Just about to set off on my new adventure at Johnson & Johnson as Senior Director/ Head Diversity in Clinical Trials. 🎉
I am passionate about making sure that medicines are developed with all patients in mind. That only happens when we are “INTENTIONAL ABOUT INCLUSION”.
All patients irrespective of sex, age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geographic location, visible or invisible disabilities etc. deserve the right to be able to participate in trials so that they:
1. have access to new medicines
2. know that the drug was designed with them in mind
3. have the confidence that the product should work on them with an acceptable risk:benefit profile.
We as the #pharmaceutical industry have to long way to go to earn the trust of the #patients who in many instances have very little information about what happens in a #clinicaltrial.
I hope in this new journey I can work with the J&J teams to build on the tremendous work they have been already been engaged in at the community level across multiple geographies, consistently over many years.
I hope we as an Industry can forge a better relationship with the communities, including patients, patient advocacy organisations, regulators, vendors, HCPs, and other partners within the healthcare ecosystem that we operate in.
I started working in the Clinical Trial Diversity space a couple of years ago so it should feel like a comfortable transition between companies in the same sector. But, I have admired J&J from afar for so long that I am also very conscious of the responsibility I take on and have more than butterflies! 🦋
I know there is already an amazing team in place that have been spearheading efforts within our industry. So looking forward to seeing what I can do to help solidify efforts. Thank you Staci Hargraves for putting your trust in me.
If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be in this role I wouldn’t have believed it. 🥳
The best advice I was given in my entire career is to “not just focus on the destination, but enjoy the journey”. I have held that close and chosen a path which might have taken longer but I have loved the journey.
The biggest lesson in my journey has been that I need to believe in me, stay resilient and build my network (by being transparent about what I care about, what I am good at and what I want to achieve) - and leave the rest to the universe to facilitate. I hope that helps others looking to move into a great opportunity.
A big “Thank you” to all those who reached out privately and publicly on the LinkedIn post and for the wonderful messages on the leaving card from Novartis colleagues. I am so absolutely touched and hope I will continue to make you proud.
Please let’s join forces to make our industry one that has the #respect of the people they serve.
#clinicaltrialdiversity #equitymatters
Director & Founder of Lessen The Load Virtual Assistant & Project Management Services
1moI’ve been a patient advocate for several years now for UCB. Such a wonderful organisation to be involved with.