The recently expanded Pearls of Wisdom series features Diana W. Bianchi, M.D., Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. In this Pearls of Wisdom video clip, Dr. Bianchi discusses resiliency through life challenges.
Dr. Bianchi oversees the Institute's research on pediatric health and development, maternal health, reproductive health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and rehabilitation medicine, among other areas. She manages a staff of approximately 1,400 people and an annual budget of approximately $1.5 billion.
Prior to joining NICHD, Dr. Bianchi spent 23 years at Tufts Medical Center where she was the founding Executive Director of the Mother Infant Research Institute and served as the Natalie V. Zucker Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Bianchi has received several major lifetime achievement awards, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam that recognized her contributions to the fields of fetal cell microchimerism and noninvasive prenatal testing using DNA sequencing of fetal and placental DNA fragments. The International Society of Prenatal Diagnosis gave her the 2019 Pioneer Award for her contributions to the practice, science, and profession of prenatal diagnosis and therapy. Dr. Bianchi has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and she is one of four authors of Fetology: Diagnosis and Management of the Fetal Patient.
The Pearls of Wisdom online series of short videos aims to inspire, motivate, and inform individuals at all stages of their biomedical careers, with a particular focus on women in STEMM fields. Produced and funded by the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), it features prominent scientists and physicians at NIH and beyond — many from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups—sharing words of wisdom, perspectives, and advice to current and future women scientists.
The Pearls of Wisdom series is located on the redesigned NIH “Women in Science” website, which describes the history of the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers and provides information on the working group’s subcommittees, supported programs, grants, career development resources, NIH diversity resources, and career flexibility initiatives.