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“Diversity matters series”—The Black In Neuro movement

2021; Wiley; Volume: 55; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/ejn.15574

1460-9568

Nathan A. Smith, Dana L. Helmreich, Antoine Adamantidis, Paola Bovolenta, John J. Foxe, Yoland Smith, Vidita A. Vaidya,

Educational Methods and Teacher Development

European Journal of NeuroscienceVolume 55, Issue 2 p. 343-349 EDITORIALFree Access "Diversity matters series"—The Black In Neuro movement Nathan A. Smith, Corresponding Author Nathan A. Smith [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-9254-5360 Center for Neuroscience Research, Children's National Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., USA The Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA Correspondence Nathan A. Smith, Center for Neuroscience Research, Children's National Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., USA. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorDana L. Helmreich, Dana L. Helmreich orcid.org/0000-0003-1394-2577 The Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USASearch for more papers by this authorAntoine Adamantidis, Antoine Adamantidis Department of Neurology, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandSearch for more papers by this authorPaola Bovolenta, Paola Bovolenta orcid.org/0000-0002-1870-751X Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CSIC-UAM, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorJohn J. Foxe, John J. Foxe The Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USASearch for more papers by this authorYoland Smith, Yoland Smith orcid.org/0000-0002-8700-878X Yerkes Primate Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USASearch for more papers by this authorVidita A. Vaidya, Vidita A. Vaidya Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, IndiaSearch for more papers by this author Nathan A. Smith, Corresponding Author Nathan A. Smith [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-9254-5360 Center for Neuroscience Research, Children's National Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., USA The Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA Correspondence Nathan A. Smith, Center for Neuroscience Research, Children's National Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, D.C., USA. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorDana L. Helmreich, Dana L. Helmreich orcid.org/0000-0003-1394-2577 The Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USASearch for more papers by this authorAntoine Adamantidis, Antoine Adamantidis Department of Neurology, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandSearch for more papers by this authorPaola Bovolenta, Paola Bovolenta orcid.org/0000-0002-1870-751X Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, CSIC-UAM, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorJohn J. Foxe, John J. Foxe The Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USASearch for more papers by this authorYoland Smith, Yoland Smith orcid.org/0000-0002-8700-878X Yerkes Primate Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USASearch for more papers by this authorVidita A. Vaidya, Vidita A. Vaidya Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, IndiaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 21 December 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15574 Funding information: Division of Information and Intelligent Systems, Grant/Award Number: 1926781; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Grant/Award Number: K01NS11081; U.S. Department of Defense, Grant/Award Number: W911NF2010189 AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL The "Diversity Matters Series" of the European Journal of Neuroscience (EJN) is focused on highlighting the efforts of organizations in the neurosciences committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), both bottom-up grassroots movements that mobilize and transform communities as well as top-down efforts from organizations and agencies committed to galvanizing change (Helmreich et al., 2021). We recognize that the lasting solutions which actually drive cultural change often emerge when bottom-up and top-down efforts converge, paving the way for a vital "liminal" space to open the road to transformation. In the second of our Diversity Matters series, we showcase the grassroots "Black In Neuro" movement (https://www.blackinneuro.com), its mission to "Diversify the neurosciences by building a community that celebrates and empowers Black scholars and professionals in neuroscience-related fields worldwide." As we put together this editorial, we were struck by the commitment and sheer positivity of the people we spoke with, be it the founders of the Black In Neuro movement, the allies that committed their time, energy, and resources, or the leading partners that globalized the movement. Last year served as another painful reminder of the racial injustices in the United States against African Americans with the brutal murder of George Floyd by a white police officer. Floyd's name joined the long list of those taken from our