By Minita Shah-Mara | Vice President Organization Effectiveness and Global Diversity & Inclusion at Biogen
Multimedia with summary
Introducing BIIG!
Only 2.6% of total VC funding in 2020 went to Black and Latinx founders and funding for female founders hit its lowest quarterly total in three years. Let that sink in: less than 3% of total VC funding went to Black and Latinx founders (in a country where over 30% of the US population is Black and/or Latinx). Black Lives Matters brought to the forefront inequities in society, which impacts startups.
Bioscience & Investor Inclusion Group (BIIG) founding members include Liftstream, New England Venture Capital Association, Third Rock Ventures, Biogen and BioDirector
Summary:
Coalition aims to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the life sciences venture capital industry and its associated portfolio companies
Members commit to developing solutions to increase participation among underrepresented groups and driving measurable change in the VC industry and among innovator companies
Press Release
Coalition aims to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the life sciences venture capital industry and its associated portfolio companies
Members commit to developing solutions to increase participation among underrepresented groups and driving measurable change in the VC industry and among innovator companies
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 12, 2020 /3BL Media/ – The American Public Health Association and Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) today announced that they are piloting a first-of-its-kind curriculum to equip high school students with the knowledge they need to take action on the urgent challenge of climate change and its effects on human health. The effort is designed to lay the groundwork to minimize the gap between science and health education.
Hong Gou had only been with Biogen for three months when she received a message from a former business school classmate. The classmate, who works at Netflix, submitted a proposal directly to CEO Reed Hastings for the media and production company to deposit its cash into minority-owned banks to promote economic empowerment. Now the classmate was encouraging similar action among his network.
“I wasn’t sure how to approach the idea,” said Gou, an Associate Director in the U.S. Alzheimer’s marketing team.
Over the past week as part of the new Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives ™ initiative, Biogen hosted a virtual Climate Week event with the Boston Globe that brought together leaders from multiple sectors to discuss the next generation of climate policy and protecting human health.
Climate change is a public health crisis that impacts everyone, but especially vulnerable populations. Massachusetts is on a path towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 but more needs to be done, and fast. COVID has shown the injustice of the pandemic and we know the equity gaps of the climate crisis. With the support of leading institutions like MIT and Harvard, and forward-looking companies like Biogen, Massachusetts can be effect real actions in the state and well-beyond and become a model for addressing climate change, with clear considerations to health for all populations.
After achieving carbon neutrality in 2014, Biogen further bolsters its action against climate change with the goal to become fossil fuel free by 2040 and initiates research collaborations with global leaders to help address the effects of fossil fuel-driven air pollution on health.
Air pollution, largely caused by fossil fuels, directly impacts climate change and contributes to nearly 9 million deaths annually with the most vulnerable suffering the greatest.
Foundational collaborations with MIT, the Harvard T.H. Chan School and World Business Council for Sustainable Development to create actionable strategies to identify necessary and achievable climate targets that improve human health outcomes, advance brain health research and support underserved communities.
Press Release
After achieving carbon neutrality in 2014, Biogen further bolsters its action against climate change with the goal to become fossil fuel free by 2040 and initiates research collaborations with global leaders to help address the effects of fossil fuel-driven air pollution on health.
Air pollution, largely caused by fossil fuels, directly impacts climate change and contributes to nearly 9 million deaths annually with the most vulnerable suffering the greatest.
Foundational collaborations with MIT, the Harvard T.H. Chan School and World Business Council for Sustainable Development to create actionable strategies to identify necessary and achievable climate targets that improve human health outcomes, advance brain health research and support underserved communities.
Moving money to Black-owned or Black-led financial institutions is officially a Fortune 500 trend. Biogen, the Boston-based biotech company working on a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, is depositing $10 million of its capital into OneUnited, a national Black-owned bank, the company said Thursday morning.
