11. Dr. Zenk put nursing at the heart of her leadership - it’s principles of care and community support for health. She helped us see that big problems need big solutions but none of us stand alone. Thank you for turning compassion into action, Dr. Zenk!

References: tinyurl.com/refZenk

10. Despite her accomplishments, she was placed on administrative leave and then terminated from NIH on 9/12/2025. “From day 1 of her tenure, we all knew that we were embarking on a new scientific adventure, and you couldn’t help but be excited about the future. " –Former Colleague at NINR

9. ✅Elevated climate and heat as health drivers (schools, urban settings, energy assistance programs) through NIH initiatives and NIMHD Neighborhoods and Health Lab. Dr. Zenk was inducted into the International Nurse Researchers Hall of Fame in 2019 and to the @nationalacademies.org in 2021.

8. ✅An NIH-wide SDOH Research Coordinating Committee (RCC), which she co-led and publicly championed
✅NIH’s Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society (ComPASS) program, with NINR serving as a founding co-chair

7. ✅ Sustained support for extramural nursing research across the US through NINR’s nearly $200,000,000 annual budget
✅ NINR’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan: Health Equity, Social Determinants of Health, Population and Community Health, Prevention and Health Promotion, Systems and Models of Care

6. emphasizing upstream and structural strategies for understanding and improving health – an ethos she carried into leadership at NINR. As NINR director, Dr. Zenk helped bring multiple visions to fruition:

5. Her subsequent research on food deserts brought national attention to resource inequities in low-income and Black communities. As a postdoc and then faculty member of the University of Illinois Chicago, she became a research advocate for the social determinants of health (SDOH),

4. Working as a home health nurse, Dr. Zenk saw that conversations about “healthy choices” were often constrained by poverty, limited access to resources and difficult living conditions. These experiences drove her back to school.

3. Throughout her tenure, she drew on her voice and experience to position NINR as a national leader on social and structural drivers of health.

“Shannon was also simply a wonderful person to work with: a great boss, a great mentor, and a great friend.” – An NIH Colleague

2. Dr. Zenk accepted her position as Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) in 2020 with a clear mission in mind: to use nursing’s community-connected perspective to advance health equity at a population scale.

Thanks so much, @sdukehan.bsky.social!

12) Thank you for your transformational courage, Diana!
References linked.

11) Throughout her career, Dr. Bianchi pushed past what people thought was possible — linking obstetrics to pediatrics, lab science to real patients, and researchers across disciplines. She made prenatal care smarter, earlier, and kinder. We look forward to the next phase of her leadership.

10) Dr. Bianchi has been instrumental in advancing critical research and policies that have strengthened our understanding of women’s health, especially gynecologic and maternal health… We are deeply disappointed in the decision…as it represents a significant loss of expertise at NIH.

9) ✅Led NIH’s IDENTIFY study – showing that “abnormal” NIPT results can be an early warning sign for some maternal cancers.
In response to Dr. Bianchi’s placement on administrative leave in April, prior to her October 1st termination, The Society for Women’s Health Research noted:

8) ✅Published and implemented the NICHD Strategic Plan 2020: Healthy pregnancies. Healthy children. Healthy and optimal lives.
✅Launch the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, the largest US study of its kind to gather data on mothers and their children from pre-birth to childhood

7) ✅Co-chaired the trans-NIH INCLUDE Project - to study health across the lifespan of people with Down syndrome
✅Co-led NIH’s IMPROVE initiative - a national research program to address and reduce maternal death and health disparities