By Mae Jordan
As the inaugural Director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1991, Vivian Pinn, MD, led the implementation of the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993. The new law established the requirement that all NIH-supported research include women and minorities and specifically examine variables that might have a different impact on the health of each group. In 1994, she also became Associate Director of NIH for Women’s Health Research until retiring in 2011, establishing new strategies and initiatives to improve women’s health research.
A recipient of more than 300 honors and awards, Pinn remains a powerful voice for women’s health and minority health research and she is concerned about the impact of the current administration’s actions on NIH. In a recent interview she said: “What’s going to happen after the RIF [Reduction in Force] after the disaster at NIH, where it is now … I have no idea. … You’re going to have to reconstitute scientific areas and catch up on research, because a lot of research has been lost, or has been curtailed.” Pinn estimates it could take up to ten years to restore NIH’s research capabilities.
Steadfast in her commitment to advancing research for underserved populations at age 85, Pinn still works to support the careers of minority researchers as a member of the Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine the National Academy of Medicine.
