Creating Higher Educational Pipelines in Biotechnology that addresses Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Biotech is a cornerstone to serving the world’s health-related needs for all demographics; but in the United States, the industry’s workforce does not reflect the demographics it serves, to the detriment of both the field and the US population. African Americans, other historically underserved marginalized populations and females are particularly under-represented in the industry. To ameliorate these disparities, Morehouse School of Medicine, a historically black medical school created a five-week summer pipeline program, “Bridges to Biotechnology & Bioentrepreneurship” (B2BB). This first-of-its-kind online program provides under-represented students from around the globe with exposure and first-hand training to advance their careers in the biotechnology industry and/or start their own bioventures. In this session, I will discuss how to create a pipeline to help address these disparities which include having industry led partnerships.