
ing network aimed at boosting grantee
diversity” (3 January, https://scim.ag/
NIHmentoringshift), J. Mervis describes
the National Research Mentoring Network
(NRMN), a program designed by the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) to
develop mentoring and networking oppor-
tunities for biomedical researchers from
diverse backgrounds, including underrep-
resented groups ( 1 , 2 ). He explains that the
first phase of the program had established
a successful online portal offering a variety
of mentoring activities, and that the second
phase of the initiative will focus on analyz-
ing mentoring best practices, including
11 studies on mentoring ( 3 ). He also links
to the Building Infrastructure Leading to
Diversity (BUILD) program, where the
“bulk of NIH’s initial 5-year, $250 million
investment...went.” Mervis quotes one of
the NRMN’s leaders as hoping the NIH
will not leave researchers feeling “aban-
doned.” We were glad to see the update on
these important programs, and we want
to assure readers that we are committed
to supporting researchers by continuing
to fund programs that foster inclusion and
diversity. We would also like to share some
early data trends that indicate progress
over the past 5 years.
After 5 years of the Diversity Program
Consortium ( 4 ), which includes both NRMN
and BUILD, progress is apparent at all
career levels ( 5 ). NRMN grant writing pro-
grams are particularly promising: Among
540 highly diverse participants to date, 89
have been identified as project directors
or principal investigators (PD/PIs) on NIH
awards of about $65 million, with more
than 70% funding PD/PIs from underrepre-
sented groups and women ( 5 ). Although the
racial gap in rates for PD/PIs on R01 awards
(number of applicant PD/PIs divided by
number of awards) reported in 2011 ( 6 ) has
not been eliminated, we see good reason for
optimism based on Black/African-American
PD/PIs on R01 applications and awards
increasing by 28.9% (425 to 548) and 117%
(52 to 113), respectively ( 5 ). The racial gap
in award rates for mentored career-develop-
ment (K) awards is essentially closed with
the number of Black/African-American PD/
PIs on K-award applications and awards
increasing by 55.5% (119 to 185) and 142%
(26 to 63), respectively ( 5 ). We see similar
trends for Hispanic/Latinx scientists with
increases in applicants, awardees, and
award rates ( 5 ).Our biggest challenge is enhancing
diversity in the pool of PD/PIs on research
grant applications, but here too we see
promising trends earlier in the career path.
In 2017, scientists from underrepresented
groups comprised 14% of Ph.D. recipients
in fields relevant to biomedical research
( 7 ). However, fewer than 5% are hired as
tenure-track faculty ( 8 ). To help address
the climate for junior faculty, including
those from underrepresented groups, NIH
piloted the NIH Distinguished Scholars
Program in its intramural research pro-
gram, aimed at building a community of
investigators committed to mentoring,
diversity, and inclusion ( 9 ). Early indica-
tors suggest high impact in achieving
the program goals while substantially
enhancing diversity among tenure-track
investigators ( 10 ). NIH recently approved
support from its Common Fund to expand
this cohort model to NIH-funded institu-
tions nationwide ( 11 ).
In 2020, NIH will bring to bear effec-
tive strategies that create institutional
cultures where individuals with diverse
perspectives can thrive and create new
knowledge to improve human health.
Data-driven approaches to inclusive excel-
lence will continue to drive NIH initiatives
for addressing the challenges facing all
scientists, including those from underrep-
resented groups.
Hannah A. Valantine1,2* and Francis Collins3,4(^1) Chief Officer, Scientific Workforce Diversity,
(^2) Senior Investigator, Laboratory Transplantation
Genomics, National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.^3 D i re c t o r,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
20814, USA.^4 Senior Investigator, National Human
Genome Research Institute, Bethesda, MD
20892, USA.
*Corresponding author.
Email: [email protected]
REFERENCES AND NOTES
- C. A. Sorkness et al., BMC Proc. 11 , 22 (2017).
- H. P. Jones et al., BMC Proc. 11 , 16 (2017).
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National
Research Mentoring Network Phase II (www.nigms.nih.
gov/training/dpc/pages/nrmn.aspx). - S. Hurtado, BMC Proc. 11(Suppl 12), 17 (2017).
- NIH Scientific Workforce Diversity Actions and Progress:
2014–2019 (https://acd.od.nih.gov/documents/
presentations/06132019Diversity.pdf). - D. K. Ginther et al., Science 333 , 1015 (2011).
- National Science Foundation, National Center for
Science and Engineering Statistics, “Doctorate recipi-
ents from U.S. universities: 2017; data table 22” (2018);
https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19301/data. - K. D. Gibbs, J. Basson, I. M. Xierali, D. A. Broniatowski,
Elife 5 , e21393 (2016). - “NIH Distinguished Scholars Program: A cohort model
for enhancing diversity and inclusion of principal investi-
gators in the NIH intramural research program” (https://
diversity.nih.gov/programs-partnerships/dsp). - NIH Council of Councils, “Faculty institutional
recruitment for sustainable transformation” (2020);
https://dpcpsi.nih.gov/sites/default/files/CoC_
Jan_2020_1115_FacultyDiversity.pdf - J. Mervis, Science 10.1126/science.abb1082 (2020).
10.1126/science.abb4619INSIGHTS | LETTERS
1204 13 MARCH 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6483 sciencemag.org SCIENCE
Published by AAAS