Job Vacancy Announcement – Mental Health Scientific Diversity Officer
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Office of the Director (OD)
Program Overview
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the lead Federal agency for research on mental disorders, is searching for a Mental Health Scientific Diversity Officer to provide leadership and direction for Institute diversity requirements and initiatives in support of the NIMH mission. This position is located in the Office of the NIMH Director, reporting directly to the Institute Director and will focus on strategic alignment of scientific processes that impact workforce diversity internal to the NIMH, and will bring novel, rigorous, and impactful scientific approaches to bear on this crucial public health problem.
The Mental Health Scientific Diversity Officer position requires the incumbent to possess expertise in one or more scientific disciplines aligned with NIMH’s mission and have knowledge, skills, and experience functioning as an organizational scientific research strategy, diversity, and inclusion professional. The programs within the NIMH research portfolio are distinctively broad, highly visible and paramount to the interest and priorities of scientific, political, and advocacy stakeholders.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the largest biomedical research funding organization and the largest biomedical research agency in the world. For more information on NIH's mission and goals, and its 27 Institutes and Centers, visit the NIH website.
Position Duties
The NIMH Mental Health Scientific Diversity Officer will serve as the senior scientific expert to the NIMH Director and be responsible for providing leadership and direction for all diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility requirements within NIMH and initiatives as related to the planning, design, and promotion of strategies and programs to support all internal NIMH scientific research and workforce efforts. The incumbent also serves as a technical advisor and representative in fostering and enhancing broad NIMH and NIH overall diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives across all other programs. The incumbent will also serve as a senior expert and advisor in several priority areas, including improving diversity and equity in neuroscience and mental health research at the NIMH through biomedical, basic neuroscience, translational, clinical, and implementation science programs; highlighting extramural research training and career development programs; prioritizing mental health disparities; and promoting research and development of scientifically based strategies to diversify the neuroscience and mental health research portfolio at NIMH.
Primary Duties
- Responsible for providing leadership and direction for all internal NIMH diversity requirements and initiatives as related to the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of assigned biomedical/behavioral and social science research within the organization.
- Serve as an expert responsible for providing technical leadership and direction for scientific diversity, health equity, and disparities research.
- Plans and implements diversity initiatives and projects that involve innovative and cross-disciplinary research studies.
- Spearhead the development and dissemination of technical and administrative guides, standards, and criteria that can support, foster, and enhance diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility in NIMH research and the NIMH research workforce
- Advance the design and development of equitable and accessible training programs that produce tangible and overlapping benefits improving the quality and inclusivity of the educational environment for NIMH scientists and research staff.
- Provides leadership for planning and development, which includes establishing major goals and objectives, and ensuring diversity objectives are established and met for NIMH scientific research programs.
Qualifications
To qualify at the GS-15 level, you must meet at least of the one following basic Office of Personnel Management prescribed occupational series requirements (GS-0101, GS-0601). You do not need to meet the requirements for both occupational series. All education, unless completed outside of the U.S., must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education at the time the education was completed. Applicants must also demonstrate in your resume at least one (1) year of qualifying specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 level in the Federal service obtained in either the private or public sector.
Minimum Experience:
FOR THE GS-101 SERIES:
In order to qualify for a Scientific Diversity Officer in the GS-101 Social Science Series, you must:
- have a bachelor’s or graduate/higher level degree in the behavioral or social sciences, or related disciplines appropriate to this position; OR
- have a combination of education and experience that provided me with the knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field; OR
- have four years of appropriate experience demonstrating that I have acquired knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field.
FOR THE GS-601 SERIES:
In order to qualify for a Scientific Diversity Officer in the GS-601 General medical and Healthcare Series, you must have a bachelor’s or graduate/higher level degree with a major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of this position.
Preferred Experience:
This preferred experience includes the following types of tasks (you must meet at least three (3)):
a) Assess scientific diversity practices and guiding leadership to enhance inclusion/collaboration across a research program;
b) Evaluate biomedical/behavioral research to determine health disparity issues (e.g., recruitment of participants) that should be addressed;
c) Implement policies/programs to promote an equitable culture across an organization that employs a more diverse scientific community;
d) Create and recommending strategies (e.g., training, policies) to reduce health disparities (e.g., social, economic) impacting biomedical/behavioral research; and,
e) Lead scientific diversity objectives, policies, and activities to improve the quality of biomedical/behavioral research.
How to Apply
For full detailed application procedures, please visit the vacancy announcement at https://www.usajobs.gov/job/794342000 in which applications will be accepted for all US. Citizens. Applicants can also go to the vacancy announcement at https://www.usajobs.gov/job/794343000 in which applications will be accepted for all US citizens who have specific status which would allow for applying via this vacancy announcement. Both vacancy announcements are for the Mental Health Scientific Diversity Officer position. Applications must be submitted online from July 8, 2024, until 11:59 p.m. ET on July 12, 2024. The position is subject to a background check. U.S. citizenship is required. All applications must be submitted through USAJobs.gov by closing date of this announcement. Please direct all questions regarding applying to the announcement via USAjobs.gov to Brittany Williams at Brittany.Williams3@nih.gov.
Potential applicants may request an informational interview in advance of the USAJOBS announcement to learn more about the position by submitting a resume and letter of interest via e-mail to NIMHsearch@mail.nih.gov, reference Mental Health Scientific Diversity Officer in the subject line.
Benefits
For salary information, refer to the vacancy announcement which includes: Position title, series and grade levels. A full civil service package of benefits (including retirement, health, life and long-term care insurance, Thrift Savings Plan, etc.) is available for this position. Available benefits may be reviewed here: https://hr.nih.gov/benefits
HHS and NIH are equal opportunity employers
The NIH is dedicated to building a diverse community in its training and employment programs and encourages the application and nomination of qualified women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities.