Using employee resource groups to foster diversity and inclusion
Brian Heath describes the important role of ERGs for advancing inclusive company culture (360 words, 2 min)
NPC Healthbiz Weekly is presented to you in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions
Many pharmaceutical companies have been engaging in diversity and inclusion projects that have contributed to a better working environment and enhanced recruitment and retention. That’s according to Brian Heath, Vice-president and General Manager of Amgen Canada, during a talk at the virtual 15th National Pharmaceutical Congress.
One example Heath (photo below) described was Amgen’s affinity groups, which are known internally as Employee Resource Groups, or ERGs.
“More than 9,500 of our staff globally—about 40 per cent of our employees around the world—belong to one of the company’s 11 ERGs,” said Heath. “These ERGs help Amgen employees navigate shared personal and professional challenges and provide opportunities to contribute to the company’s business and community.”
“Here in Canada, we have local chapters for six of the global ERGs,” Heath continued. “And in addition to the Amgen Black Employee Network (ABEN), we have the Amgen Asian Association, Amgen Pride, and most recently, the Indigenous People’s ERG, which is unique to Canada.”
Heath said each ERG has an executive sponsor, a chair, and an executive committee with consistent position types. The ERGs focus on internal engagement and external impact, to increase the pipeline of diverse future talent.
These ERGs also provide benefits to the community outside of the parent company, Heath noted.
In 2020, the ABEN worked with the Amgen Foundation to determine the best way to distribute $7.5 million in social justice-directed grants.
Another external benefit was the recent establishment of a summer internship in Canada for Black and Indigenous medical and pharmacy students, Heath said.
This year, the inaugural interns completed a study of biologic treatment hesitancy among Black and Indigenous populations in Canada. The manuscript has been submitted to the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
“Much of our focus with ERGs up until this point has largely been internal,” said Health. “But I think this [publication] is an example of external impact coming from our ERGs.”
“There will be tremendous power, and the impact that comes from applying the talent of our ERGs toward the company’s mission to serve patients. Our ERGs are comprised of staff across all departments of the company, and they’re in a prime position to help Amgen identify and address systemic disparities in health.”
Further reading: A report from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) found ERGs can help promote better patient care, engage in health equity issues, and increase diversity in the talent pipeline. Check it out.
THIS WEEK 11/16/21
GSK announced that NUCALA (mepolizumab) is now approved in Canada as supplementary maintenance treatment with intranasal corticosteroids for adult patients living with severe chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) insufficiently controlled by intranasal corticosteroids alone.
Canntab Therapeutics Limited announced that Health Canada has granted its Markham, Ont. facility a medical sales licence, enabling it to sell all of its products directly to consumers. The amendment is the final regulatory step for the firm to open its direct-to-consumer website, which Is expected to allow patients across Canada to acquire the company's proprietary dosage hard tablets and caplets of THC and CBD in various strengths.
Shoppers Drug Mart shared data on hypertension that suggest the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a decrease in hypertension diagnoses and treatment. The data showed up to 30 per cent fewer new patients starting medications commonly used to treat hypertension than in previous years.
The Government of Canada commemorated the discovery of insulin on the 100th anniversary of this medical breakthrough. Diabetes remained a fatal condition until the early 20th century but thanks to a team of Canadian researchers – Frederick Banting, Charles Herbert Best, John J.R. Macleod, and James Bertram Collip – that developed a treatment in 1921 when they isolated and purified insulin. A ceremony was held on Nov 12, 2021, at the Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship on U of T’s St. George campus to unveil a plaque recognizing the discovery of insulin as an event of national historic significance.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Season Five of the NPC Podcast explored Pharma’s purpose, process, and people with a diverse list of guests across eight episodes. Podcast host Peter Brenders spoke with guests on clinical trials, laws and regulations, investments in life sci, manufacturing, working with the Canadian government, and implications of Covid-19. Did you miss an episode? Catch up now!
CANADIAN HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
The Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame awards were established in 2002 to honour healthcare marketers who have contributed to our vocation and inspire others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. In the selection committee’s view, they stand for a representative cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. Each week, NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honouree.
2018 Inductee
Phil Diamond Award for Community Service
Gregory J. Glenn
Stouffville, Ont.
When Greg Glenn learned that he was being honoured with the Phil Diamond Award for Community Service, he was especially moved, because Diamond was one of the people who helped spark his interest in charitable works.
“I first met Phil in approximately 1979. He was a very good friend of mine. He was one of my advertising agency guys when I was a project manager at Eli Lilly,” he said. “I was also involved in the start-up of his famous charity golf tournament called Walk in the Park which ran for over 30 years in support of various children’s health organizations.”
Over the span of his more than a 40-year-long career as a senior executive handling health policy, government relations, and market access issues for the Canadian pharmaceutical industry, Greg always found time to volunteer with non-profit groups. Now enjoying his retirement, he has more time to dedicate toward his charitable works. He is currently a Board Director at Children’s Mental Health Ontario and Chair of Kinark Child and Family Services. Both initiatives champion the mental health needs of children and their families.
“I’m still doing what I was trained to do,” he explained. “Only now I lobby on behalf of our kids and our families. I go to the government, politicians, and bureaucrats and talk with them about the needs of these families. I try to convince them of appropriate funding and appropriate programming changes to allow these kids and their families to get proper treatment.”
Looking back on his career, Greg says that he is most proud of starting the Glenn Group, his own market access and government relations consulting firm, which was then merged with the JBL Associates to form the JBL Group.
“I’m proud of what we accomplished in getting hundreds of drugs covered appropriately for patients across the country during that time period,” he said.
For Greg, using his expertise for non-profit initiatives is a way of giving back the good fortune that he has received throughout the years.
“I worked with some really fantastic people. It was the people I worked with that really motivated me and helped me along the way,” he said.
Aside from his volunteer commitments, he is also making time for his two lifelong interests: golf and travel.
“My wife and I have a number of plans, places to go, and things we want to do. At Christmas, we are going to Costa Rica and in the spring, we will be going to Palm Springs. In the fall of next year, we are going to Italy and Doha, Qatar—we have a daughter and her family who live there.”
NEXT WEEK
In the 11/22 edition of the NPC Healthbiz Weekly, more from the star-studded panels of the 15th Annual National Pharmaceutical Congress. It’s easy to get your no-charge subscription and have the issue sent to your phone or inbox each Tuesday at 6:00 a.m. sharp.
Stay safe, stay sure, and stay on your game. We’ll see you again next week.