Supporting Black Students Through Their Science, Engineering, and Medicine Career Journeys: Proceedings of a Workshop (2024)
Chapter: 5 Entering the Workforce - Employment and Professional Societies
Moving from education, two sessions of the workshop focused on young Black men and Black women entering the science, engineering, and medicine (SEM) workforce. In a session on employment, three private-industry science leaders shared insights about their own trajectories and their companies’ efforts. A subsequent session looked at how professional societies can facilitate the transition into many areas of the SEM workforce.
EMPLOYMENT—RECOGNIZING LEADERS
Companies can help support the career trajectories of Black students and professionals in SEM through dedicated programs, as well as retaining and growing the workforce. Ian Henry, Ph.D. (Procter & Gamble), served as moderator for a panel that included Tania Small, M.D. (GlaxoSmithKline (GSK]), Ninah Enane-Anderson, Ph.D. (Procter & Gamble [P&G]), and Charles Bridges, M.D., Sc.D. (CorVista Health). They shared their own paths to private-sector scientific leadership and described the programs at three major companies that employ Ph.D.s.
GlaxoSmithKline
Dr. Small shared that it was vital to define and articulate her passion, and to then “look at life as your university.” There are twists and turns in her journey, she related, but she looked ahead to make changes as needed. In so doing, she has recognized her link with people who came before her and future generations. She also stressed the need for unbounded tenacity.
In her case, from personal experiences, she developed a passion to revolutionize the experience and outcomes of all people with cancer, empowering the voices of those that have suffered too long in silence. African Americans have half the survival rate of whites for some cancers, she noted. Having representation in drug development is critical. Leading a team of about 600 people, she has built an oncology program at GSK.
When she started in medical school, Dr. Small recounted her realization that all the faces, especially in pharmaceutical circles, were those of white males. Her own reality was as a Black woman and teenage mother. She recognized, “You have the ability to make a difference, but you have to dig within to unleash the full potential.” She started to question what she characterized as the prevailing attitude that “risk factor equals Black race.” She recalled a patient who was suffering, but the physicians were asking whether the patient was only there for pain medicine. Another young patient with acute myeloid leukemia died because the tools were not available to cure her. She decided to go into pharma development for sickle cell disease and oncology. “The determinant factor is the confines of our own minds,” Dr. Small said. “Why not a cure? The potential is limitless.” Reflecting on lessons learned, she shared the need to “embrace life and live it to the fullest; never let anyone define for you what success is; find mentors and sponsors; define passion, then be curious; have vision; and have unbounded tenacity.”
GSK’s aspiration is to have at least 30 percent ethnically diverse leaders and to recruit 50 percent diverse talent. “But that is not enough,” Dr. Small said. “If you do not feel you have a seat at the table, if you do not feel valued, that is not enough.” Thus, other efforts include Accelerating Differences, in which senior leaders are mentored and participate in courses to create an inclusive environment. Other GSK programs include the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Congressional Partnership Challenge, PharmD fellowship programs, the Scientist Mentoring and Diversity Program, a university recruitment partnership with InRoads, and partnerships with scientific organizations to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) diversity through financial support for fellowships.
Procter & Gamble
Dr. Enane-Anderson recounted that she joined P&G from New York University Medical Center. Now a vice president, she acknowledged she did not initially understand the corporate trajectory and “entered
the corporate world naively.” She joined P&G when the company was recruiting minority candidates, and she related she heard scuttlebutt about whether she and other scientists were hired because of their talent or to meet these goals.
As vice president for all the measurement organizations within P&G, her group consists mostly of M.D.’s, Ph.D.’s, and Pharm.D.’s. An important element to bring minorities into the company, she said, is to increase the level of engagement in the community of Cincinnati, where P&G is headquartered. P&G’s purpose, values, and principles are centered on consumers, brands, and people, Dr. Enane-Anderson said, with values of integrity, leadership, ownership, passion for winning, and trust. Employees are expected to be engaged and involved. “Citizenship at P&G is, for me, about the impact of diversity and inclusion, gender equity, environmental sustainability, and ethics and corporate responsibility,” she said.
A program of relevance to the workshop is the African Ancestry Leadership Network. When young people join P&G, they participate in “boot camp” training to set them up for success. A Champions Network was recently created to elevate sponsorship and advocacy for African American talent. The Resident Scholar Program helps create future talent. High school students shadow scientists and engineers. P&G wants to create a diverse workforce that reflects the consumer population it serves, thrive in the community, and help P&G win as an employer of choice. The company is also involved in a range of K–12 programs as primary or secondary sponsor.