community—Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and countless more named and unnamed. Floyd's death sparked many discussions about race and racism, and how the system has failed the Black and minority communities in the United States and abroad, especially in academic institutions. This "racial awakening" inspired Angeline Dukes, a neuroscience graduate student at the University of California, Irvine, to build a platform for safe and open dialogue about topics circling racism and anti-racism in academia. She tweeted one Friday in early July 2020, "Sooo, when are we doing Black In Neuro Week?" (Figure 1). With that one tweet, she galvanized neuroscientists within the United States and abroad to help her establish the first "Black In Neuro week," and thus, the Black In Neuro movement was seeded. The success of this movement has been meteoric, with only more good to come. FIGURE 1Open in figure viewerPowerPoint The original tweet from Angeline Dukes that got the ball rolling for the Black In Neuro movement 1 THE BIRTH OF THE MOVEMENT When we talked to Angeline Dukes, she told us that the tweet she put out marinated in her drafts for a while before she sent it out on Twitter. After the incident in Central Park, she said people wanted to celebrate Black people being in nature, so Black Birders Week was started. Then Black In Astro came out to celebrate Black people in astronomy. In July of last year, she sent out a tweet because she wanted to see Black people in neuroscience. "It is very isolating to not see yourself in your field of work, especially in higher leadership positions. You question, Do I actually belong here? I knew that there were more Black scholars in neuroscience out there; I wanted to see them." The very same day that she sent out the tweet, several people expressed an interest in making it a reality. So, they created a Slack channel and 2 days later had their first planning meeting. Three weeks after that, they had pulled together the inaugural Black In Neuro Week. Angeline is a first-generation American; her father is from Haiti, her mother is from Trinidad, and she is also a first-generation college graduate. Her journey from being the "power of one" that got the Black In Neuro community kick-started to being covered for her efforts in Forbes magazine and having MC Hammer amplify her voice is nothing short of amazing. We were privileged to interview Angeline, and she told us that "From the beginning, the goal has been to amplify, celebrate and build a community for Black scholars in neuroscience. The community aspect is so important because it has such a huge impact on whether or not people want to stay in the field, whether they feel welcomed, if they feel supported, or if they feel like they have somebody to talk to when issues come up. Mentorship is another goal; we are definitely planning to roll out a formal mentorship program sometime next year. We are trying to move from just being a grassroots movement to being a sustainable organization" (Figure 2). FIGURE 2Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Mission statement of the Black In Neuro movement When we asked her how EJN could help amplify the efforts of Black In Neuro, she said, "I really want to encourage Black scholars in any type of neuroscience-related field to make a profile on our website. It's a way for us to build a community, to be able to connect. We can bring people together so that if you are the only one at your institution or in your department, you don't feel so isolated, and you feel like there are other people who can understand you." She also wanted to implore non-Black allies, regardless of geographic location or career stage to continue supporting Black In Neuro efforts through attending events, amplifying the research being done by Black scholars, and sharing opportunities and resources, as well as continually pushing for systemic changes at their own institutions. Dr. Nathan A. Smith had a specific question for Angeline: once this foundation for Black In Neuro was built, did she think this would impact other disciplines? Angeline's words are a message to so many who are committed to DEI: "My favorite thing to say is that we built this table, so we can always make more room at it." That is a core message communicated by the Black In Neuro movement, and there is much that individuals, allies, leaders, and institutions in academia can learn from this founding principle. What started as a single tweet on a Friday in July 2020 led to the coalescing of allies and strong support in response to the twitter call. In the process of compiling this coverage of the Black In Neuro movement, we also spoke to some of those who responded right away to Angeline's tweet and have been part of the Black in Neuro efforts ever since (Figure 3). FIGURE 3Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Black In Neuro organizing team 2 TRAINEES AND ALLIES PERSPECTIVES Some of those initial responders were fellow trainees and allies. We spoke with Ashley Cunningham and Joseph Simon, trainees at the Mount Sinai Medical College, who told us about how they added themselves to the growing database