Editorial Cite This: Org. Process Res. Dev. 2019, 23, 109−113
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Gender Diversity in Process Chemistry
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ecently, a viewpoint article in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters provided a status update on the positions and numbers of women in medicinal chemistry across the pharmaceutical industry.1 That article determined that women account for fewer than 20% of those who participate in professional medicinal chemistry activities. This estimate was based upon multiple parameters, including membership in professional organizations, authorship of medicinal chemistry journal articles, and representation in professional and leadership positions. The authors proposed that the reason for the low numbers is the so-called “leaky pipeline”,2 wherein growing numbers of women enter universities and industry to study science but then opt out at the later stages to pursue alternative careers, some of which are congruent with science while others are outside the discipline altogether. Given the close and symbiotic partnership between medicinal and process chemists in the development of new chemical entities within the pharmaceutical industry, we decided to conduct a similar analysis for women in the field of process chemistry to determine whether a comparable trend exists.3 Herein we present an analysis of the striking relevant data and provide a tactical blueprint toward changing the gender balance that we hope will enable us to achieve greater diversity within process chemistry and the broader synthetic organic chemistry community as a whole. The main challenge in completing an assessment of this type is obtaining quantitative numbers across different areas where process chemists would be engaged in order to determine the ratio of male to female scientists within the discipline, since this type of information is not tracked quantitatively and, unlike medicinal chemistry, there is no discrete professional organization or division dedicated to process chemists for correspondence or corroboration. However, by reaching out to our peers across the network, we were able to get qualitative data across a number of areas that allow us to provide directional information on this topic:
2. Women as corresponding authors. This was a very challenging number to obtain and required us to manually sort through the list of authors on publications in journals where we would expect process chemists to publish. The result has allowed us to provide directional information on this topic. Over the last five years, the percentage of female corresponding authors was determined to be in range of 4−18% for representative scientific journals, including Organic Process Research & Development (OPR&D), Organic Syntheses, The Journal of Organic Chemistry (JOC), and Organic Letters, each of the last two representing the subset of manuscripts specifically from process chemistry groups that had female corresponding authors, and an overall sample size of ∼50 papers.7 The number of women on editorial boards is also low, currently at 20−25% within JOC and OPR&D. However, through correspondence with the editor of the latter journal, we have helped to identify two new female editorial advisory board members. 3. Technical divisions. While there is no specific division within the American Chemical Society for process chemists, we chose to use the Organic Division (ORGN) numbers as a basis for this information, although we recognize that this information represents a broader subset of women across multiple disciplines and employment areas. Consistent with that captured in the Women in Medicinal Chemistry article,1 from 2013 to 2016, the number of women in ORGN was consistent at approximately 14%, increasing slightly to 16% in 2017. 4. Conferences. To ensure that we were capturing real-time demographics of the field, we sought to obtain information from conferences that have an emphasis on the field of process chemistry topics. Evaluation of attendance at Scientific Update’s Organic Process Research and Development conference series8 provided us a directional guide to the number of female attendees, although sometimes (as with the topics above) it can be challenging to distinguish between similar male and female names. However, completing a conservative estimate, the results are again very disappointing (shocking, actually) and indicate that between 2014 and 2017 the number of women attendees was on average 12%, with only 7% of speakers being female.9 Women are estimated to account for about 16% of the attendance Organic Reactions and Processes Gordon Research Conferences (GRCs) from 2006 to 2015. As in the case of the professional societies, these numbers reflect a mix from academia and industry. Overall, the numbers we have found for women in the field of process chemistry demonstrate a trend similar to that uncovered for women in medicinal chemistry,1 and these numbers are similar to the overall women in science statistics. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, in 2014 less than 30% of
1. Women in the f ield of process chemistry. Feedback from eight of our peer companies in large pharma indicated that, on average, approximately 20% of staff in process chemistry departments are women, with an overall range from 13 to 27%. What remains unaddressed in this information is the percentage of women with Ph.D. degrees. Furthermore, it fails to account for the roles and levels of experience of the women within these organizations.4 Qualitatively, we have observed that the majority of women in process chemistry roles are earlycareer scientists.5 We attribute this outcome to a high attrition rate for female talent (into largely nonchemistry roles), consistent with the “leaky pipeline”.6 It likewise implies that there exists a scarcity of women in leadership roles in process chemistry organizations, and among other things, there is a strong need for men in the field to assertively promote efforts to enable achievement of gender equity. © 2019 American Chemical Society
Published: February 15, 2019 109
DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.8b00378 Org. Process Res. Dev. 2019, 23, 109−113