Dr. Enane-Anderson said that between the 1960s and 1980s, only 32 African American Ph.D.’s were employed at P&G, and the attrition rate was 38 percent. Section head was the highest level that a Black professional had attained. The number has nearly quadrupled in 2022, with more senior leaders, patents, and publications among Black Ph.D.’s, and more than 20 new hires in the last 4 years. Students are brought in to expose them to industry as a career choice. They gain broader perspective about what companies are looking for, how to network, and how to learn about a company’s culture.
Dr. Enane-Anderson said an African American mentor helped in her career development, and “to whom much is given, much is expected.” She sponsors and advocates for African American talent and is passionate that they are successful. “If we do not do this, no one will do it for them. We must bring others on the journey,” she concluded.
Johnson & Johnson
Dr. Bridges reported on initiatives at Johnson & Johnson (J&J), where he worked until recently joining CorVista Health. J&J has guiding principles, called the Credo, about how to relate to others internally and externally. It was originally crafted by one of the company founders in 1843 and has continued to evolve, for example, to embrace an inclusive work environment and respect for diversity.
J&J is involved with scientific mentoring and diversity through the African Ancestry Leadership Council and the Hispanic/Latin American Leadership Council. Every slate must now include diverse candidates. J&J is a strong supporter of HBCUs and was an early supporter of the Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine. It has committed $100 million over the next 10 years to support a wide variety of social justice, equity, and inclusion efforts.
According to Dr. Bridges, greater than 50 percent of J&J’s revenue comes from external innovation. However, he said, J&J was not doing a good job reaching out to companies that were founded or managed by historically underrepresented communities in the United States. For example, J&J has sponsored several QuickFire Challenges “to identify, empower, and enable potential breakthrough health-care ideas from innovators across the globe.”1 In the previous challenges that provided $70 million in support, no U.S. companies had been Black owned or operated. This was not realized until people really looked, he said. J&J set up a QuickFire Challenge targeted to historically underrepresented innovators, covering populations as defined by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
When Dr. Bridges led a team to set up this QuickFire Challenge for historically underrepresented communities, they received some initial resistance. J&J has since done several because they have proven successful both for the community and for J&J. In fact, he reported, the success was astounding. The first challenge received 181 applications, the third highest of all the QuickFires, with proposals for medical devices, digital health, consumer products, and pharma. “This was a wakeup call for everyone, including those of us who pushed for it—we tapped into an unmet need,” he said. Companies owned by Black men and Black women, non-Black women, and Latinos receive a tiny percentage of venture capital. He added that J&J’s QuickFire encouraged others to make similar investments.
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1 For more information, see https://jnjinnovation.com/innovation-challenges.
DISCUSSION OF CAREER TRAJECTORIES
Dr. Henry commented on the common themes across the presentations about the importance of passion and vision, but also that the world is tough and can squash creative competence. He noted some of the suggestions to help Black students and new employees to remove roadblocks, why mentoring is important, and the need to weather the storm and sometimes stumble. Those already in the workforce must be visible and reach out, he commented. Dr. Enane-Anderson agreed and said it is important to be available to young people, no matter one’s corporate level. P&G’s boot camp is one way to intentionally grow talent. A network of Black Ph.D.’s helps in leveraging strengths, not focusing on weaknesses.
Dr. Bridges noted that with all that companies are doing, there is more to achieve. J&J, for example, has about 1,500 people who are vice presidents and higher, but only 45 or 50 are African American. His current employer, CorVista, is doing well in this regard but it is small. Another issue to consider for SEM careers is that most companies are not as large as those represented on the panel, and there is a need for initiatives for smaller companies that, taken together, are the largest employers in the country.
Dr. Small commented that the more diverse the staff, the more innovation results. Diversity of thought and experience is important. She related that some people caution her against being too aggressive, but “to make change, you must be heard. That is how to move medicine ahead.”
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES—SHIFTING CULTURES
Professional societies in SEM fields are active in offering opportunities to K–12 students, supporting undergraduate and graduate students, and strengthening the pathways of SEM professionals.2 Dr. Bridges moderated a session to explore the role that these societies serve in setting and shifting norms to better support Black students in SEM. Presenters were David Acosta, M.D. (Association of American Medical Colleges [AAMC]), Favour Nerrise (National Society of Black Engineers [NSBE]), and Iris Wagstaff, Ph.D. (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS]).
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2 This discussion features a limited number of perspectives represented and may not include the full range of national professional societies and organizations, many of which provide professional guidance and standards.
