According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black and African American professionals make up only 8.7% of the pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing workforce. Furthermore, despite representing 20% of healthcare’s entry-level workforce, women of color only represent 5% of C-suite executives. The Black Healthcare & Medical Association (BHMA) is a global, independent, non-profit professional membership organization aimed at promoting deeper and broader professional contact, communication, and resource exchange among Blacks and African Americans in the healthcare ecosystem. In partnership with Ipsen, a global biopharmaceutical company, BHMA is excited to host an in-person networking session. The Community in Conversation Networking Event will begin with an opening speaker who will kick off a collective dialogue by discussing the representation of Black and African American professionals at all levels and sectors of the healthcare workforce. In addition to illuminating trends like the decrease of Black and African American representation between entry-level and executive-level jobs, the speaker will outline effective practices that foster DEI & belonging and how to integrate them into the foundation of healthcare organizations. Throughout the event, participants will engage in networking opportunities to connect with other Black & African-American professionals, allies, and representatives from Ipsen.

This educational program will explore the relationship between communities of color, who are often underrepresented in clinical trials, and diverse teams of principal investigators. The discussion will focus on how building diverse teams of healthcare professionals and clinical trialists may result in better clinical trial patient recruitment and overall trial success. A 2020 study indicated that only 23% of African Americans and 26% of Latin Americans have a physician that shares the same race or ethnicity, while for white Americans, that number is 82% (1). Moreover, research often shows that minority patients prefer to be treated by minority doctors, and racial concordance between patients and providers may lead to better health outcomes. For example, in an analysis of over 100,000 patient surveys from 2014 to 2017, a team of Penn Medicine researchers found that patients were more likely to give the maximum patient rating score when they shared the same racial or ethnic background as their physician (2). This educational program convenes a group of clinical trial experts to discuss how increasing diversity among the ranks of providers, principal investigators, and other clinical trial professionals may result improve clinical trial recruitment among communities of color. This program is in partnership with the Center for Healthcare Innovation.

As organizations commit to creating diverse and inclusive cultures, as well as supporting social justice initiatives, many are still struggling with internal inclusivity. A recent Urban Institute report indicated that 47% of all nonprofit hospital governing boards have zero racial or ethnic minorities, despite studies, such as the McKinsey Diversity Database, that directly point to a strong correlation between more diverse teams and overall financial performance. This webinar is an in-depth discussion about why diversity at the top leadership levels of organizations is particularly important, as well as how to build diverse and inclusive boardrooms and c-suites that are more representative of U.S. patients.

As the global COVID-19 pandemic has gripped the world, alarming health inequities have emerged. According to the American Diabetes Association, the rates of diabetes for African American and Hispanic adults are 11.7% and 12.5% respectively, compared to just 7.5% for whites. This webinar brings together leading diabetes experts to discuss systemic inequities and social determinants of health that make communities of color more susceptible to diabetes, as well as best practices to addresses these disparities.