Similar to Jessica, Erika parlayed her education and past experience into a career; in Erika’s case, within the Clinical Trial Engagement & Enrollment Team. She combined her experience in clinical and psychosocial research while obtaining her Masters in Public Health, along with her patient education and marketing experience to – in Erika’s words – “make sure our internal and external communication is aligned to our bigger strategic goals.”
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Approaching Clinical Trials as a Mission and a Calling
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Speaking with Erika and Jessica, one realizes the depth and breadth of career options available under the umbrella of work involving clinical trials, along with ensuring the conclusion of underrepresented populations within those trials, an objective that is in line with the BMS mission.
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“We’re a patient-centric organization,” said Erika. “We support patients and caregivers by providing them with the treatments and services they need. As engagement strategists, we also have the unique opportunity to talk with and listen to patients and caregivers directly. We translate their insights and needs back to the clinical science teams to make sure we’re designing and implementing trials to meet those needs.”
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Jessica’s background in microbiology led to a masters in epidemiology. After developing certain skill sets through a medical writing job, she was introduced to the idea of becoming a clinical scientist. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” she said. “It would allow me to design studies and conduct scientific research, but at the population level, not just the microscope and lab level.”
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Bringing Talents, Passion and Skill Sets to a Career
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Supporting the design and conduct of clinical trials provided an incredibly meaningful career platform for both Jessica and Erika. Evolving career responsibilities to help build inclusion among underrepresented populations were natural progressions to even more rewarding callings. But both noted that, rather than a standard career trajectory plotted out by HR or a corporate job description, these were deliberate paths worked through by Jessica, Erika and their managers.
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"Collecting SOGIIS data is important to me as a clinical researcher, as a doctoral student, and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community," said Jessica. "That’s where my push has been with the guidance of my manager who really cares about my passions.”
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Leadership Commitments Open the Doors to Progress
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Erika relayed how inclusion and diversity at BMS are embraced by everyone, beginning with leadership, who support efforts to have a diverse, inclusive workforce within clinical trials. “When I began at BMS, there was a usability assessment project with DAWN, our BMS resource group representing people with disabilities,” she said. “I had experience in health literacy and design guidelines. I then joined the conversation around expanding our inclusion of clinical patients to include people with disabilities. We embarked on this journey together and we’re helping to bring it to fruition.”
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BMS's inclusion and diversity goals and health equity commitments ensure we are serving more patients, and that means bringing our vision of transforming patients' lives through science to life.
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Find out how you can play a critical role within our organization with your own unique set of skills and experience. Explore open roles involving clinical trials and be one step closer to work that transforms patients’ lives, as well as your own.
