Prioritizing Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion across research and development

The challenge

A large, global life sciences organization identified multiple opportunities to improve their Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) strategy within Research & Development (R&D): a lack of centralized DEI ownership, disparate ideas without cohesive management, and a lack of prioritization mechanisms. Furthermore, existing DEI efforts primarily focused on workforce diversity and inclusion, but true advancement required an expanded focus to apply DEI principles to the core business. To achieve this, the team landed on three DEI pillars:

1. Community: Expanding outreach and engagement with diverse stakeholders in the scientific community
2. Business: Improving diversity in clinical trials
3. People: Continuing to focus on DEI through HR programs and processes

The approach

To address these challenges and opportunities, the Vynamic team began with a comprehensive scan of the internal and external environment in efforts to build a long-term DEI roadmap. Elements of this included:

Current state analysis

Across the three pillars (People, Business, Community) Vynamic collected industry best practices of peer organizations, reviewed existing organizational activities through interviews, and conducted a gap analysis.

Inclusive change management

Vynamic designed and executed interactive workshops to solicit additional ideas from a diverse set of voices. This brought out new perspectives and also helped to educate and generate DEI champions across the R&D organization.

Roadmap development

Leveraging our DEI and R&D experience, coupled with the internal/external research and stakeholder input, the team developed an actionable R&D DEI Roadmap, outlining key initiatives and investments needed over the next 1-3 years.

The result

The Vynamic team helped bring clarity to disparate DEI initiatives, achieved leadership support, developed an actionable DEI roadmap, and aligned key stakeholders to each priority initiative. The key differentiator Vynamic added to this work was a roadmap that went beyond diversity in hiring and retention, and included DEI principles applied to the “business of life sciences” – including programs focused on equitable access to medicine, diversity of patients and investigators in clinical trials, and building an informed, supporting community-based network of scientists and clinicians. Vynamic and the client mutually believed efforts should reach deeper into the communities we aim to serve and support; that we must push beyond just financial investment and develop sustainable relationships to lift those who have historically lacked access to equitable healthcare and opportunity. This long-term effort will not only help advance client priorities, but also raise the bar for the entire pharma industry and put us in position to lead the charge towards health equity for all.