Biography

Imoni Williams is a grants management specialist in the Grants Management Branch, Grants Section A, within NCATS’ Division of Extramural Activities, where she manages a complex portfolio of cooperative agreements, career awards, training grants and other research grants. She has more than 20 years of experience in philanthropy and nonprofit and program management.

Prior to joining NCATS, Williams served for 10 years as the director of programs for the DC Bar Foundation, the largest funder of civil legal aid in the District of Columbia, where she oversaw the implementation of the Foundation’s strategies and programs to ensure that the district’s civil justice system was serving its residents well. She managed the Foundation’s nearly $11 million in annual grantmaking to the district’s civil legal aid system, some of which involved funding public interest attorneys working on behalf of Washington, D.C., residents with low incomes. Williams developed trusted relationships through the years with this network of justice advocates, nonprofits, donors, the district government and other funders collectively engaged in serving the civil justice ecosystem with equity.

Before joining the DC Bar Foundation, Williams was a senior program manager for 11 years with Equal Justice Works. She managed the Fellowship Program and Loan Repayment Assistance Program, awarding more than 500 fellowships to lawyers serving communities with low incomes across the country. She also worked closely with the Equal Justice Works development team to grow the organization’s fundraising capacity.

Williams received her Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in economics from Spelman College. She maintains a certification in the NIH Grants Management Professional Certification program.

Professional Interests

Williams’ experiences in the ever-changing public interest sector inform her career choices. She is motivated by the NCATS mission to transform the translational process so that new treatments and cures for disease can be delivered to patients more quickly.