Understanding and Navigating Compliance With NIH Grant DEI Policies

By Chris Braham, Rachel B. Cowen, Darshak S. Dholakia, Gregory Fosheim, Marshall E. Jackson, Jr., Travis Jackson, Tony W. Torain, II and Tara Ward on May 13, 2025

Posted In Employment

On April 21, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a notice regarding its policy to require all US grant recipients to certify that:

They do not, and will not during the term of receiving funds from the NIH, operate any programs that advance or promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA); or discriminatory equity ideology (collectively, DEI) in violation of federal anti-discrimination law; and
They do not engage in, and will not during the term of this award engage in, a discriminatory prohibited boycott.

Members of McDermott’s Employment and Health & Life Sciences Groups created a document to help NIH grant recipients evaluate where any company policies and practices need to be changed prior to providing the above-referenced certification.

Chris Braham
Christopher A. Braham focuses his practice on employment litigation and counseling. Christopher represents employers in all stages of employment litigation, including in putative class action, single and multi-plaintiff lawsuits concerning claims for meal and rest period violations, failure to pay wages and bonuses, off-the-clock work, misclassification, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and misappropriation of trade secrets. Christopher advocates for clients in state and federal courts and administrative agencies, including in proceedings before the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Division of Labor Enforcement Standards and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Read Christopher Braham's full bio.

Rachel B. Cowen
Rachel B. Cowen focuses her practice in various employment discrimination and wrongful termination cases in federal and state courts. Rachel’s experience includes prosecuting and defending employee mobility and trade secret litigation on an emergency injunctive basis. She also counsels employers facing union organizing activity and picketing, and has successfully tried numerous cases before the National Labor Relations Board. She also handles collective bargaining and labor arbitrations. Additionally, Rachel represents financial services companies and professional engineering firms in unfair competition cases. Read Rachel Cowen's full bio.

Darshak S. Dholakia
Darshak S. Dholakia advises corporations and individuals on compliance with a broad range of national security and international trade laws. He has significant experience assessing and mitigating potential legal risks under economic sanctions programs administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), anti-money laundering (AML) provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and other anti-corruption laws. Read Darshak Dholakia's full bio.

Gregory Fosheim
Gregory E. Fosheim provides counsel on a wide array of corporate, transactional and regulatory compliance matters across the healthcare and life sciences industry. Drawing on his extensive laboratory and public health background and insight, he regularly advises on clinical and diagnostic laboratory matters, anatomic pathology and fertility laboratory compliance. Greg also represents hospitals, health systems and physician practice management companies in all aspects of transactional and operational matters, particularly those with regulatory, licensing, accreditation and policy considerations, and he has negotiated several acquisitions and sales of proton therapy centers. Read Gregory Fosheim’s full bio.

Marshall E. Jackson, Jr.
Marshall E. Jackson, Jr. focuses his practice on transactional and regulatory counseling for clients in the health care industry, as well as advises clients on the legal, regulatory and compliance aspects of digital health. Marshall provides counseling and advice to hospitals and health systems, private equity firms and their portfolio companies, post/sub-acute providers, physician practices, and other public and private health care companies in a variety of complex transactions and health regulatory compliance matters. Read Marshall Jackson's full bio.

Travis Jackson
Travis Jackson works with leading hospitals, health systems and academic medical centers (AMCs) to bring their most complex and innovative mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures to market. Through his counsel, Travis’s healthcare clients – both for-profit and nonprofit entities – enhance their operational efficiencies, improve care delivery and strengthen relationships with physicians and the communities they serve in a compliance-driven and cost-effective manner. Read Travis Jackson's full bio.

Tony W. Torain, II
Tony Torain provides strategic and trusted counsel to multinational corporations in labor and employment disputes, helping clients address and resolve critical issues efficiently and effectively. Recognized among the leading lawyers of his generation in labor and employment law, he has extensive experience representing companies across a range of industries – including healthcare, technology, consumer products, automotive, and private equity – in traditional labor matters and employment litigation, trials, and arbitrations. Read Tony Torain's full bio.

Tara Ward
Tara L. Ward represents a wide variety of companies that do business with the federal government, ranging from small and emerging tech companies looking to break into or expand their stake in the federal marketplace, to well-established defense, professional services and information technology contractors and subcontractors. Tara’s diverse practice covers the full range of government contracting issues, including litigation and counseling related to bid protests, contract claims and disputes and teaming agreement and other strategic alliance issues. Tara regularly helps clients navigate some of the most nuanced areas of government contract law, including other transaction agreements, small business regulations and supply chain issues. Read Tara Ward's full bio.

Understanding and Navigating Compliance With NIH Grant DEI Policies

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