Association of American Medical Colleges
Dr. Acosta began with a quotation from former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg upon receiving the Radcliffe Medal: “Fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”3 He suggested this idea can be a model for professional societies that want to better support Black students entering their fields but may not know how.
As context, Dr. Acosta pointed out that, according to AAMC data, there were 1,410 Black male applicants and 542 matriculants to U.S. medical schools in 1978. In 2021, there were 1,895 applicants and 813 matriculants. He stressed the importance of disaggregated data to move forward, in this case to look at Black males who are U.S. born. There has been growth, but it has been glacial, he commented, with a lot of data to try to explain the “leaky pipeline” (e.g., AAMC, 2015; Alexander et al., 2009; Barr et al., 2008; Freeman et al., 2016; Meyers et al., 2018). “This is the framework for the additional research needed to call out the structural inhibitors embedded within the academy that have contributed to continued challenges and leaks,” Dr. Acosta said.
AAMC Strategic Action Plan
AAMC has looked at the literature to push forward, using a systems-based approach “to ask the questions that have not been asked,” Dr. Acosta explained. The Strategic Action Plan for diversifying the physician workforce has five goals—capacity building for pathway programs, learner-focused needs assessment, creating and enhancing resources, providing resources for holistic admissions and integrated holistic student services, and participating in an AAMC/National Medical Association (NMA) collaborative on Black men in medicine. Activities include a tracking registry, community of practice, survey, and listening sessions, aimed at grade 6 through medical residency. The AAMC/NMA collaborative is working toward systemic solutions to increase the representation and success of Black men interested in medicine.4 A steering committee comprises subject matter experts around the country. He suggested the need to involve new actors, including the K–12 community, social science and higher education researchers, and hospital organizations.
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3 Radcliffe Day, May 29, 2015, Harvard Radcliffe Institute.
4 “A Healthier Future for All: The AAMC Strategic Plan.” AAMC, www.aamc.org/about-us/strategic-plan/healthier-future-all-aamc-strategic-plan.
As Dr. Acosta pointed out, “Data can help achieve transformational change by influencing, shifting, and setting new norms. In medicine and science in particular, data drives change.” He called for organized medicine and science to collaborate and standardize data categories and methods of data collection to strengthen the ability to conduct ongoing, rigorous racial equity audits, as well as strengthen the ability to monitor disaggregated data to understand the unique needs of individuals and their disciplines.5
Working with Professional Societies
AAMC is now involved in a data collaborative across the workforce continuum. The hope, Dr. Acosta said, is to understand the data behind each specialty and subspecialty. Professional societies need to define the demographics of their members and their disciplines and then publish results. Some specialties and subspecialties (e.g., obstetrician-gynecologists, ophthalmologists, pediatric anesthesiologists, and cardiologists) have done this and can share their methodology and results. This information will provide the foundation to develop action plans. He offered AAMC assistance to societies and to investigators in collecting and analyzing data.6 “Societies should be intentional. They need to identify medical student and graduate student interest early,” he said. He suggested societies partner with AAMC and with the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education. Another resource is Building the Next Generation of Academic Physicians, which among other efforts conducts regional seminars to encourage trainees to consider academic medicine careers, with emphasis on people underrepresented in medicine (Sanchez, 2020). He also suggested that professional societies establish a presence to be visible and welcoming to all learners. AAMC has worked with many societies as they do this work, helping monitor demographic data, setting up mentorship and sponsorship opportunities, conducting mock video interviewing, and participating in health career fairs.
The challenges in the learning and workplace environment faced by graduate and medical students, residents, and faculty are well known, but the important piece is how to address them, Dr. Acosta said. AAMC has
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5 An October 2021 review article by Dr. Acosta and David Skorton, M.D. and CEO of the AAMC, described the call for racial equity in medical education and health care; American Journal of Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2021.04.034.
6 See https://www.aamc.org/data-reports. To request data, see https://www.aamc.org/request-aamc-data.
documented mistreatment. For example, in a 2021 survey, 40.3 percent of respondents reported they had personally experienced at least one of 17 mistreatment behaviors against them; worse yet, few report the problem out of fear of reprisal (AAMC, 2015).
The AAMC Action Plan 3 has a goal to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in academic medicine.7 Culture and climate assessment tools are used at different levels. As he explained, ground level and tier 1 measures gather the lived experience of people through a nine-question survey, scorecard, and guide to how to interpret the results. At the tier 2 level, 109 deans are participating in an institutional assessment. Beyond measuring, interventions are needed. These interventions include unconscious bias/microaggression train-the-trainer; restorative justice; allyship and responding to microaggressions through bystander intervention; and addressing and eliminating racism at the AAMC, in academic medicine, and beyond.
