Achieving Diversity and Inclusion in Oncology Clinical Trials

Adrelia Allen, PharmD, is a 22-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry working in sales and clinical research at Merck. She has held positions of increasing experience as a Clinical Research Associate, Clinical Trial Project Manager, and Clinical Research Manager (CRM). She is currently the Executive Director of Clinical Trial Patient Diversity, where she is responsible for the strategy and execution of activities for the diverse representation of patients in clinical trials. Dr Allen has a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy.

Karen Peterson is the Founder and Chief Patient Advocate of Karen’s Club, Ms Peterson was inspired to help other patients of color, understand the complex and sometimes skeptical world of clinical trials.  A Stage IV Triple Negative Breast cancer survivor, Ms Peterson is also a founding member of the Patient Community Council at Foundation Medicine, a consultant for Blue Note Therapeutics and a Cancer Research Institute- Immuno Advocate.  Ms Peterson was the featured patient speaker at the Biden Cancer Initiative’s 2019 presentation at ASCO, and the 2020 Inaugural AACR Cancer Disparities Progress Report presented to Congress.  Her inspiring story has been shared with Cure, Essence, Health and People magazines as well as ABC Radio Networks “Perspective” and The Today Show.  Lastly, Ms Peterson successfully completed the exclusive 2021 Robin Hood/Blue Ridge Labs Fellowship Program, where she co-created (with her partner Nava Friedman) the highly anticipated advocacy platform https://www.karensclub.org/

Chétna Rao, PhD serves as the head of Site Strategy and Operations for Bristol Myers Squibb’s Redwood City and San Francisco sites, where she manages operations in multiple cross-functional business areas including finance, accounting and administration. She also leads Diversity & Inclusion initiatives for these two Bay Area sites, where she is focused on building a diverse workforce and fostering an inclusive culture. Dr Rao holds a seat on Bristol Myers Squibb’s STEM Council, which guides the company’s approach to supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. She has also been instrumental in launching the company’s STEM program in the Bay Area. In California, Bristol Myers Squibb supports local initiatives from kindergarten through graduate school to help expose students to STEM subjects, ignite and sustain their curiosity for science, and provide resources to help them pursue academic and career interests in STEM. The program aims to nurture the next generation of scientists while also providing access to equal opportunities for students from historically excluded communities who have a passion for science. Dr Rao joined Bristol Myers Squibb in 2009 and has more than 20 years of experience in the world of drug discovery, in antibody drug conjugation, antibody discovery, protein chemistry and biotechnology. She has a well-established scientific record, with more than 20 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and more than 25 global patents.Dr Rao earned her PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Florida, where she earned the Best Thesis Award from the College of Medicine. She worked as a post-doctoral scientist at the University of Florida and the University of California, Davis.

Michel Reid joined the Global Demographics & Diversity team in April and has been serving as the Interim head since late June. Under his leadership, Mr Reid has been instrumental to promote health equity and to help improve health outcomes for a diverse population of underrepresented patients. Mr Reidl’s team supports the entire GSK R&D portfolio (medicines and vaccines) to enhance diversity in clinical trials to ensure GSK delivers against corporate ESG objectives while remaining ambitious for patients He also is leading a publication on behalf of GSK to share demographic data for GSK clinical trials over the past 10 + years. Prior to this role, Mr Reid served as a Director in the GSK US Pharmaceuticals Commercial Insights team with specific focus in Vaccines. There, he was responsible for leading the design and execution of purpose-built market analysis and market research, producing innovative insights that continue to drive the commercial organization.Before joining GSK in 2018, Mr Reid spent over 15 years in marketing agencies and consultancy, providing business strategy, and communications design, strategy and analysis for clients in a variety of industries and across a wide range of pharmaceutical therapeutic areas and customer types. Mr Reid lives in Burlington, NJ with his wife Jennifer and three daughters, Azarin, Bonnie, and Piper. Talk to him about cars, computers, or cryptocurrencies, as those are his favorites.

Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, is the Director of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the John H Glick, MD, Abramson Cancer Center’s Director Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine. He is Vice Dean for Cancer Programs at PSOM and Vice President of Cancer Programs for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. He serves as Lead Physician for the Cancer Service Line of the Health System. Dr Vonderheide graduated from the University of Notre Dame (Chemical Engineering) and obtained his DPhil in immunology from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General and a fellowship in medical oncology at the Dana Farber. As an NIH-funded investigator at Penn Medicine, Dr Vonderheide directs a research team focused on cancer immunology and immunotherapy. He has published more than 160 peer-reviewed manuscripts with senior-author papers in high-impact journals such as Science, Nature, Cancer Cell, and the New England Journal of Medicine. He is well-known for deciphering the immune mechanisms of CD40 activation in cancer and directing clinical trials of novel immunotherapy. Nationally, he is a member of the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisers, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Board of Directors, and serves as Deputy Editor of Cancer Immunology Research. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (serving on the ASCI council from 2014-2017) and American Association of Physicians. As Vice Dean for Cancer Programs, he is responsible for setting the vision for the Cancer Center, securing funding and resources, facilitating team-based transdisciplinary research, and decision-making on scientific policy, strategic directions, and investments. He oversees Abramson Cancer Center’s Research Programs and Shared Resources, and the Cancer Center’s systems for Clinical Protocol and Data Management, Community Outreach and Engagement, Cancer Education and Training, and Administration.