Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) and Shift Health are pleased to present ‘Building an Inclusive Life Sciences Future’, a series of workshops aimed at developing a vision and action plan for inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA) within Canada’s life sciences ecosystem.
Stakeholders across the life sciences sector have publicly committed to embedding IDEA within their organizations. While progress has been made, initiatives are often fragmented, limited in scope and inconsistently applied across the sector. There is a need for coordinated, sector-wide, action-oriented strategies and approaches critical to embedding IDEA within organizational practices, cultures, and research and innovation systems. A commitment to embedding IDEA within the ecosystem today will enable a stronger and more competitive Canada in the future.
Click here to view the summary report for “Workshop 1: Uncovering Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Challenges to Drive Action in Ontario’s Life Sciences Sector”
LSO and Shift Health hosted the first BILSF workshop on December 2nd, 2021, bringing the life sciences community together to align on key IDEA challenges within the sector. The outputs of this workshop will be built upon through ongoing engagement with the life sciences community, with the ultimate goal of developing a plan that defines actions that stakeholders in the sector can undertake to address the sector’s most pressing IDEA challenges.
Workshop 2: Exploring How to Address Inconsistent Views about the Importance of IDEA in Canada’s Life Sciences Sector
Date: Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023
Time: 12:00pm – 3:00pm EDT
Virtual Workshop
Inspired by the outputs of the inaugural BILSF workshop in late 2021, Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) and Shift Health are hosting their 2nd virtual workshop through Building an Inclusive life Sciences Future—a community-led initiative established to bring the life sciences community together to define a vision and an action plan for inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) in Canada’s life sciences ecosystem.
This workshop will convene diverse stakeholders from across the sector to share knowledge, tools, and approaches that can be deployed to support Canadian life sciences organizations—especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—with making greater progress toward IDEA.
Workshop participants will have the opportunity to:
- Hear from senior leaders of large and small life sciences organizations about the benefits of prioritizing IDEA, including opportunities to attract diverse talent to strengthen Canada’s innovation potential.
- Learn how public and private funders/investors consider IDEA when making and monitoring investment decisions.
- Participate in interactive activities (e.g. polling, speaker Q&As) to support the early stages of developing an action plan that will be used to guide sector stakeholders in supporting SMEs in advancing IDEA.
Speakers include:
- Andrea Palmer, CEO & Co-founder, Awake Labs
- Bowen Tang, Engagement Manager, Cochlear Canada ; President, International Federation of Hard of Hearing Young People
- Dahabo Ahmed-Omer, Executive Director, BlackNorth Initiative
- Dozie Amuzie, Head, JLABS Canada
- Elizabeth Douville, President & CEO, IRICoR; Chair, Genome Canada
- Jackie Ottmann, President, First Nations University of Canada
- Karine Grand’Maison, Vice-President, Access and Government Relations, Pfizer Canada
- Reg Joseph, CEO, Health Cities
- Ryan Wiley, President, Shift Health
- Sarah Jacklin, Regional Counsel, Stryker Canada
- Shafiq Vallani, Partner & Investment Director, TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good
- Wendy Cukier, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Toronto Metropolitan University; Founder, The Diversity Institute
…and more to be announced!
The workshop will take place on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023 from 12:00pm-3:00pm EDT. If you’re interested in attending, please register for the event by clicking the button below:
Or email Brian Craig at brian@lifesciencesontario.ca. We will be in touch with registrants with further details closer to the event date. Thank you and we hope that you will be able to join in this important dialogue.
Meet the Steering Committee
Click here to meet the BILSF Steering Committee
Partner Organizations
Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) is a not-for-profit organization that represents and promotes Ontario’s vibrant and diverse life sciences sector. Members of LSO include life sciences companies, entrepreneurs, members of academia, and service providers from many different areas of the life sciences ecosystem, including biopharmaceuticals, agriculture, agri-food, the bioeconomy, medical devices, animal health, environmental technologies, and more. Ultimately, LSO’s mission is to encourage commercial success throughout this diverse sector by collaborating with governments, academia, industry and other life sciences organizations in Ontario and across Canada. For more information, visit lifesciencesontario.ca.
Shift Health brings a science mindset to strategy consulting for the health research and innovation ecosystem. Working with governments, academia, industry, not-for-profits, healthcare providers and patient partners across Canada and around the world, Shift Health is helping to create the future of healthcare. For more information, visit: shifthealth.com.
As part of the world’s largest and most broadly-based healthcare company (comprised of Consumer Health, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices), we are committed to using our reach and size for good every day. For more information, visit: jnjcanada.com
Co-sponsored by LSO and Shift Health, Building an Inclusive Life Sciences Future has also received generous support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.