'This is clearly about race, this is not about class': Biotech CEOs get personal about what it's like to be a Black leader in their industry and in America
- CEOs at two biotech companies spoke about their identity and leadership as black men at an industry conference on Thursday.
- Dr. Tony Coles, the CEO of Cerevel Therapeutics, and Dr. Ted Love, the CEO of Global Blood Therapeutics, reflected on their personal experiences with racism in the wake of a nationwide conversation about police brutality and systemic racism.
- "The only reason I am afraid when I get pulled over by a cop is because I know that cop sees me as a Black man," Love said as part of an hourlong conversation on diversity and the biotech industry at the BIO International Convention on Thursday.
Dr. Tony Coles and Dr. Ted Love have two different perspectives on their identities as Black CEOs leading biotech companies.
"I never wanted to be the Black CEO, because I simply wanted to be a CEO," Coles, the CEO of Cerevel Therapeutics said on Thursday. "I didn't think it was an unreasonable request of myself, of my colleagues, to just remain known for what I can do well and succeed on the basis of the achievements that the team and I could accomplish. But somehow our society didn't afford me that simple luxury."
Coles said the modifier is one he hasn't been able to escape, adding "It's confusing at best and insulting at worst, because I think we should all simply be known as the sum of our achievements."
To be sure, he said, being Black has helped him better understand what it's like to be a patient, both in his role as a doctor and as a biotech CEO.
Love has a different view on being known as a Black CEO.
'I've brought my authenticity to the job'
Love is the CEO of Global Blood Therapeutics, which has a treatment for sickle cell disease, a blood condition that predominantly impacts the Black community. After attending Yale University's School of Medicine, Love practiced internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital before a career in biotech working at companies like Genentech, Theravance, and Onyx Pharmaceuticals. He came out of retirement to join Global Blood Therapeutics as its CEO in 2014.
"I've actually reveled in being an African-American CEO," Love said. "I've brought my authenticity to the job. One of the complaints we used to hear about Obama was that he wasn't leading with his blackness at times, and people wanted that. I've really embraced being an African American."
That's translated over into the culture of the company, he said, which employs a high number of people of color.
Love and Coles spoke about their identity and leadership as part of an hourlong conversation on diversity and the biotech industry at the BIO International Convention on Thursday. They spoke on a panel with BIO CEO Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath and Ovid Therapeutics CEO Dr. Jeremy Levin.
'This is clearly about race'
McMurry-Heath became the CEO of BIO, the biotech industry's lobbying group on June 1. Prior to joining BIO, she served as an executive at Johnson & Johnson and was an official at the Food and Drug Administration. She was the first Black person to graduate with an MD-PhD from Duke University's Medical Scientist Training Program.
The conversation happened a day after the funeral of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis launched protests and a nationwide conversation about police brutality and systemic racism. It's happening at a time when an alarmingly disproportionate number of black Americans are dying from the novel coronavirus. The economic fallout caused by the pandemic meant that fewer than half of black Americans were employed as of April.
The panelists brought their personal experiences into the conversation, especially when addressing some of the questions McMurry-Heath said she'd gotten in response to the conversation about diversity in the industry, particularly questions like "Is this an issue of class and not race?"
The answer: "This is clearly about race, this is not about class," Love said.
In conversations with his employees, Love said he's made that clear.
"I've had a very good career but I cannot earn my way out of this oppression," Love recalled telling his employees. "I've educated at the best institutions in this country, but I cannot be educated out of this situation in America. I've been very generous with my money to charities and institutions around this country. I cannot 'good behavior' myself out of this situation."
A long career in biotech
"The only reason I am afraid when I get pulled over by a cop is because I know that cop sees me as a Black man," Love added.
For instance, he recalled one time being pulled over after purchasing a new BMW, with the officer skeptically remarking on how nice the car was.
"There's no class that can get me out of this," Love said.
Coles focuses on diseases of the central nervous system. In addition to Cerevel, he's the chairman and cofounder of Yumanity Therapeutics.
He's had a long career in biotech, previously running Onyx Pharmaceuticals until it sold to Amgen in 2013 and working as CEO of NPS Pharmaceuticals. He got his medical degree at Duke and trained in cardiology and internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital before going on to join the pharmaceutical company Merck.
Coles also recounted an incident while he was serving as the head of minority recruitment at Massachusetts General Hospital, a prestigious Boston medical center affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
At the time, he had approached the head of the hospital with a recommendation on how to get more minorities into the training program. The head of the hospital told Coles he was opposed to the recommendation and said that "If you do this I will castrate you," Coles recalled.
"The hallowed halls of MGH? And why would you use that particular language in the history of this particular country?" Coles said.