Dr. Hannah Valantine joins Elsevier's Inclusion and Diversity Advisory Board

LONDON, Dec. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier, a global leader in research publishing and information analytics, is pleased to announce that Dr. Hannah Valantine, Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Chief Scientific Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity has been appointed to the company's independent Inclusion and Diversity Advisory Board.

Dr. Valantine will join nine other distinguished research leaders who are members of the Elsevier Inclusion and Diversity Board. Established in March 2020 and chaired by Kumsal Bayazit, Elsevier CEO, and Dr. Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, the Board aims to create a more equitable research ecosystem through standards, best practices and initiatives that support long-term, measurable change. These include actions to bring about greater balance in gender, racial, ethnic and geographic representation in academic research, for example on editorial boards, in peer review and scientific conferences. The Board also promotes standards and policies to ensure that research is funded, designed, conducted and reported in an equitable and inclusive manner.

As the former, inaugural NIH Chief Scientific Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, Dr. Valantine was credited with creating a transformative, data-led inclusion and diversity strategy for the biomedical research sector focusing on robust recruitment and retention policies. She was awarded the NIH Director's Pathfinder Award for Diversity in the Scientific Workforce; while at the NIH, Dr. Valantine also served as a Senior Investigator within the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute leading a highly productive Intramural Research Program. In 2020, Dr. Valantine was elected to the National Academy of Medicine for her game-changing contributions in both cardiac transplantation and scientific workforce diversity. Prior to joining the NIH, Dr. Valantine served as Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Leadership at Stanford University's School of Medicine, and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University Medical School. Dr. Valantine studied biochemistry at London University and attended St. George's Hospital Medical School.

Dr. Hannah Valantine said: "I am deeply honored to contribute my expertise to the Elsevier Inclusion and Diversity Board's vitally important effort to ensure scientific excellence and innovation. Casting a lens of equity and inclusion on who and what gets published is an important path towards achieving excellence. After all, great minds think differently!"

Kumsal Bayazit, CEO of Elsevier, said: "We are honored to welcome Dr. Hannah Valantine to Elsevier's Inclusion and Diversity Advisory Board. She brings deep experience of promoting inclusiveness and equity in the field of biomedical research, with notable outcomes. Together with our distinguished Board members, we are determined to play a part in advancing science and improving health outcomes through greater diversity in research and actions grounded in data."

Note to editors
To find out more about Dr. Hannah Valantine and the Board's other members, please visit the Elsevier Inclusion and Diversity Advisory Board here.

About Elsevier
As a global leader in information and analytics, Elsevier helps researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. We do this by facilitating insights and critical decision-making for customers across the global research and health ecosystems.

In everything we publish, we uphold the highest standards of quality and integrity. We bring that same rigor to our information analytics solutions for researchers, health professionals, institutions and funders.

Elsevier employs 8,100 people worldwide. We have supported the work of our research and health partners for more than 140 years. Growing from our roots in publishing, we offer knowledge and valuable analytics that help our users make breakthroughs and drive societal progress. Digital solutions such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath support strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and health education. Researchers and healthcare professionals rely on our 2,500+ digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell; our 40,000 eBook titles; and our iconic reference works, such as Gray's Anatomy. With the Elsevier Foundation and our external Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board, we work in partnership with diverse stakeholders to advance inclusion and diversity in science, research and healthcare in developing countries and around the world.

Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.elsevier.com

Media contact
Jonathan Davis
Elsevier Communications, Europe
+31 20 485 2719
j.davis.1@elsevier.com
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