of Black Neuroscientists in response to the call for a Black In Neuro week on Twitter. Ashley said, "Through the Black In Neuro Movement, I have been able to build a real sense of community, with interactions spanning from talking about science to experiences of working in academic environments, where very few people look like us." We also spoke to Dr. Ubadah Sabbagh, a neuroscientist at MIT, and Dr. Christine Liu, a neuroscientist at UC Berkeley, who signed on as members of the Black in Neuro movement early on. Ubadah told us in our chat with him, "I think everybody, when thinking about these initiatives, wonders how they may contribute. It is important to remember that everybody– graduate students, faculty, department heads, to society presidents and council members, journal editors – everybody has some power in this big, messy game of academia." This was echoed by Christine, who went on to add, "We can all help just by doing little things; you do not have to be a visionary. When you go to a seminar, even if someone else is planning it, there is always something that you can do to help out– putting away the chairs, taking out the trash– so you do not need to be recruited or have even any sort of special expertise, to be supportive and an ally. The success of Black In Neuro is a great example of how much can be done when power is being shared across scientific hierarchies and what can be accomplished by a group of trainees, most of them marginalized by the system and by their backgrounds, experiences, and environments" (Figure 4). FIGURE 4Open in figure viewerPowerPoint How to be an ally of the Black In Neuro movement In our conversation with Joseph Simon, a trainee at Mount Sinai, he mentioned, "There was a part of me that wondered if this would be the start of something that would eventually fizzle out because it demanded efforts that were not sustainable for young trainees with substantial academic commitments. But it has been inspiring to see people coming together, and the groundswell of this movement has been eye-opening. I echo what Ashley said –we need to see more faculty members who look like us. This movement cannot be driven simply by trainees who already carry a fair bit of academic load. At the end of the day, in addition to my desire to be a champion for Black In Neuro, I am most importantly still a Ph.D. student with commitments to fulfil. For the goals of this movement to be achieved, we need to be met more than halfway by allies, academic leaders, institutions, and organizations." 3 BRIDGING THE GRASSROOTS-INSTITUTIONAL DIVIDE Grassroots movements like Black In Neuro are a clarion call to the academic community to do better, be better, and put into practice the principles of equity that are of vital importance in academic institutions and cultures. We spoke with some of the leaders in the neuroscience community at Mount Sinai, which was one of the first institutional partners for the Black In Neuro movement, to get their view on creating a more sustainable movement at the institutional level. Dr. Eric Nestler, the Director of the Friedman Brain Institute at Mount Sinai Medical College, told us, "I went to college in the 1970s in the previous upheaval in cultural and social issues, a time that marked the beginning of affirmative action, with a view to addressing inequity. Here we are 45 years later, and we see marginal improvements at best, if any." We were also interested in his take on the role of leaders at institutions in driving the much-needed change to create inclusive academic cultures. Eric said, "In my leadership role at Mount Sinai, we tried to work actively to improve the climate and opportunities on campus, but last summer was an acute reminder that we are not moving fast enough. We are committed to setting goals to recruit Black and Hispanic faculty, and we have not been able to make the impact we want so far." He gave us a glimpse into how grassroots movements can be profound catalysts, and he told us how the top-down efforts at Mount Sinai received a boost from the sheer dynamism of the Black In Neuro movement mentioning, "It is remarkable that the Black In Neuro movement gave us the ability to convey to Mount Sinai that this is one of our highest priorities, and we need to put aside money to recruit a more diverse faculty, this is tangible and measurable progress." We were also privileged to interview Dr. Yasmin Hurd, an inspiring leader in Neuroscience at Mount Sinai, about her thoughts on the Black In Neuro movement. She told us, "It is sad that it is still necessary, it is still so required in these times. There are too many burdens for persons of color and Black people, and there is a long way to go in bringing opportunity so that the love of science and being part of discovery should not be based on who you are." In Yasmin's words, "Last summer was a time of awakening and immense tragedy. It coalesced in a manner that there was a seriousness to the new initiatives that were set up–there was an actual commitment of resources, a visibility to key issues, and it was a priority to be anti-racist. Prior to this, it was almost paying lip service to diversity