ORWH’s Pearls of Wisdom series features Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D., Director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). In his video clip, Dr. Lorsch discusses how “climbing the ladder” is a potential barrier to advancement.
As the NIGMS Director, Dr. Lorsch oversees the institute's $2.9 billion budget, which supports basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. NIGMS supports more than 3,000 investigators and 5,000 research grants—about 11% of the total number of research grants funded by NIH as a whole.
Dr. Lorsch came to NIGMS from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he was a professor in the Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry. During his tenure at Johns Hopkins, he worked to reform the curricula for graduate and medical education, spearheaded the development of the Center for Innovation in Graduate Biomedical Education, and launched a program offering summer research experiences to local high school students, many from groups that are underrepresented in the biomedical sciences. In addition, he advised dozens of undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
Dr. Lorsch is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed research articles, book chapters, and other papers. He has also been the editor of six volumes of Methods in Enzymology and has been a reviewer for numerous scientific journals. He is the author on two awarded U.S. patents. His honors include six teaching awards from Johns Hopkins.
His other activities have included membership on the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s mentoring committee, the RNA Society’s board of directors, and NIH review committees. Since joining NIH, he has taken on several leadership roles, including serving on the Scientific Data Council, the Administrative Data Council, and the Extramural Activities Working Group, which he co-chairs.
The Pearls of Wisdom online series of short videos aims to inspire, motivate, and inform women in the beginning or middle stages of their biomedical careers. Produced and funded by 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 video series is located on the NIH “Women in Science” website, which describes the history of the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers and provides information on supported programs, grants, career development resources, NIH diversity resources, and career flexibility initiatives.