While many have felt the impact of the current environment, the members of UCB+, our employee resource group for the LGBTQ+ community and allies in UCB, recognize this time as an opportunity to lead. In commemoration of the 50th Atlanta Pride celebration, we’re pleased to share a little more about UCB+. 

UCB is proud to have scientists like Cierra Spencer, PhD, who are driven and share our vision to create an environment that encourages innovation, expertise, and #diversity. Cierra shares the story of how she found her passion for the pharmaceutical industry and some advice for other women in science as they pursue their career. 

As the nationwide shortage of rheumatologists continues, UCB would like to encourage the development of future Thought Leaders in key areas of unmet need. By creating additional training opportunities for current rheumatology fellows, UCB hopes specifically to increase women’s health expertise in the rheumatology community. This program will support the year-long training of up to three rheumatology fellows ($100,000 each) with a specialized focus on women’s health-related issues, specifically in the context of inflammatory diseases.  

UCB’s Iram Hasan, Senior Manager, Regulatory Affairs, understands the importance of being flexible and attributes the milestones in her career path to this mentality. Read more from Iram on how keeping an open mind led her to launching UCB’s first PharmD fellowship program in Global Regulatory Affairs (GRA).

UCB is committed to investing in STEM education across the U.S. because we recognize the important role of the biopharmaceutical industry to inspire and develop a sustainable and diverse STEM workforce now and in the future. With this, we also know there are many challenges teachers and students may face when developing STEM programs, especially during a pandemic. As such, UCB has looked for different approaches to expand our investment to better support them. 

As UCB continues to grow as a global company, the diversity and inclusivity of the culture continues to expand as well by creating new opportunities of connection both within and beyond UCB’s employee community. In commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month, UCB is proud to offer a new employee resource group (ERG), RAIZ, dedicated to the many Hispanic and Latino UCB colleagues. 

As a Senior Principal Data Scientist, Yuan Wang, PhD, uses her strength for uniting different people in her field to drive innovation at UCB, and encourages her team to value the importance of diversity in collaboration. Read her story. 

Last week, UCB researchers from across the country gathered virtually for the PhRMA Researcher Fly-In where more than 70 industry researchers engaged with Members of Congress. Read their stories. 

UCB and Aetion announced a new agreement to advance UCB’s use of real-world evidence (RWE) using rapid and robust analytics. 

At UCB, we know we need diverse perspectives and experiences to do our best work. Passionate scientists like Nikita, who exemplify our vision to embrace new knowledge and to work to discover meaningful solutions for patients, are a driving force for innovation at UCB. Stay tuned over the next few weeks to read stories from UCB women researchers who are pushing the boundaries of science.