and inclusion, but institutions didn't prioritize the resources, and now that has been backed up. It is time to hold leadership accountable– nurturing diversity is a key measure of success for leadership, we need to be on the right side of history and hold leadership accountable." We also asked Yasmin if she felt that as a person of color she had a greater onus of responsibility placed on her to take on a major role in institutional DEI initiatives. Yasmin told us, "It is a mixed bag, my days are way different from many colleagues, many committees but also a lot of junior people who reach out to me. It is a burden, but I have an obligation, and I feel privileged to be able to do it. I know that I cannot be my best version in any one place because I have so many things to do, but I am not angry about it." In the absence of concerted top-down approaches from institutional administrations to drive DEI, it is challenging to achieve cultural change and create truly inclusive academic working environments. Different organizations and institutions are at very distinct stages of their DEI journey, making it all the more important for organizations to not be opaque about their plans, strategies, and policies. This is a unique window in time where grassroots movements, such as the Black In Neuro movement, are driving change. The onus is on institutions and organizational leadership to step up and work in partnership with these bottom-up efforts to galvanize transformation in academic communities at a greater pace. Funding bodies can also support and facilitate institutional change. It is heartening to hear from leaders spearheading precisely this kind of change; we gained valuable insights from our conversation with Dr. Michelle Jones-London, Chief of the Office of Programs to Enhance Neuroscience Diversity at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Her responses to our questions highlight a path forward to fostering more sustainable DEI outcomes and provide an example framework for funding institutions across the world to draw from as they shape their own DEI efforts. We were keen to learn from Michelle how she envisaged academic institutions becoming effective working partners to enhance DEI. She told us that, "As funders, we can create programs to provide financial support, outline practices for rigorous training, and define quality mentorship and environments, but we need academic institutions as working partners to make these changes. NIH can offer resources and partnership, but the implementation of policies and change in culture around mentorship, sponsorship, and inclusive excellence can only happen at the institutional level." We also asked about the measures that can be put in place to measure accountability for institutions on DEI outcomes. Michelle used the example of NINDS to illustrate her point, but the implications are much broader. "The first step in accountability for institutions on DEI outcomes is establishing measurable goals. Institutions may voice positive, blue-sky visions, but how are they measuring change and ensuring they are actually making a difference? Additionally, to increase accountability, institutions also need increased transparency of results. I think these practices should not be limited to outside institutions but apply to the NINDS and NIH as well. For extramural programs at NINDS, we measure the progress across our diversity programs by gathering data on the transitions, future grants awards, and the representation of diverse researchers across our mission research areas." We also discussed with Michelle the importance of building a bridge between grassroots organizations like Black In Neuro and funding bodies of the scale of NIH, and she said the following, "Grassroots organizations like Black in Neuro are inspiring and truly making a difference in showing the diverse faces of neuroscience and the power of peer-to-peer networks. So often, we struggle to provide targeted outreach to underrepresented groups. Hence, a huge benefit is that these organizations offer a bridge from our resources to the people we hope to reach. These organizations are effective in creating virtual communities through social media, connecting researchers across borders even through the ongoing COVID pandemic and providing NIH an ongoing window into the real-world issues and opportunities of these trainees, applicants, and investigators." She also provided us her insights on key components of dialogue that are missing in the community, in particular the debate about pipeline versus pathway programs and why this continues to be a source of discussion. She said, "Sometimes the dialogue creates this false tension between recruitment and retention by framing it as pipeline or pathway programs 'haven't worked' and we need to only focus on later career stages or faculty. The truth is you need to do both. We must continue investments in earlier career stages but also increase and improve the strategies to support those diverse investigators who are at the faculty level and encourage initiatives to change the environment at their research institutions (or across the research ecosystem), so they are more inclusive, supportive, and equitable." She also highlighted how efforts at funding bodies in the United States may provide some valuable insights for international research organizations. Michelle mentioned that, "Although the efforts for DEI certainly incorporate the nuances of environment, specific demographics, and academic/cultural systems, there are lessons to be learned in a bidirectional manner from the US and international funding agencies in identifying and sharing approaches that are culturally sensitive and regionally relevant." 