Committed to Real and Lasting Change in the Life Science Industry
Welcome back to our quarterly newsletter on diversity, equity, and inclusion designed specifically for the life science industry. Our strategic DE&I initiative aims to take action to advance a welcoming and thriving industry that recognizes the value of individuals with diverse backgrounds, talents, experiences, and perspectives.
We invite all members to join us in our commitment to drive meaningful action by subscribing to our newsletter, attending our upcoming DE&I events, visiting our DE&I Resource Center, and signing our DE&I Member Pledge.
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DE&I Pledge Spotlight: Cultura
Cultura, a certified women-owned business that specializes in design and space-planning services, signed Biocom California’s DE&I Pledge in June 2021. As a result, it identified four key areas within the company that needed improvement—from recruiting and hiring to barriers in promotions and employee growth—and implemented a tactical plan to achieve a more inclusive environment. “Our initial approach to diversity, inclusion and equity was to benchmark where our company aligned with the
community we serve, understand the cultural pieces to our company that supported or inhibited progress and bring awareness to the lens of DE&I. With that established, we moved to strategic, intentional, and then tactical plans to approach more inclusion of the fruits of diversity” said Anne Benge, CEO of Cultura. “Feeding our culture with additional sustenance around inclusion of diversity required deliberate actions to change thinking, actions and recognizing socioeconomic diversity that required intentional leveling.”
We’d love to hear how our members have made real and lasting change since signing our DE&I Pledge. Share your story with us, and we may feature it in our upcoming newsletters and on social.
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The Power of Pride
The life science industry thrives off diverse ideas and people. Biocom California understands the importance of allyship to ensure the industry is a welcoming place for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. For LGBTQ+ Pride Month this June, we supported the San Francisco Business Times in advocating for a more inclusive environment in the life science industry that celebrates the talent, leadership, and innovation produced by diverse members of our community.
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ICYMI: A Recap of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
In May, we celebrated Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by highlighting AAPI leaders in life science in our Member Spotlights: Susie Harborth, EVP of Business Operations at Breakthrough Properties; and Jonathan Lim, M.D., chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Erasca.
Harborth shares personal and professional challenges she has experienced and offers companies advice on how to create a work environment that is truly inclusive. “The first step is to define what ‘diverse and inclusive’ means to your company culture. There is not a one-size-fits-all approach but creating a culture that embodies diversity and inclusion requires active engagement from leadership,” she says.
Lim talks about why it’s important to celebrate the histories and contributions of various cultures and identities throughout the year, and notes that diversity is necessary for solving complex problems, such as finding new therapies for cancer. Click here to read the complete interviews.
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Coming Up: National Hispanic Heritage Month
Biocom California is looking to highlight Hispanic leaders in life science in September. If you or someone you know would like to be interviewed in a Member Spotlight, contact us here.
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Members Committed to Real & Lasting Change
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Gilead was named one of America’s Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes and recently released more details on its meaningful DE&I efforts in a 2021 year-in-review report ➔
Jennifer Jovcevski, corporate associate at Nixon Peabody, discusses the gender equity gap in the M&A industry and how the company is working toward change ➔
Charles River outlined their commitment to DE&I and approach to oversight ➔
Travere Therapeutics has an advocacy commitment to diversity and equity in the rare disease space, and representation of minority groups in its clinical trials ➔
The Amgen Foundation committed $30M to science learning opportunities for students through LabXchange, a science education platform that is free to use ➔
On Juneteenth, 22 Black biotech leaders were honored, including Biocom California members William Hobbs, Vertex Pharmaceuticals; Enoch Kariuki, Synthorx; Paul Mola, Roswell Biotechnologies; Darrell Porter, Cellevolve Bio; and R.A. Session II, Taysha Gene Therapies ➔
Biotech execs share the 3 most important steps companies can take to increase diversity ➔
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Share Your News 
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Interested in sharing a case study or information on an initiative that your company is working on? We want to know! Click below to tell us all about it.
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The Biocom California DE&I Resource Center is for change agents and leaders committed to moving the life science industry forward in a more inclusive manner that better reflects the decision-making roles in the communities that we serve. These resources aim to complement your existing DE&I initiatives and ultimately accelerate innovations for patients worldwide.
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Biocom California | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative
As leaders in life science, we acknowledge our responsibility to provide and promote a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for our current and future workforce. Through Biocom California’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DE&I) initiative and DE&I Board Committee, we are taking action to advance a welcoming and thriving life sciences industry that recognizes the value of individuals with diverse backgrounds, talents, experiences, and perspectives.
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