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the world’s scientists employed in R&D were women.10 The “leaky pipeline”, as referenced above, also appears to be operational at each stage for women’s careers from university, graduate school, and final employment. As a result, the number of female process chemists disappointingly continues to hover at less than 20% of the field. We believe that this lack of gender balance fails to allow for a diversity of thought and skill sets that is invaluable with respect to driving innovation. The field of process chemistry is exciting! It is characterized by the evolving complexities of the chemical entities under development within the pharmaceutical industry and the integration of biological sciences that is enabling the development of new modalities (e.g., antibody−drug conjugates, peptides, siRNA). This progression permits the process chemist to engage in innovative science that can rapidly advance the development of new synthetic routes to multiple classes of molecules that can ultimately have a positive impact on our society. Our approach to science is evolving and requires collaboration and strong engagement with multidisciplinary teams of chemists, biologists, and engineers along with manufacturing, regulatory, and data scientists. While training in organic chemistry remains a prerequisite, the opportunity to expand one’s knowledge and take on new career development arcs is expanding exponentially through the application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation, and predictive modeling, which individually and collectively can serve to enhance our approach to identification and commercialization of new modalites to treat patients. With this evolution, and perhaps revolution, in the works, it is more critical than ever to be able to tap into the overarching value of gender diversity to enable these meteoric developments. In order to provide a successful blueprint for approaching the gender diversity challenge, it is first worthwhile to highlight what we believe to be some of the root causes of this persistent problem. In this context, we will not attempt to solve the “offramping”6b of women that is well-documented to occur around university time but will instead focus on the recruitment, retention, and progression of women in process chemistry careers. The themes below are consistent with information obtained from local focus groups and GRC Power Hours11 and informally in a variety of other settings and are not unique to process chemistry:
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1. Few women currently employed in process chemistry roles. This challenge speaks to recruitment. It is alternatively a virtuous or vicious cycle that the more women there are in an organization, the easier it becomes to hire more women. The question becomes how to get to a critical mass where the cycle transitions from vicious to virtuous. 2. Even fewer women in leadership roles. This challenge speaks to recruitment, retention, and progression. In addition to amplifying the hiring concerns related to limited exposure to female process chemists, the dearth of women in scientific leadership or managerial roles presents additional challenges: (a) women wanting to enter the field or early in their careers experience a scarcity of role models; (b) as a result, women are unable to see a future path for themselves; (c) leadership teams, which are responsible for setting the tone around behaviors and talent development in an organization, fail to benefit from different perspectives because of the absence of diversity, and in particular, a lack of awareness exists around gender diversity concerns and advocacy for change; (d) it is
particularly challenging to penetrate existing perceptions around the appearance of leadership, suggesting that as a result of unconscious biases, some of the unique and valuable skill sets exemplified by women may not be seen as embodying those representative of leaders.12 We are keenly aware of the critical roles we play in our respective companies and the fields of process and synthetic organic chemistry as a whole, and we have written this editorial as one element of a greater strategy to change the landscape. Lack of transparency around career development. This challenge speaks to retention and progression and is certainly not limited to women. In order to advance in any organization, an individual requires the right development opportunities (e.g., scientific centrality or participation on cross-functional teams). When career-advancing opportunities are secured, there is frequently a lack of coaching and constructive feedback that enables women to achieve their potential. Lack of sponsorship. This challenge speaks to retention and progression and is related to challenge no. 2 above. As Sheryl Sandberg aptly described in Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will To Lead,13 mentors are important, and sponsors are critical. Sponsorship14 may arise from both interactions involving science and informal, off-work interactions. Often the informal interactions strengthen co-worker bonds and lead to sponsorship in addition to the scientific interactions. Those who cannot or do not want to partake in these informal interactions (people with families, long commutes, or other interests) can miss out on sponsorship opportunities. Concerns around work/life balance. This challenge speaks to recruitment, retention, and progression. Process chemistry remains an intense, laboratory-based field. Questions around work/life balance exist for men and women, although there are definitive data that women bear a larger percentage of work at home than men.15 The field has not sufficiently evolved to account for changes in attitudes around work and how they are accomplished, and all too often leaders are susceptible to making assumptions about the opportunities that would be of interest to women at different stages of their lives. Failure to provide an inclusive environment. This challenge speaks to retention and progression and is a composite of many themes; it also ultimately feeds back into the recruitment challenge. While there are multiple scenarios of “off-ramping” from within the process chemistry community, an overarching cause remains a lack of inclusion. This experience is manifested in failure to hear female voices and either marginalization of females’ ideas or crediting of those ideas to others. The end result is the same, however, with women at best not feeling valued.
