BMS Pharma Collaborates With Black Colleges to Improve Pharma Resourcing

The pharmaceutical firm is working with five Colleges and universities in the U.S to create programs that will boost the recruitment of black talent in the pharma industry.  Bristol Myers Squib stated that black people account for 12% of the U.S adult population and only 7% of the pharma workforce is comprised of black people, and 3% of the pharma industry comprises executive teams.

Looking at the same, the company aims to bring up black population and equity in the pharma industry. The company has thus joined five historically black Colleges and universities (HBCUs) to create specialized recruitment programs. The five HBCU that has joined Bristol Myers Squibb are the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, North Carolina A&T University, Morgan State University, Howard University, and Florida A&M University. With the new deal with the Colleges, the company aims to build a diverse workforce.

Last year, BMS announced goals of increasing the diversity of its own workforce. The company is striving to double its executive representation of black and Hispanic employees in its U.S staff and also aiming to achieve gender equality at the executive level by 2022.

Through this collaboration with the HBCUs, the company will reach diverse talent and provide education and other support necessary for the students to achieve pharma career goals. It will facilitate career-focused workshops to recruit diverse talent. Additionally, it will organize programs with commercial leaders and faculty members and create customized curricula to help the students better prepare for pharma internships and other opportunities in the pharma industry.