Camille Hoover aggressively pushed a divisive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda onto the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Her policies focus on promoting racial and gender quotas over talent.

“The Executive Office is dedicated in both spirit and action to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Civility(IDEA-C) and works to create and sustain a culture where all have the tools and resources to do their job and flourish, where creativity and innovation are rewarded, where there are standards and accountabilities, and where the environment is community-focused, diverse, inclusive, and respectful. NIDDK Executive Officer, Camille Hoover, leads the Institute’s IDEA-C efforts and is also a member of the leadership team working to develop the NIH-wide Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA).”

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Camille Hoover spearheaded a contentious initiative at NIDDK involving a tool designed to track the racial and demographic profiles of federal employees, under the guise of enhancing diversity. This tool prioritizes candidates based on race or gender rather than merit, effectively creating a pipeline for specific groups while sidelining others based on their qualifications. Such a system not only fosters division but also compels employees to publicly discuss and disclose their racial identities, potentially leading to workplace discord and a focus on identity politics over scientific integrity.

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NIDDK has since changed the tool to account for new COVID-19 and telework questions on the 2020 survey, and the institute worked with OPM to launch a supplemental survey last year, which solicited feedback from trainees, fellows, Pathways students and others.

Now, the same team that created EVS ART is working on another tool, this time designed to create an intersectional analysis of employee perceptions based on the demographic data in the FEVS.

“In general I don’t think that across government people have overlaid that on the results,” said Camille Hoover, NIDDK’s executive officer.

Her team is creating a new tool will overlay demographic data over the answers on the FEVS. The goal, Hoover said, is to evaluate whether employees from different backgrounds have different perspectives about the workplace.

“We can add in education, supervisory status and we can drill down deeper to understand what different communities in our workforce are saying and are there different voices from different communities,” she said. “That’s something we just haven’t done before.”

“We are pouring over data to try to see are there things that we were only looking through one lens, and if we slightly the lens or if we overlay demographics on the data, is it going to tell us a different story? ”Hoover said. “We are right in the midst of a discovery of this at NIDDK and across NIH as well.”

“NIDDK later held smaller discussions with employees, who talked about their own experiences with and perceptions of racism. “This forum actually allowed us to practice talking about race, which is something that doesn’t normally happen in the workplace,” Hoover said.”

“Hoover said NIH is considering this practice as one that it might apply more broadly across the organization.

To build a bigger pipeline of diverse talent, NIDDK is partnering with other Department of Health and Human Services agencies to conduct outreach to minority-serving institutions.

The goal, Hoover said, is to equip students with the tools and information they need to be viable candidates for jobs in the federal government. The institute meets with students, now virtually due to the pandemic, to walk them through the federal hiring process, the Pathways Program and career paths inside HHS.”

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