Triesta Fowler, M.D.
Scientific Diversity Officer
Office of the Director
fowlerlt@mail.nih.gov
301-827-0999
Triesta Fowler, M.D., is NIMHD’s Scientific Diversity Officer in the Office of the Director. She leads diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts throughout the institute. Among other duties, she is charged with strengthening NIMHD’s DEIA ecosystem, developing programs and initiatives that promote equity and inclusion in training, recruitment, representation, retention, culture, and career development. Dr. Fowler oversees the NIMHD DEIA committees and collaborates with NIMHD leadership and staff to implement, promote, and evaluate their plans and ensure targets are met.
Dr. Fowler was previously a medical officer and Director of Communications and Outreach in the Office of Education within the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). She has a long-standing commitment to DEIA both within NIH and in the extramural community.
She served as co-chair of the health disparities research task force committee that worked in collaboration with the NICHD Office of Health Equity to lead the planning, development and implementation of innovative policies, programs, and workshops needed to address health disparities and systemic racism in the NICHD research portfolio. Dr. Fowler also served on the committee that developed the NICHD Racial and Ethnic and Equity Plan. In the DIR, Dr. Fowler led key NICHD diversity activities, training intramural investigators on effective outreach to underserved populations, and developing a research mentor initiative to increase scientific workforce diversity in collaboration with Howard University. Among her accomplishments at NICHD was the development of the “Deconstructing Bias” quarterly column in the NICHD fellows’ newsletter, The NICHD Connection.
Dr. Fowler began her career at NIH as the director of The National Child and Maternal Health Education Program (NCMHEP), which she created and launched in 2009. NCMHEP provided a forum for reviewing, translating, and disseminating new research in the field of maternal and child health through educational initiatives for providers and patients. She began her work in the area of diversity outreach and engagement during her work with NCMHEP and while doing special projects as assigned by the deputy director to translate emerging research into programs and initiatives.
Dr. Fowler graduated from the University of Maryland School of Medicine after obtaining a B.A. in biology from Johns Hopkins University. She completed her pediatric residency at the Albert Einstein Medical Center and the Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children.
Page updated March 2, 2023