4 EXPANDING BEYOND BORDERS It is important to remember that though the initial tweet that sparked the movement originated in the United States, Black In Neuro is a global initiative. To learn about the growth of Black In Neuro, we chatted with De-Shaine Murray, the Development Director of Black In Neuro. De-Shaine is currently a PhD Student at Imperial College London. "For our first Black In Neuro week, we had at least one person attending from over 61 countries. Within that, you will see that many of those countries are within Europe because of a massive Black diaspora. And even though the representatives were from different geographies, the needs of the participants and the feeling of being really much alone were very similar. As was the phenomenon of being hyper-visible but also invisible at the same time; people see you when it comes time to promote something, but once that is over, they forget about you, and you become invisible again." We also asked De-Shaine how he reaches out to find new partners and sponsors. "Some of it is us reaching out ourselves, but I found it to be quite important who actually reaches out to us, who wants to really have that sustained conversation, so we can see exactly what their real intentions are." In our interview with De-Shaine, we also asked him what role he visualized for journals and editors to play in the Black In Neuro movement. He mentioned that, "There's generally, a certain difference in value that's placed on research coming from certain places. Some of that may have merit, but it also may be true that many places don't have the resources to conduct cutting-edge research, but that doesn't mean that the value of the research is less. I think there needs to be a bit of a redistribution on that front, and just generally, a commitment to make sure that, certainly from the global south, certain scholarship is recognized more, which can then potentially lead to more collaboration, and everybody would benefit." The process of compiling this editorial has given us a wonderful opportunity to interact with dynamic young leaders in the Black In Neuro Community and to also speak with allies, both individual and institutional. It has also provided us at EJN a chance to introspect and ask about our role in supporting and committing to DEI initiatives, including such grassroot movements. Jackie Jones, Publisher at Wiley, "WILEY Neuroscience very much shares the goals of Black In Neuro to diversify the neurosciences and are an active sponsor of Black In Neuro. We are committed to establishing journal-wide policies that promote inclusion and equal opportunity for all. We talked to Black In Neuro (Jones, 2021) about steps that we might take to improve the academic publishing landscape to create a more empowered, inclusive, and equitable culture." John Foxe, EIC, "This has been a period of deep self-reflection and disruption in the academic community. But I mean 'disruption' in an entirely positive way. Expressions of solidarity and aspirations to diversity are positive steps in the right direction, but words are just words, and they must be followed up with action and real change. Transformational change demands bold and decisive action. President Obama said that 'every expression of our deepest ideals, has been won through efforts that made the status quo uncomfortable'. I have been heartened to see our global Neuroscience community embrace its discomfort over the past year, recognizing the historical injustices that have brought us to this place and time, and committing to tractable lasting change. The Black in Neuro Movement has been a clarion voice in coalescing this effort, and I send my thanks and that of our EJN Editorial board to all who have made this possible." ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Grant K01NS110981, NSFNCS-FR 1926781, and Department of Defense Army Research Office Award W91NF2020189 to N.A.S. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests in relation to this work. Open Research PEER REVIEW The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1111/ejn.15574. REFERENCES Helmreich, D. L., Bovolenta, P., Adamantidis, A., Foxe, J. J., Smith, Y., & Vaidya, V. A. (2021). "Diversity matters series"—The ALBA network. The European Journal of Neuroscience, 54, 4055– 4060. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15332 Jones, J. (2021). Going beyond tokenism and performative action: A Q&A with Black in Neuro. Wiley Network. Volume55, Issue2January 2022Pages 343-349 This article also appears in:Diversity Matters FiguresReferencesRelatedInformation