We have invested 28 “women years” to this exciting field and are committed to its continued success and growth.16 Engaging young women and introducing them into this venerated field are an overwhelming priority. As we compiled this editorial and reached out to a number of our colleagues across the industry to gain the information to support our assessment, we received tremendous support and encouragement from men and women with a demonstrated willingness to determine what we can all do to increase the interest of female chemists in pursuing a career in process chemistry. Our own and many of our peer companies are engaged in efforts to support careers for women in process 110
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chemistry, and below we provide an outline of some of those efforts and seek feedback on other areas where we can “bend the curve”:
colleagues Donna Huryn and Wendy Young and women leaders in the industry that is focused on engaging women who are starting their careers in industry in a more formal way. This impact will be achieved through engagement and mentoring programs with universities and meeting with students through seminars and presentions during recruiting forums, allowing the opportunity for networking and discussions on opportunities for women in the sciences. We are currently evaluating the opportunity for a research conference specifically for women that will bring together women from across the field to provide presentations and discuss the breadth of opportunities provided by this career path. Opportunities for breakout and career development sessions will also be provided. This conference, known as Empowering Women in Organic Chemistry (EWOC), will be similar to the graduate research symposium sponsored by ORGN but specifically focused on women and will take place on June 28, 2019, at the University of Pennsylvania. 4. Industry initiatives. A number of pharmaceutical companies have instituted Diversity & Inclusion initiatives aimed at building awareness around related issues and developing an inclusive culture that allows all employees, especially women, to achieve their full potential. There are a number of examples of successful programs in this area. For example, in 2003 Amgen established an organization known as Women Empowered to be Exceptional (WE2) that serves as a keystone for supporting Amgen as the best place for talent and empowers the women of Amgen to deliver exceptional results. This program addresses a number of the topics highlighted above and ensures that female leaders are visible and accessible to Amgen staff while also representing the external face of Amgen to its customers. The success of this effort has been significant, and over the past three years the number of women in senior management and represented on the board has almost doubled. This organization also has a significant mentoring program in which mentees, both male and female, contribute to staff engagement and staff development, fostering an environment where networking and exposure to upper management contribute to retention. These conversations have led to expansion of gender diversity topics and promoted themes to ensure that support for career-advancing assignments will be welldiscussed and dispensed even if this is disruptive to ongoing projects. Career development has remained a significant theme, specifically including transparent development conversations with employees to help them understand their personal goals and provide feedback and coaching regarding what is and is not feasible. Feedback on these efforts has been extremely positive, and for one of us (M.M.F.), who has been a recipient of this program as both a mentor and mentee, it has proven to be a valuable resource in career development. Similarly, Merck has a broader Merck Women’s Network and more local efforts in the form of “Women in Chemistry” groups at the different sites. These groups have regular meetings that feature relevant speakers and topical discussions and generally address some of the challenges women face in the chemistry profession. Furthermore, at the beginning of 2017, a series of Women in Chemistry roundtables were conducted to obtain critical feedback for an organizational action plan.
