Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation and National Medical Fellowships Launch Program to Help Increase Diversity and Inclusion

The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation and National Medical Fellowships have announced that they have entered into a partnership aimed at improving diversity in clinical trials. Leveraging $100 million of the previously announced commitment from Bristol Myers Squibb and the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation to diversity and inclusion, the partnership will develop a program to extend the reach of clinical trials into underserved patient populations in urban and rural U.S. communities, training and developing 250 new clinical investigators who are racially and ethnically diverse or who have a demonstrated commitment to increasing diversity in clinical trials.

“Clinical research is necessary to generate evidence demonstrating the efficacy and safety of new treatments,” said Robert Winn, MD, Director, Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, who is serving as chair of the national advisory committee of the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation Diversity in Clinical Trials Career Development Program. “While the patient response to medical therapies may differ across racial and ethnic subgroups, clinical trials often fail to represent the demographic diversity of the populations that these products aim to serve. I am proud to serve as an advisor to this program, which will support improvements toward diverse representation in clinical research and promote health equity.”