Diversity, equity, and inclusion in research: a conversation with Wellcome’s CEO

Abstract

How does racism and inequality affect medical research? Wellcome Trust CEO John-Arne Røttingen sits with Victor Adebowale , chair of the NHS Confederation, to discuss ### Biographies John-Arne Røttingen was appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of the Wellcome Trust in October 2023. A doctor-scientist, he was previously Norway’s ambassador for global health, chief executive of the Research Council of Norway, and was the founding CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. His research encompasses epidemiology, clinical trials, and global health policy. Victor Adebowale has been chair of the NHS Confederation in a personal capacity since April 2020. He is the former CEO of Turning Point, a social enterprise, and has been a crossbench peer at the House of Lords since 2001. He has led commissions on mental health and housing. He holds an MA in advanced organisational consulting from City University and the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and founded the Race and Health Observatory. VA: You’ve had a distinguished career in research funding, including leading Norway’s research efforts. How did issues of race, diversity, and equity play out in that context? J-AR: That’s a great question to start with because the issues are the same, but the context is different. And context matters. In Norway, the major concern was gender disparity in research. We started early on to work on improving the pipeline of researchers . . . because we had quite a low proportion of female professors. The focus was on understanding why we were losing women in the research career path and what we could do about that. Regarding ethnicity, we didn’t have enough data, …