After more than 30 years at the National Institutes of Health, the next guest identified through the Senior Executives Association with the 2023 Spirit of Excellence Award for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. The Federal Drive with Tom Temin speaks with Maryann Sofranko, Executive Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Interview Transcript:
Tom Temin And let’s start with his main job, which is that of executive director of the institute. What does the leader do? Sounds like running trains for scientists.
Maryann Sofranko: Absolutely. So I would say that the role of the executive director is actually the infrastructure that helps the science that’s being done at NINDS. Basically, we help all administrative services, from investing in science to the acquisition of materials and equipment necessary for science. to make sure that our researchers can travel and that the investment goes to our external researchers. So we do all the administrative work on stage to get things done and move science forward.
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Tom Temin There’s something at the NIH that helps keep other people there for entire careers or decades in a row, right?
Maryann Sofranko, I think so. I think that’s the project. How can we not be excited about the project to literally advance the science and concept of the total bedside lab, where we actually do the studies on site, as well as their investment in our extramural communities?And then you see this translate into innovations in fitness in our country and around the world. So it’s a literally exciting project, that’s for sure.
Tom Temin: Okay. So, let’s get to the SCA award that you, the Association of Senior Executives, received: the Spirit of Excellence for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. I know it’s an administrative policy word and it’s stuck everywhere. Does this mean for you at the Institute and in your work?
Maryann Sofranko Yes, in my paintings at NIH I also use another paper, and that hat is the business link to our assignment curriculum. And Project Search is an educational homework program for young adults with disabilities. So to be able to lead and literally lead this program as an NIH publicity spouse is literally, literally, rewarding. Our numbers in this program are quite significant. During the thirteen years that the program has existed at the NIH, we have had more than one hundred students throughout the program. And the program, as I mentioned, is an arts education program where we, as a business liaison body, provide rotation opportunities. Literally, homework education for students. And it’s a 30-week program where they go through 3, in addition to classroom activities, they get 3 rotating opportunities to literally build skills, meaning hone their skills so that they’re literally in a position to work at the end of this program. Not everyone gets hired, but our numbers are very high. We have approximately a 78%+ participation rate in this program. So being able to bring those young adults into the painting environment is incredible and literally diversifies our painting environment in so many other ways.
Tom Temin: What techniques and methods do you have for bringing the raw curtains of others into the show?How do you get out?
Maryann Sofranko: We are one of the components of this three-pronged program. In fact, we are components, our local adult rehab component, as well as Ivymount. And there really is a procedure through which other people apply to be members of this program. . And the program, we have sister systems and one in the county with the government and one at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. So we’re partnering with them to bring in six interns consistent with the rotation cycle in the program each. So regularly there are 18 to 20 interns per year who are selected from a very large number of applicants.
Tom Temin: Absolutely. We speak with Maryann Sofranko. She is the Executive Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. She also received the 2023 Spirit of Excellence Award for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility from the Senior Executives Association. The concept of disability or other people with disabilities has taken on a broader picture in recent years, hasn’t it?
Maryann Sofranko Absolument. Et The purpose of the program that we just talked about, Project Search, is not only to ensure that young adults with disabilities are trained so that they can be employable, but also that this program really teaches life skills so that we can create an environment where other people can start living on their own and learn the skills to do so. So, it’s literally a comprehensive program for this young adult population.
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Tom Temin And we understand that for many years, the government has been hiring other people who are visually impaired or blind, hard of hearing, or deaf, and we understand the types of accommodations. Especially technically, but also socially, it has to be made for other people like that. But lately, in these kinds of appointments with the institute itself, neurodiversity has entered the lexicon and other neurodiverse people tell us about the scope of this, what it means, and how those other people are taken into account.
Maryann Sofranko Well, at NIH in general, we provide lodging to all staff members who want it. So, there’s a procedure that they can go through to get hotels, and that’s go through our equity, diversity, and inclusion office. And I think NIH is probably one of the most productive employers out there in our entire organization to see how we can accommodate other people to diversify our workforce. And hotels range, as you mentioned, from software that helps someone who can’t see as well as others, to software that allows you to talk to someone. We provide accommodation to whoever wants it, we provide equipment, chairs, furniture, whatever you need. In fact, we’re doing everything we can to make sure we can accommodate our staff.
Tom Temin But who might have autism in certain degrees or some kind of neurodiverse or neurodiverse disability, I don’t know what’s the right kind word.
Maryann Sofranko Intellectual disability. In fact, that was the purpose of Project Search. Most of our interns who participate in this program have mental disabilities, so we are able to tailor their skills to the desires we have and we have on-site job counselors who can take a look at our procedures and break them down so that we can identify the elements of the procedure that interns can implement. And it frees up time for some of our other employees to do things on another level. Therefore, it is a win-win. We can remove activities from staff responsibilities that you would possibly be executing at a higher level, identify those activities, and locate literally effective tactics for learners to connect to and use.
Tom Temin: Is it also so that other people who are likely to have intellectual distalents have super talents in very limited areas?
Maryann Sofranko: Absolutamente. Absolutamente. De fact, we’ve found that some of our interns who are in the program have unique skills and we can tap into those skills and figure out how to make them paintings. I mean, lately we have an intern who is amazing with knowledge. While it struggles in other areas, it is capable of manipulating and analyzing knowledge and providing smart falsified knowledge platforms so that someone with experience can summarize it and create a smart product with the knowledge that it is. excerpted from it. . . So we’ve definitely tried to improve our skills and we have experts, we have instructors and task search experts who can work with interns to tap into their unique skills, as well as exercise them and teach them new skills. Therefore, it is an interesting program where we can offer interns positions that fit their capabilities.
Tom Temin It sounds like you have two passions, one for running on behalf of the institute itself and the other for this program that benefits the entire NIH.
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Maryann Sofranko yes, absolutely. I started in administration at NIH and have been doing this work there for more than 30 years. But of course, Project Search is a hobby of mine and I like to see positive results. And we’re also working very hard with our rehab provider. like our instructors at Ivymount to make the program a real success. And so far, we’re still growing. The program was originally founded at the NIH Clinical Center. And, as you can imagine, he focused more on the hospital in terms of how the hospital works and lent himself well to the maximum of the capabilities you’ll see. But we’ve extended it to high schools and we’ve taken advantage of that unique skill set that you’ve talked about with some of the students to be able to do painting at a higher level. And of course a hobby, I like to watch him grow, I love to see him succeed.
Tom Temin is the host of Federal Drive and has been offering insight into federal generation and control issues for more than 30 years.