1. Support for women during their undergraduate and graduate careers. For many years, the ACS Women’s Chemist Committee (WCC) has partnered with industry to provide support for women during their undergraduate and graduate careers. Since 1989, Eli Lilly has offered travel awards to provide funding for female undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral chemists to travel to meetings to present the results of their research. This program has been very well received, and over the course of the last three decades more than 700 students have been recognized. Expanding these efforts, in 2016 Merck & Co., Inc. (Kenilworth, NJ, USA) established the WCC Merck Research Awards to recognize the accomplishments and potential of third- and fourth-year female graduate students. These awards include a symposium at the Fall ACS meeting at which all of the winners give oral presentations on their research. These and other related awards provide a valuable mechanism that enables female graduate students to gain broader scientific visibility in important national settings, thereby helping to develop the next-generation support network of female chemists and continuing to increase the participation of women in the chemical sciences. 2. Recruitment of women into the f ield of process chemistry. Active engagement of women in the recruiting process is critical to expanding the number of women in the field. For example, within the Merck process team, one of us (R.T.R.) has taken a lead role in recruiting efforts. The benefits of having women function in this capacity have been tangible: (1) candidates have direct contact with a female process chemist and, specifically, a female leader in the organization; (2) women ensure a balance of participation among genders in the recruiting process, both for university ambassadors and company interview teams; (3) women can speak to unconscious biases that may have historically contributed to a lack of gender diversity in hiring decisions; and (4) recruiting efforts can be coordinated with the externally facing pursuits documented above to help increase the size of the female candidate pool. Over the past five years, these efforts have contributed to an increase in the percentage of women hired into the Merck process group to 43%, from 16 different academic groups at 12 different institutions, including 10 where we have spent considerable time building relationships with students and faculty.17 There are three significant takeaways here from the standpoint of hiring female process chemists: (1) these relationships with academia are invaluable and are built over multiple years of engagement; (2) when attempting to diversify the workforce, it is critical to cast a wider net to provide greatest access to academic talent; and (3) the ability to retain these women in the field requires our active mentorship, engagement, and sponsorship throughout their careers, and we must provide them with the necessary opportunities to receive both internal and external recognition for their accomplishments. 3. Supporting women in establishing their careers in the pharmaceutical industry. A future opportunity is being developed in collaboration with our medicinal chemistry 111
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Now, nearly two years later, this effort has evolved into a broader Diversity & Inclusion initiative that is intended to help all chemistry employees bring their full selves to work. Critically, the change is palpable: conversations about bias, the development of diverse (and especially female) talent, and how to continue to evolve the culture to be more inclusive are now commonplace, accompanied by the requisite actions to bring the latter two items to fruition. 5. Providing opportunities to recognize women’s contributions to the pharmaceutical industry. Identifying opportunities for women in process chemistry to be known and available to present quality research at both national and international conferences provides not only the opportunity for recognition but also valuable inspiration to future and early-career female process chemists. We have received tremendous support from Scientific Update, which will be hosting an Organic Process Research and Development conference in the coming year that will focus on female contributions, at which a number of distinguished women in the field will present. To support this initiative, a LinkedIn group for Women in Process Chemistry and a Twitter hashtag (#womeninprocesschem) have been developed to promote women in this field. Please join these groups and let us know of your expertise and what you have done or would like to do to support the greater engagement of women in the field. Similarly, many graduate programs feature Women in Chemistry groups: engagement with these groups through scientific lectures, panel discussions, and networking opportunities provides an ideal forum to inspire the next generation. 6. Awards. Finally, as a member of the Science of Synthesis Editorial Board, one of us (M.M.F.) has worked with Thieme on the recent launch of the Dr. Margaret Faul Award for Women in Chemistry to recognize the significant contributions to women in the field.18 This is the first major international award that is focused on women in organic chemistry and organic synthesis, and the first recipient will be recognized at the European Symposium on Organic Chemistry in Vienna in 2019. The field of process chemistry is growing, and our scientific and strategic challenges are becoming more complex and diverse. The growth and evolution of our field require the contributions of a diverse network of experiences from across the pharmaceutical industry. We need to provide the opportunity to have a breadth of experiences and input drive us into our next stage of innovation, and gender diversity is just one lever that we believe is critical to this endeavor. While we have provided some opportunities and thoughts on how to encourage more women into the field of process chemistry, identifying and recognizing the talents, skill sets, and abilities all individuals provide will require us all to be engaged, supportive, and inclusive. We implore you as a reader of this editorial, male or female, to consider how you personally can support and impact this important effort to attract, retain, and develop female talent in process chemistry and beyond.
Editorial
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Authors
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Telephone: 732-594-6263. *E-mail:
[email protected]. Telephone: 805-447-0599. ORCID
Rebecca T. Ruck: 0000-0001-9980-9675 Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We are grateful to John Katz, Claire Francis, Janelle Steves, Will Watson, and Kai Rossen for their valuable discussions on the content provided in this editorial. R.T.R. thanks Mike Kress, Kevin Campos, Carrie Flood, and the Merck Process leadership for their support of the departmental Diversity & Inclusion initiative. We also thank our colleagues across the process industry who supported the writing of this editorial by providing and/or helping to compile data.
