CLS partners with broad stakeholders to open doors for students from marginalized communities to career opportunities and leadership in the life sciences and helping to diversify the industry’s talent pipeline.
For a third year, CLS will be a host sponsor of Kits Cubed’s annual STEM Fair for Bay Area students, a fun afternoon of science demos and fun activities.
Kits Cubed gives away 1,000 of their self-designed science kits to Oakland Unified School District Elementary students and champions future scientists introducing youth to the wonders of science.
SD2 connects underrepresented students to the power of STEM by providing access to education, mentorship, and the resources they need to lead the talent workforce. Their network of advocates and community leaders supports students in building and navigating a roadmap to success. With the support of STEM companies throughout San Diego, SD2 gives untapped, diverse high school and college students the opportunity to pursue a career in STEM—through mentorships, internships, scholarships, and professional development.
CLS and Thrive Scholars have launched a collaboration agreement to widen the pool of high-achieving, diverse talent in the life sciences industry in California. Through Thrive Scholars programming, we strive to support high-achieving students of color from economically under-resourced communities excel in STEM careers and gain the market-relevant skills needed to excel in the life sciences industry. Together, CLS and Thrive Scholars will focus on community impact and program engagement to help Thrive enroll 150+ new California Scholars in its program in 2024 with the goal of serving 1000+ California Scholars by 2029.
Meet Our Cultural Solutions Partners
ion Learning is the platform for the life sciences industry that transforms the way connections happen at work
Reveles pioneers representation via equity-driven, decentralized clinical trials
Slone Partners delivers the leaders who build amazing and diverse life sciences and healthcare organizations
The Leadership Edge strengthens the collective talent of people in life science companies
Inclusive Leadership: Embracing inclusion for collective success
On February 29th, CLS hosted our inaugural Inclusive Leadership Symposium: Leading the Change – Embracing Inclusion for Collective Success. Over 100 industry leaders gathered in San Francisco to foster profound transformations within their organizations through the lens of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Panelists discussed a variety of topics during the symposium including: traits to being an inclusive leader, the importance of opening doors to generate new opportunities for people, historical health disparities within diverse communities, how health and health-adjacent organizations can play a role in advancing equity for underserved communities, the importance of influencing systems within an organization, and ways to debias processes that are barriers to success for diverse startups.
Diversity in Entrepreneurship: Leveling the playing field for entrepreneurs
California Life Sciences (CLS) and Sterling Bay proudly launched the Playbook for Accelerating and Incubating Life Sciences Entrepreneurs. Diverse life sciences entrepreneurs often lack access to the resources of accelerators and incubators. And barriers for underrepresented founders exist most profoundly at the early stages of venture creation. This playbook offers actionable solutions for accelerators and incubators to level the playing field and successfully launch more life sciences companies led by diverse founders.
Download the Playbook
FAST MedTechColor Track: The CLS/ MedTech Color collaboration stems from a mutual desire to advance the representation of persons of color in the medical device industry by supporting founders through funding and mentorship from industry leaders.