National Society of Black Engineers
Favour Nerrise considers her involvement and leadership with NSBE as a transformational experience in her development as an engineer. She has been active in NSBE since age 10 and has experienced STEM through NSBE as a K–12, undergraduate, and now graduate student. (See also Chapter 2 for Ms. Nerrise’s journey to her doctoral work at Stanford University.)
NSBE’s mission is to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively affect the community.8 It was founded in 1975 at Purdue University by six Black engineers called the “Chicago Six.” Five of them are still alive and involved. NSBE has since grown to become the largest student-governed organization in the world, with more than 600 chapters and 24,000 members. Leadership is decentralized so that, according to Ms. Nerrise, each region has its own culture and sponsors can localize their efforts to work with a particular region. NSBE has birthed hundreds of businesses, trained thousands of engineers, graduated tens of thousands of engineers, and engaged hundreds of thousands of K–12 students, she
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7 For more information, see https://www.aamc.org/about-us/strategic-plan/action-plan-3-equip-medical-schools-and-teaching-hospitals-and-health-systems-become-more-inclusive.
8 For more information on NSBE’s mission and principles, see https://www.nsbe.org/.
said. NSBE provides opportunities related to leadership, technical excellence, and academic excellence.
Game Change 2025
Through Game Change 2025,9 NSBE has set a goal to increase the number of Black engineering graduates to reach 10,000 annually by 2025. In 2015, there were 3,501; in 2020, the number had increased to 5,950. The five pathways to achieve these goals align with the structure of the organization: Ready (precollegiate engagement), Set (collegiate scholastic achievement), Go (professional advancement), Brand (growing NSBE’s reputation and caliber), and Grow (strategic investments in NSBE’s future sustainability). Activities include engagement with community colleges, a campus road show, and development of the first research and technical journal for Black engineers. Internationally, she noted, NSBE is helping Black engineers and students in Ukraine, and an NSBE affiliate in Ghana is large and growing. An assessment of NSBE members who work in Fortune 500 companies to understand their experiences and how NSBE can support them will be undertaken.
Other NSBE Opportunities
Precollege NSBE programs include SEEK (Summer Engineering Experience for Kids), do-it-yourself kits that children can work on with parents or other adults, and NSBE Jr. chapters. For college students, a huge issue that has been identified is retention through the “weed-out” classes that characterize many engineering programs. Weekly meetings and other developmental activities support students. NSBE also sponsors the R.I.S.E. (Research and Development, Innovative Thinking, Social Emergence and Excel) initiative, which focuses on social justice; a mental health initiative; and mentorship. For professionals, NSBE has special interest groups, professional development, training and certifications, and conferences.
Through Game Change 2025, NSBE provides a dashboard with data on Black STEM professionals.10 Policy efforts include input into the California Mathematics Framework and support for other communities, including condemning violence against the Asian American/Pacific Islander
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9 See https://gamechange2025.nsbe.org/.
10 The dashboard is available at http://gamechange2025.nsbe.org.
community in the United States and supporting women and children in Afghanistan and Haiti. NSBE’s rebrand is looking ahead, organized around #TheNext50 for the next 50 years.
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Dr. Wagstaff described the Inclusive STEMM Ecosystems for Equity and Diversity (ISEED) program at AAAS. Dr. Wagstaff is the principal investigator on four grants funded by NSF as part of this $15 million portfolio. Dr. Wagstaff noted that AAAS has a history and role in creating equitable education and culture as the oldest and largest general science organization in the world (founded in 1848 and now with 200,000 members worldwide). She noted the AAAS mission is to “advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.” DEI programs include Entry Point!, SEA Change, IF/THEN Ambassadors, and L’Oréal USA Fellowships for Women in Science.11
Emerging Researchers National Conference
Focusing on Black students and professionals, Dr. Wagstaff highlighted the Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM, supported by NSF, which is AAAS’s second-largest gathering after its annual meeting. About 1,200 faculty and 1,000 students participate, with the goals to prepare a diverse cadre for global careers in STEM, hone science communication skills, provide a platform for professional development and networking, and support community, science identity, and a sense of belonging in STEM. It consists of an education and career fair, student and faculty professional development workshops, and student oral and poster research presentation competitions. From 2011 through 2020, ERN involved more than 7,000 students from 230 institutions. Greater than 80 percent of the participants are underrepresented minorities, and ERN often provides them their first opportunity to present to a large audience. AAAS, with the help of an external advisory board from academia, industry, and federal science agencies, wants to broaden participation and is reviewing who is submitting and participating in webinars.