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REFERENCES
(1) Huryn, D.; Bolognesi, M. L.; Young, W. B. Medicinal Chemistry: Where Are All the Women? ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2017, 8, 900−902. (2) Dasgupta, S. Inadequate Representation of Women in STEM Research: The “Leaky Pipeline”. https://www.editage.com/insights/ inadequate-representation-of-women-in-stem-research-the-leakypipeline (accessed Nov 14, 2018). (3) A similar effort was recently carried out for women in computational chemistry, in which the authors concluded that the percentage of women is ∼25% and on the rise. See: Holloway, M. K.; McGaughey, G. B. Computational Chemistry: A Rising Tide of Women. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2018, 58, 911−915. (4) Botta, M. Leadership Roles Are Scarce for Women in Big Pharma. https://www.rdmag.com/article/2018/11/leadership-roles-arescarce-women-big-pharma (accessed Nov 14, 2018). (5) At Merck, seven out of 25 female Ph.D.-level process chemists (with at least six more starting in 2019) have ≥5 years of experience, and four have ≥10 years of experience. This experience gap is attributable to a combination of attrition and an industry-wide hiring dormancy period from 2009 to 2014. (6) (a) Jarvis, L. M. Why can’t the drug industry solve its gender diversity problem? Chem. Eng. News 2018, 96 (10), 27−33. (b) Royal Society of Chemistry. Breaking the Barriers: Women’s Retention and Progression in the Chemical Sciences. http://www.rsc.org/ globalassets/02-about-us/our-strategy/inclusion-diversity/womensprogression/media-pack/v18_vo_inclusion-and-diversity-_womansprogression_report-web-.pdf (accessed Nov 14, 2018). (7) For OPR&D, all publications in this time frame were evaluated, and those from academia were removed from the list. For all of the other journals, publications from process groups were identified by searching for company names and the names of the affiliated process chemistry departments. (8) Scientific Update Conferences. https://www.scientificupdate. com/conferences/events/. (9) This information was provided by Dr. Claire Francis, Director of Scientific Update. (10) Women in Science; Fact Sheet No. 43, March 2017; UNESCO Institute for Statistics: Montreal, QC, 2017; http://uis.unesco.org/ sites/default/files/documents/fs43-women-in-science-2017-en.pdf (accessed Aug 6, 2017). (11) The GRC Power Hour. https://www.grc.org/the-power-hour/. (12) Krawcheck, S. Own It: The Power of Women at Work; Crown Business: New York, 2017. (13) Sandberg, S. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will To Lead; Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2013.
Rebecca T. Ruck*
MRL, Merck & Co., Inc., 126 East Lincoln Avenue, Rahway, New Jersey 07065, United States
Margaret M. Faul*
Process Development, Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, California 91320, United States 112
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(14) Catalyst Study Shows Sponsorship is Key to Women’s Success. https://www.catalyst.org/media/catalyst-study-shows-sponsorshipkey-womens-success (accessed Nov 14, 2018). (15) Women in the Workplace 2018. womenintheworkplace.com (accessed Nov 14, 2018). (16) Rebecca T. Ruck began her career at Merck Process Research & Development in 2005. She has served as a director in Process Chemistry, Catalysis & Automation, and Discovery Process Chemistry and is currently Executive Director of Enabling Technologies, with a team that includes Catalysis, Automation, Flow Chemistry, Biocatalysis, Protein Engineering, and Kinetics and Mechanism. She has received the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Industrial Young Investigator Award, the ACS Women Chemists Committee Rising Star Award, and the 2018 ACS Award for Encouraging Women into the Chemical Sciences. Margaret M. Faul began her career at Eli Lilly and Company in 1993. In 2003 she joined Amgen, where she has had increasing responsibilities for drug substance commercialization and currently is Vice President of Drug Product Technologies. She has received the Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management from Dow Chemical Company and the ACS. She is currently a member of the editorial board for Science of Synthesis, on the Board of Directors for Organic Synthesis, and Vice-Chair of the International Consortium for Innovation and Quality in the Pharmaceutical Industry. (17) These academic relationships include ∼20 chemistry departments visited on at least an annual basis and an additional ∼20 departments “visited” virtually. There are Merck-sponsored lectures at seven universities, and there have been Women in Chemistry-themed events at at least five schools. The team also maintains an active presence through social media, especially Twitter, to connect with the broader chemistry community. (18) For further information on Science of Synthesis and the Dr. Margaret Faul Award for Women in Chemistry, please visit www. thieme-chemistry.com.
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