As a research funder, convener, and employer, PCORI is dedicated to advancing and accelerating diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in our work.
Funding Research Done Differently®
As a research funder, PCORI has been guided by a core National Priority to fund research focused on eliminating health disparities, which inherently focuses on equity. In addition, we are committed to broadening and diversifying the community that leads and participates in health research.
- We are reviewing our funding processes to identify and work to eliminate any racism and bias, including issues related to the pool of applicants and the processes we use to reach our funding decisions.
- We are looking at ways to further advance inclusivity and diversity among the populations engaging with us to shape our work and participating in studies we fund.
- PCORI is also revitalizing and redoubling our recruitment of diverse merit reviewers, peer reviewers, and advisory panelists to enhance the representation of populations that have been historically excluded in the research enterprise.
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Convening Community and Advancing Collaboration
PCORI serves as a model of patient engagement in health research. As a trusted convener of research and healthcare stakeholders, we are examining our practices and creating pathways to broaden and deepen engagement in our work with communities and populations historically excluded in research.
- Beginning last year, we have brought more than 450 stakeholders together to discuss our National Priorities, and all have included achieving health equity as part of the conversation.
- In March 2021, PCORI's Advisory Panel on Patient Engagement proposed engagement principles with specific, actionable approaches to integrate equity and inclusion across the research enterprise. Those principles will inform PCORI's future work.
Valuing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within PCORI
Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been part of PCORI's core thinking as we have grown. We know diversity and inclusion are about the experience and culture an organization builds for itself. Our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts stretch across our entire organization, from recruiting our workforce to cultivating business relationships.
- We are increasing our outreach to historically excluded communities through our recruitment and retention efforts to build an even more diverse workforce, implementing new procurement requirements to expand and diversify our business partnerships with companies that reflect our values around diversity, equity, and inclusion, and producing an evaluation framework for assessing our progress in our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals to ensure alignment with our principles.
- We have created an internal steering committee as part of our intention to embed the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of our work. This committee is developing a comprehensive action plan that further incorporates input from our whole workforce to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- We are developing a data collection strategic framework to ensure we are maximizing opportunities to capture actionable data to inform our work.
More on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Our Executive Director
Our Commitment to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Posted: June 2021