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11 For information on these programs, see https://www.aaas.org.
HBCU Making and Innovation Initiative
The HBCU Making and Innovation Initiative started in 2018, and Dr. Wagstaff said the initiative is being expanded. The overall goal is to support HBCU students and faculty in their innovation, entrepreneurship, and invention efforts. It involves a national showcase, as well as virtual monthly engagements, e-mentoring and coaching, and a toolkit to support the showcase cohorts, all aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; United Nations, 2015). The 2022 showcase cohort involved 241 students and 83 faculty from 32 HBCUs. Their ideas addressed 12 of the 17 UN SDGs.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts
AAAS has also been involved with other public-facing DEI efforts, said Dr. Wagstaff. They include SEA Change, led by Roundtable member Shirley Malcom, Ph.D.12 AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh, Ph.D., joined AAAS in 2020 with a strong focus on equity. In 2020, AAAS produced its first DEI report. It identified and assessed demographic representation, stakeholders, and gaps. It is designed to keep AAAS accountable to its goals and to lift the work throughout the organization to empower staff to lead DEI efforts. These include diversity training, hiring of a diversity manager to support work throughout AAAS, and setting an equity-focused theme for the 2023 AAAS meeting. Dr. Wagstaff noted that the current AAAS president is Roundtable member Gilda Barabino, Ph.D.
DISCUSSION OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
Dr. Bridges asked Dr. Acosta about the statistics related to the number of U.S.-born Black males in medicine. Dr. Acosta noted that AAMC started to disaggregate these data in 2013 and looks at four groups: U.S.-born, African descent from the Caribbean, African-born, and others. Without this disaggregation, it would not have been seen that out of 22,000 medical students, only 254 were U.S.-born African American men. Most of the growth in Black matriculants has been among women and students from other countries. This disaggregation has allowed a deeper dive to look at pathways and practices but also to take a different stance at structural racism and how it has played out, Dr. Acosta said. It is important to identify the manifestations that have
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12 For more information, see https://seachange.aaas.org/.
influenced policies and processes, as they affect hiring, enrollment, and admissions. In response to a question from workshop planning committee co-chair Louis Sullivan, M.D., Dr. Acosta said some international Black students are in the upper income quintile, which is reflective of all medical students. He suggested the next phase of research should look at where these students are practicing and the specialties they choose.
Ms. Nerrise said NSBE is working to collect and analyze disaggregated data on engineers, including U.S.-born and non-U.S.-born, and will share it on the Game Change 2025 dashboard. Dr. Bridges brought up several organizations focused on technology opportunities for noncollege graduates, such as the Year Up program and OneTen, which aims to place 1 million Black adults in the tech industry over the next 10 years.13 He noted that the tech industry offers opportunities for success without a college degree, such as through training, certifications, and boot camps. Ms. Nerrise also called attention to the 50K Coalition, which aims to produce 50,000 diverse engineers graduating annually by 2025.14
REFERENCES
AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges). 2015. Altering the Course: Black Males in Medicine. https://store.aamc.org/altering-the-course-black-males-in-medicine.html.
Alexander, C., E. Chen, and K. Grumbach. 2009. How leaky is the health career pipeline? Minority student achievement in college gateway classes. Academic Medicine 84(6):797–802. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181a3d948.
Barr, D. A., M. Gonzalez, and S. F. Wanat. 2008. The leaky pipeline: Factors associated with early decline in interest in pre-medical studies among under-represented minority undergraduate students. Academic Medicine 83:503–511.
Freeman, B. K., A. Landry, R. Trevino, D. Grande, and J. Shea. 2016. Understanding the leaky pipeline: Perceived barriers to pursuing a career in medicine or dentistry among underrepresented-in-medicine undergraduate students. Academic Medicine 91:987–993. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000001020. PMID: 26650673.
Meyers L. C., A. M. Brown, L. Moneta-Koehler, and R. Chalkley. 2018. Survey of checkpoints along the pathway to diverse biomedical research faculty. PLOS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190606.
Sanchez, J. (ed.). 2020. Succeeding in Academic Medicine: A Roadmap for Diverse Medical Students and Residents. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
United Nations. 2015. The UN Sustainable Development Goals. United Nations, New York. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/summit/.
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13 For more information, see Year Up training (https://www.yearup.org/) and OneTen (https://oneten.org/).
14 For more information, see https://50kcoalition.org/.
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