“There’s always this desire by leaders to ensure their team members are well supported in their development, and in particular, that we help them to navigate opportunities that exist,” she said.
Regional Clinical Operations (RCO) is the hands-on group that oversees and helps guide execution of BMS’ clinical trials worldwide. When Nancy first joined RCO in 2018, she led the North American and South American teams—now, just a few years later, she helms a team across 40 different countries.
“For me, I was looking for an opportunity to contribute to an inclusive, patient-centric organization from a global perspective,” Nancy said. “At prior companies, my focus was within the local market and I may never have had the opportunity to develop global strategies like I do with BMS.” Nancy credits this to BMS giving its teams exposure to different areas of the organization, allowing them to gain greater business perspective and growth. “There’s a multitude of opportunities across GDO for our employees to develop, from continuous improvement efforts to career opportunities across its nine functional areas. For me personally, those have been the times I’ve learned the most in my career.”
Both Lorena and Nancy are quick to point out that BMS understands that increasing the diverse patient participation in clinical trials accelerates innovation and development of transformative medicines to all patients. The company also understands that having diverse and inclusive representation within our own teams is integral to that goal. “I’m comfortable being the first Latinx in the team that I work,” Lorena said. “I’m comfortable as a woman of color, as an immigrant and as a working parent as well. But more importantly, I’m comfortable making sure that we all listen to each other’s voice.”
Nancy agreed and added, “The company values diverse perspectives, and it’s not something that is just written down as a value. You see it, you hear it in people when they talk about what they do. The passion is tangible.”
Diversity in action
Lorena’s and Nancy’s work in clinical trial diversity continues to help ensure the data collected will provide scientific evidence about those therapies’ safety and effectiveness in treating the disease or condition in multiple patient subgroups.
“We think about the patient population that needs to be in our trials with intention from the very beginning,” Lorena said. “From looking into how we write our protocols to what our eligibility criteria looks like to the selection of our research sites, BMS is at the forefront of the industry in addressing health equities.”
If you’re passionate about transforming patients’ lives through science, there’s a place for you at BMS.
In Global Development Operations, the opportunities to find the right career are plentiful. If you have a particular interest in interacting with investigators directly, you might want to look for a path toward clinical trial monitor. Passionate about quality and compliance or organizational strategy and support? Our GDO operations team might be for you. It’s a chance to discover and design your own career. Search open roles in GDO today.
