From common barriers to cultural competence: the New York Race in STEM roundtable
From common barriers to cultural competence: the New York Race in STEM roundtable
The latest Race in STEM roundtable took place in our New York office on Wednesday 13th March 2024. Founder and community director Steven Fuller was joined by a panel of Bu Reinen, Zahir Carrington, Netra Macon, Smadar Dabush, Tamara Grow and Shetal Vyas, who discussed the common barriers faced by people from minority ethnic backgrounds pursuing STEM careers, and how organisations can promote cultural competence among staff and leadership.
The need for greater diversity in STEM careers
Employee resource groups (ERGs) can be important for creating a diverse environment, providing a safe space for people with shared characteristics to support each other and influence organisational policy. Tamara Grow, who’s been working in medical communications for 20 years, has met only a few people of colour within her niche throughout her career.
The business case for diversity
“It’s not a case of saying you want a diverse culture, it needs to be built correctly through inclusivity,” said Shetal Vyas, a general manager in the pharmaceuticals industry. Smadar Dabush, a global clinical trial manager, spoke about the importance of being patient and sometimes accepting the imperfections of our environment. “It’s not a step backwards,” she said. “It’s a step to the side to find another way forward.”
Common barriers within STEM
Transferable skills are so important when it comes to getting into a new, and quite niche, field. Tamara felt that there’s great value in taking someone with a PhD in another space and training them to help transition their transferable skills into medcomms.
Cultural competence
We need to work hard to understand and respect differing values, attitudes and beliefs in order to communicate effectively with people of other cultures. “We can’t be out of sync with the optics,” said Steven Fuller, “but are some leaders more concerned about being seen to be committed to diversity, than genuinely understanding the value of an inclusive environment?”
Learn more about Race in STEM
Race in STEM is a community for underrepresented multicultural voices in STEM. If you’d like to find out more about Race in STEM or to talk to us about improving equality and diversity in your organisation, please get in touch below.
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