The Annual NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival will be hosted by OBSSR and the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee on December 8-9, 2022, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. EST each day. The purpose of the festival is to highlight recently funded behavioral and social sciences research that the NIH supports; bring together behavioral and social scientists within the NIH extramural and intramural communities to network with each other and share scientific ideas; and explore ways to advance behavioral and social sciences research.

The Annual NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Festival will be hosted by OBSSR and the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee on December 8-9, 2022, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. EST each day. The purpose of the festival is to highlight recently funded behavioral and social sciences research that the NIH supports; bring together behavioral and social scientists within the NIH extramural and intramural communities to network with each other and share scientific ideas; and explore ways to advance behavioral and social sciences research.

Presentation topic: Reproductive Health and Justice, Health Equity, and Anti Racism

Monica McLemore PhD, MPH, RN, is a preeminent scholar of antiracist birth equity research, community-informed methods, and policy translation. Dr. McLemore earned a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from The College of New Jersey in 1993, a master’s in public health from San Francisco State University, and a PhD in oncology genomics at the University of California, San Francisco. She has worked her entire career in reproductive health, rights, and justice. She retired from active clinical practice after a 28-year career when she was awarded tenure in 2019. The technical skill of conducting rigorous research and disseminating those findings is what identifies Dr. McLemore as a scientific expert. Her research findings have been widely cited and my writings work synergistically to allow my thoughts, ideas, and strategies to design and test interventions to advance reproductive justice for all.

Presentation topic: Social isolation, connection, and health-related outcomes among young people

Megan Ranney, M.D., M.P.H., is a practicing emergency physician, researcher, and advocate for innovative approaches to health. Her work focuses on the intersection between digital health, violence prevention, and population health. She is the Academic Dean for the School of Public Health, as well as founding Director of the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health (https://digitalhealth.med.brown.edu/). She is co-founder and Senior Strategic Advisor to the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM) at the Aspen Institute (www.affirmresearch.org), which creates practical, scalable, and immediate health-based solutions to reduce all forms of firearm-related injuries in the United States. She recently served as co-founder and president of the board for GetUsPPE.org, a startup dedicated to matching donated personal protective equipment to those who need it most. She is a Fellow of the fifth class of the Aspen Health Innovators Fellowship Program and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in History of Science in 1997.

Matilda White Riley, Ph.D., (1911–2004) was a celebrated scientist and member of the National Academy of Sciences whose transformative work and leadership in the behavioral and social sciences at the NIH is honored annually by OBSSR. Each year, NIH honors the research trajectory and continuing influence of Dr. Matilda White Riley in the behavioral and social sciences across and beyond the NIH. Initiated as an annual distinguished scholar lecture, OBSSR expanded the event in 2016 to recognize emerging scientists with a competition for peer-reviewed articles by Early Stage Investigators (ESIs).

Presentation topic: Social Influence, Policy, Economics, and Communications

Neil Lewis, Jr., Ph.D., is a behavioral scientist who studies how social interventions and policies can motivate behavioral changes to promote equitable outcomes in society. Lewis’s research examines how people’s social contexts and identities influence how they make sense of the world around them, and the implications of those meaning-making processes for their motivation to pursue a variety of goals in life. He is interested in the consequences of these processes not only for individuals, but also for the communities and societies those individuals are embedded in; he is particularly interested in using insights from research findings to improve educational, health, and environmental outcomes for individuals and societies. Lewis’s work has been recognized by numerous awards and honors, including: the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science, the SAGE Young Scholar Early Career Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and Cornell’s Research and Extension Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Science and Public Policy. Lewis received his B.A. in economics and psychology from Cornell University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan.