- 15 hours ago
CNBC anchor Frank Holland discusses the Supreme Court decision related to affirmative action.
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00:00hello everybody how's everybody get everybody back from lunch I think everybody's still eating a
00:12little bit thank you guys all for being here for this panel similar to the other one we just did
00:18before lunch I think we're gonna just start off in a different tone talking about the Supreme Court
00:22decision related to affirmative action Dan and Deb thank you for being willing to discuss this
00:27topic I think it also kind of fits into some of the efforts that you have to advance black
00:32leadership in your own company and throughout the healthcare space so Dan if you don't mind
00:36I'll start with you did you have a reaction to the news obviously it directly impacts colleges
00:41and universities but many of these colleges and universities produce future leaders yeah
00:46absolutely first of all let me say how how fortunate I feel to be here thank you very much for having me
00:51here and to such an important audience and such an important time and topic clearly the Supreme Court
00:58decision you know as we've discussed in previous session sets us back in terms of you know where
01:05we need to go in this country in terms of racial equity it it connects directly I think with our
01:11strategy in two ways first of all we rely upon a diverse workforce to come up with the types of
01:17cures that we work on every day and one of the things that we have been working really hard at
01:23is trying to increase our diversity and stem education and particularly those with biologic
01:30scientific chemistry degrees and our worry is of course with this ruling is that that will take us
01:37backwards on that front but secondarily in the broader work we do on health equity for our medicines
01:42in diseases that disproportionately affect the black community and underserved communities like HIV and
01:52breast cancer you know this is just another step back to the socio-economic underpinnings of the
01:59structural biases that exist in our country and so I believe that Gilead and my voice and I'm obviously
02:06interested in Deb's aspect on this from her perspective I'm delighted to be here with you Deb
02:09but we need to speak out on these types of things and Deb can discuss the amicus brief we we issued we
02:18have a very clear strategy at Gilead right it's focused on innovation and health equity and when social
02:23issues like this happen we filter them through our strategy because it can be very challenging for a CEO
02:30in this day and age to determine what to speak out to and what not to speak out on but as long as we put
02:35it through the health equity lens which is core to our strategy things like the rights we see going
02:42backwards on LGBT plus communities that we serve things like women's rights things like this affirmative action
02:49ruling are things that we need to take stands on and and I'm very comfortable doing that on behalf of the
02:55companies yeah I'll just echo having Dan's ally ship at Gilead Sciences is so important because health equity is a core
03:03health equity is a core to who we are as a company and we know there's so many social determinants of
03:10health that impact health education is certainly one and we feel strongly as a science-based company that we
03:19need diverse team members broad swaths of people around the table to help us with our innovation so we did file a
03:26amicus brief with some other science and technology companies when the decision was at the Supreme Court so
03:33obviously it's not surprising but we're still working with allies like a legal defense fund to you know to make
03:43sure that we stay focused and help to ensure that other alternatives if we cannot use race and I'm positive there will be
03:51creative opportunities that we'll come up with as a collective organization to help move that along
04:00I started school at the University of Pennsylvania in 1982 and I'm positive I was a product of affirmative action
04:08so I deeply believe in the idea of taking people who don't have access to you know the right resources and helping them to have
04:16have had that access so we we look at these issues really closely we just filed an amicus brief and content in
04:25connection with the Briarwood decision in Texas where the Fifth Circuit is trying to remove HIV PrEP services as a preventive
04:34service we thought as a company that is important for Gilead Sciences voice to be heard because we know how important
04:40preventive care for HIV is for the wider community but more importantly for the black and brown community
04:49that is having great exposure to HIV
04:53Dan and Deb thank you both for being willing to speak about this I know this was not part of our original agenda
04:58but certainly an important topic for everybody here in this group that really leads us into one other thing
05:03your role as an employer when it comes to health equity and also just creating opportunities for people of color
05:10and the black community to be part of your company part of the cures that you mentioned and part of your leadership
05:15team can you talk to us how do you see your role Dan obviously as an ally in that whole cycle
05:21yeah look it's it's fundamental let me just articulate for those of you that don't know Gilead I mean you know our key therapeutic areas
05:31are HIV and cancer particularly breast cancer and just to put that into context I mean and many of you may know this
05:42but just to make sure you know that you know the incidence of HIV is actually increasing globally
05:48despite the fact that Gilead for now decades has invested in a one pill once a day medicine
05:54that can take HIV infected individuals from a death sentence to a chronic to a chronic manageable disease
06:04and we have a preventive medicine that is effective at preventing HIV transmission
06:11and so when you look at that and you think about the communities we serve while in this country alone
06:19and we can certainly talk about the African nation and other other countries as well but in this country alone
06:24the black population is 13% of the population however 40% of people living with HIV in this country are black
06:3142% of new diagnosis are black two times people that are being diagnosed with black are in the south southern part of the United States
06:43so there's a real connection a direct connection with our strategy when we think about our role as an employer
06:50first of all how can we possibly and I'm so proud of the colleagues that we have here with us at this at this conference
06:58and throughout our organization how can we possibly represent those communities if we don't have that type of representation
07:04within within our ranks and it starts at the board level for us and for me it's been extremely important the leadership team level
07:12and then throughout look let me be clear our work is not done here you know we still have today
07:18around 7% of our population at Gilead that is black we have goals specifically for 2025
07:26for that to go to 10 and 12% and importantly in leadership positions
07:31so we need to keep doing that because how can we possibly serve the communities we serve
07:36if we don't have the communities represented within our organization
07:39so it's a business imperative on an employment side
07:42and we have lots of strategies that we're doing
07:44most importantly you know as an ally I'm listening you know I mean coming into this company four years ago
07:51just before the George Floyd murder having you know come from a background of living in multiple different countries
07:58but coming back to this country and still seeing the intractable structural issues I'm listening
08:04we're learning but we're also applying as we go so everything from advancing black leadership
08:10mentorship programs within our company to being a founding member of the 110 initiative
08:15that looks at you know a skills-based approach to hiring instead of the bias that's associated
08:21with four-year college degrees and we're continuing on that so it is it is an absolute impairment
08:28and the last thing I'll say is because of our ambitions to make this world a healthier place for everyone everywhere
08:35and a lot of companies are afraid to use the cure word
08:39Gilead is a large company but it's actually a relatively young company
08:43it's only about 35 years young
08:45and it's cured a disease in hepatitis C
08:48I mentioned before what it did for HIV
08:50it's cured a form of blood cancer
08:52and when one is scientifically attacking the most intractable problems
08:57you can't do that with a group of like-minded people sitting on the table
09:01diversity is fundamental and core to our business imperative
09:05of how we come up with these medicines
09:07and equally important how we come up with strategies
09:09for breaking down the stigma and discrimination associated with
09:12getting our medicines to the people that need them
09:15so Deb over to you
09:16I mean you obviously are living a lot of this story about black leadership
09:20you mentioned going to University of Pennsylvania
09:22one of the best schools in the country
09:23maybe affirmative action got you in the door
09:25but as we can see your long list of accomplishments
09:27you are a bright and talented person
09:29trying to help other bright and talented people get their opportunities
09:33thank you for that
09:34the way Dan just explained that
09:37it was why I joined Gilead Sciences about 10 months ago
09:40it is a company focused on innovation
09:43but not only just bringing innovative medicines
09:47but innovative medicines to help the populations that have the highest unmet need
09:53as a daughter of a mother who grew up in Tuskegee, Alabama
09:59one of 10 who received services from Nurse Rivers
10:03and we all know who she is
10:05I understand there is mistrust in the healthcare system
10:09and we have been mistrustful to people in the black community
10:12so I use my seat as a place of privilege
10:17to make sure we can become more trustworthy
10:20to make sure that we look at other ways of thinking about
10:25how do we partner with partners
10:27so that we are working with black led organizations
10:30because they are closer to the community
10:33they have trust with the community
10:34so as a part of my role
10:37with the corporate affairs team
10:38that is here with me today
10:39we are always innovating
10:41as well as with our medicines
10:43but how we show up in the community
10:45and what partners we have
10:47so I think that is important for me
10:49because of where I sit
10:51and I will say
10:53this is all about economics
10:55and there is a saying in the black community
10:58you ask someone how they are doing
10:59they say okay but I got my health
11:01so we know health is linked to wealth
11:04in terms of how we will continue to show up as a people
11:08so I am so overwhelmed that I can be here
11:11and talk about all the great programs we have
11:14and how we partner with other organizations
11:17quite frankly in the U.S.
11:19and globally as well
11:21I just had a short discussion with the ambassador
11:24and I was just on a panel celebrating
11:26the 20th anniversary of the president's emergency plan
11:31for AIDS relief, PEPFAR
11:33and we do a lot of work in Africa as well
11:36on the continent
11:37we fund programs where we can build
11:40black women leaders
11:43to help educate them around HIV
11:46and the rights
11:48with respect to some of the sexual-based violence
11:50that they experience
11:52we have a program for men
11:53to give them more access to HIV resources
11:58and we know it's only through the public-private partnership
12:02both in the U.S. and outside the U.S.
12:04that we can really get the medicines
12:06that are available to the people who need it.
12:08So I really want to talk to you guys about Gilead
12:10as an innovator
12:11and the role you play with innovation
12:12and Dan mentioned some stats
12:14just mind-blowing stats
12:16unfortunately mind-blowing
12:1840% of the new HIV infections
12:20are in the black community
12:23when it comes to breast cancer
12:24triple negative breast cancer
12:26one of the most deadly forms
12:27black women are twice as likely to get it
12:30two stats that are very unfortunate
12:32and really eye-opening
12:34Deb, I would like to come back to you
12:35let's talk about Gilead as an innovator
12:38why is it so important to address these issues
12:41that are two of the biggest areas
12:42of your research and development
12:44and also your business
12:45Well, as Dan said
12:47our ethos is curing diseases
12:49he mentioned we already started with Hep C
12:52but even when you have these curative medicines
12:56people still are not getting access to it
12:58it's a lack of knowledge
13:00it's a lack of trusting their healthcare provider
13:03so for us
13:05we know we're not going to end the HIV epidemic
13:08unless we address stigma in the black community
13:13and that stigma is a global phrase
13:16that you can use in the U.S.
13:18you can use that in Europe
13:20when you talk about migrants in Europe
13:22they generally talk about Africans
13:24coming into certain countries
13:25so we know there's a general stigma
13:27in terms of getting access to these
13:29really life-saving medicines
13:31so it's really important that again
13:33we kind of collaborate
13:34we innovate around our partnerships
13:36to make sure that medicines can reach
13:38those who really need it
13:39Right
13:39So Dan, I want to come to you
13:40and it's important when we talk about innovation
13:42you're also focused on prevention
13:44and ending stigma
13:45Gilead
13:46investing
13:47about $10 million
13:48on prevention programs
13:49ending stigma programs
13:50so a very important part of this is
13:52we have to make people less ashamed
13:53to seek the help that your company
13:55and others offer
13:56Yeah, thanks Frank
13:58and as I get to what we do in the communities
14:01I just want you to know that
14:03I mean as we think about
14:04stigma and discrimination
14:06and health equity
14:07it's not only about the work we do
14:09with community partners
14:10and funding and enabling them
14:12it also goes back into our scientific labs
14:15and I want to talk about something
14:17that I'm just so proud
14:19that our company has been doing
14:22but we have a medicine now
14:24that is approved for late stage HIV patients
14:27that we're studying now
14:28in earlier stage patients
14:30and in prevention
14:31and this medicine by our chemists
14:34is called a little bit of a unicorn
14:35it's very hard to come by
14:37it's been 16 years in the making
14:39but you know
14:40it's a once every six month
14:42subcutaneous injection
14:44the reason I bring that up
14:45in terms of how we talk about
14:46person-centered innovation
14:48is because much of the stigma
14:50associated with taking a pill
14:53and we've learned this
14:54from the communities we serve
14:55it can be
14:57it really can stop an individual
14:59from preventing the disease
15:01or from appropriately managing the disease
15:03and discretion is really important
15:06as we know in so many communities
15:07so that so the ability to
15:09and access to healthcare systems
15:11and but the ability to think about
15:14the way we kind of like to think about it
15:16is like a twice a year vaccine
15:18that could prevent HIV
15:21from your ever getting HIV
15:23and and you know
15:25alleviating so many of the barriers
15:27in our communities
15:29particularly black and brown communities
15:31in the south
15:32and and and Africa
15:34cisgender women
15:35and elsewhere where
15:36there's just so much stigma
15:37associated with
15:38taking medicine
15:39and seeing a healthcare provider
15:41so I want you to know that
15:42you know innovation for us means
15:45coming up with
15:46the right solution
15:47that not only addresses
15:48the medical illness
15:49but also addresses
15:50the fundamental structural barriers
15:52for people to take medicines
15:53because frankly if everybody
15:55you know took a medicine today
15:57there would be no HIV
15:58because we have a medicine
16:00that prevents it
16:00and a medicine that treats it
16:02and when you treat it
16:03you create a situation
16:06where people can't pass the disease
16:07on either
16:08because if you're undetectable
16:09you're untransmissible
16:10but obviously it's not enough
16:13so we need this type of innovation
16:15on the medicine side
16:16and then back to the community work side
16:18it resonates with what the previous panel said
16:21I mean we we invest significantly
16:23of course capital
16:25but the capital is one piece of it
16:26so for instance
16:27we have a hundred million dollars
16:28over ten-year investment
16:30in communities in the south
16:32for structural barriers to HIV
16:34and we do that not through
16:35national organizations
16:36as was said before
16:37but really through local organizations
16:39one of the ones that I'm
16:40very connected with
16:43is the funding we do
16:44through the Wake Forest School of Divinity
16:46working with faith-based organizations
16:49and it's a learning curve I've been on
16:51because as many of us know
16:54I mean the church is not necessarily
16:56the first place that one would go to
16:57to talk about HIV
16:59and yet leveraging enlightenment
17:03through the School of Divinity
17:05and through pastors and ministers
17:07in the trust circle of black communities
17:10in the south
17:11and being able to get over that barrier
17:13of you know if you like
17:16you know sexual orientation
17:19but getting to rather
17:21caring for other individuals and health
17:23more so than sexual orientation
17:25there's been huge breakthroughs
17:27and we're going to try to leverage
17:28this community
17:29of faith-based organizations as well
17:32for things like cancer screening
17:35for black women
17:36this shocking statistic of two times
17:39most aggressive form of breast cancer
17:40triple-angle breast cancer
17:41is two times more prevalent
17:43in the black community
17:44and a black woman is 28% more likely
17:47to die than their white counterpart
17:48from the disease
17:49so it's really really important
17:51that we work
17:52of course we put our capital to work
17:54and we do a lot of that
17:55in this country
17:56and also in other countries
17:58around the world
17:59but finding the right organizations
18:01and it is not just about funding
18:04it's also about bringing our expertise
18:06but obviously listening to them
18:07on what we can do
18:08in the communities
18:08to make that successful
18:09so we're talking about some of these
18:11these stats that are you know
18:12disappointing
18:13shocking in some bit
18:14can we just give
18:15is there any progress
18:16any positivity
18:17we can put on this story
18:18obviously people getting HIV
18:19is terrible
18:20but are you seeing progress
18:22when it comes to ending the stigma
18:23are you seeing progress
18:24when it comes to prevention
18:25in different communities
18:26especially black and brown communities
18:28well we're spending a lot of time
18:29trying to support that frankly
18:32and as Dan mentioned
18:36we have this compass program
18:38where we're into year five
18:41over a ten year period
18:42where we're putting a hundred million dollars
18:44into training advocates
18:47to kind of help foster those conversations
18:50so we know that it's not easy
18:53it's a historical issue
18:55certainly we're focused on the south
18:58because that's where we think
18:59there's a greater incidence
19:01of HIV increasing
19:03but I will say it's hard
19:05as we have new policy
19:06that comes out of Washington
19:08it's not easy
19:09you know getting access
19:10to good health care
19:11is becoming increasingly difficult
19:13particularly for women
19:14so there's a lot of work
19:15we're doing on the ground
19:17but also in DC
19:19as we try to foster
19:21and argue for more policies
19:24that will make fighting stigma
19:26and getting medicines to people easier
19:30so we're kind of looking at it
19:32from both approaches
19:33working with communities
19:34but also working with our partners in DC
19:36and I would just say
19:38definitely our community partners
19:39are making progress
19:40you know that number of 42% new diagnosis
19:43in black community
19:44arguably would be higher
19:45without the type of work
19:46that our community folks are doing
19:47I'll just give you one example
19:48I was down at Jackson Memorial Hospital
19:50in Miami a couple of weeks ago
19:53and we have programs
19:55that work with hospital systems
19:58community health organizations
20:00that test to treat linkage to care
20:03in unhoused communities
20:05in all different types of communities
20:07and it's very clear
20:08we measure progress
20:09of our community partners
20:10it's very clear
20:11in those communities
20:12where we have tests to treat
20:14you know emergency room admissions
20:16health community centers
20:18that when you can treat somebody immediately
20:21or get somebody on prevention
20:22who's HIV negative
20:24you see the rates of HIV infection going down
20:26in those communities
20:27so to Deb's point
20:28while we have counter forces working
20:30either politically or policy wise
20:32we definitely see progress with our partners
20:35in communities where we have programs
20:37and we have more work to do
20:39same thing in Eastern Europe
20:41with the crisis in Ukraine
20:43and what we're doing
20:44through the Elton John AIDS Foundation
20:45and the work in Eastern Europe
20:47so we progress is being made
20:49and more work needs to be done
20:51I think it's important to highlight
20:52one of the things you're talking about
20:54Deb you mentioned the 100 million you're spending
20:56it's also with more than 400 partners
20:58on the local level
20:59absolutely
21:00you mentioned the other panel
21:01not just throwing money at the problem
21:02but connecting and cooperating with people
21:05so can either one of you
21:06can you talk more about that
21:07your role as a collaborator
21:08obviously you know you want leadership in your company
21:11that represents the communities you want to serve
21:14and then you want to innovate with your medicine
21:15but also just working with these different groups
21:17on a local level
21:18how important is that
21:19and are there any strategies
21:21or techniques that you're using
21:22that you think can elevate some of the things
21:24that other companies like yours are doing
21:26no I'm going to say a few words
21:28and I'm going to let my CEO
21:30because he's good
21:31I will say this
21:32this is really important for us
21:35and again to the whole innovation
21:38I just have to give a shout out to Rashad
21:40who's a VP in our organization
21:42and his title is Vice President for Advancing Health
21:46and Black Equity
21:47I don't know too many Fortune 100 companies
21:50that have someone of Rashad's caliber
21:53to really help drive and co-create solutions
21:56you know innovative solutions
21:58in terms of how we attack the problem with HIV
22:01so I think we're setting up the right leadership
22:05within the company under Dan's leadership
22:08for us to really focus in a way that really makes sense
22:11but I'm going to let Dan also jump in here
22:13Well I think you nailed it
22:14and I'm so proud of the team that we have
22:16and we continue to learn
22:17and organize around that
22:19but it's important to note that I mean
22:21you know we
22:23Rashad in his position before this
22:27ran a group of in this country
22:29community liaisons
22:31so just as a lot of you probably think of us
22:34having sales forces or medical forces out there
22:37educating on our biopharma products
22:39we equally have a nationwide force
22:42that's specifically dedicated to working with communities
22:45and they're in the local communities in which they serve
22:47so they are embedded in a way
22:49that allows them to connect with their other colleagues
22:51at the company
22:52and bring the right solution at the right time
22:54to support a community organization
22:56the other thing we do is we spread news on things that are working
23:00there's a lot of experimentation going out there thankfully
23:03but when something works whether it's a test to treat strategy like I said
23:07we become then the enablers to allow and empower other community organizations
23:13to take some of the ideas and run with it
23:15so while clearly we defer to the community organizations for their knowledge of the community
23:21we can bring real expertise around what's going to give us the most leverage
23:25and how we're going to work with that
23:27and so our role as a collaborator is always a two-way street
23:35and we're always learning from each other
23:37but we're also very results oriented
23:39I'll just be clear
23:40you know there are organizations that we fund that may not have the success that we think we're going to have
23:46and we want to make sure we're obviously supporting them and engaging with them
23:50but also directing our capital to those that are going to have the biggest success
23:54you know that's a really important point
23:56sometimes there's good intentions, there's funding, but you don't see the results
24:00so there's a lot of people here that lead nonprofits
24:02and lead some of the organizations you may fund
24:04are there any best practices that maybe they need to keep in mind
24:07to put the funding and the expertise that you're bringing to best use?
24:12I think we take a co-create lens
24:16because again they know what's happening in their community
24:20so we want to hear from them
24:22so for instance we just announced, I'm so proud
24:24we just announced a $10 million grant
24:26focused on black women and girls around HIV
24:30thank you
24:32really excited about that
24:34and we just opened it up for the grant process
24:36and I think someplace online
24:38but we really want to hear solutions from the folks on the ground
24:42how do we talk to black women and girls about HIV
24:47we don't talk about it
24:49we don't think it applies to us
24:50so we want to open up the lens to see what's possible
24:54so that's kind of the approach we take
24:56and as Dan said we then leverage the best of what we're hearing
24:59in terms of rolling out a program
25:01and then we obviously try to measure the impact that we're having
25:04I think co-creation collaboration seems to be a theme that we might hear a lot about today
25:08can we get you guys to give us a key takeaway
25:12so much to talk about when it comes to triple negative breast cancer, HIV
25:16is there a key takeaway that you want the audience to have?
25:19yeah let me say my call out, call to action
25:22is really around the stigma associated with HIV
25:25I think we have to own that as a community and do better
25:28I know there's December 1st is World AIDS Day
25:32so I invite you to work with your partners around that
25:35February 7th is National Black HIV Day
25:39again I think there's some opportunities within your organizations to do a call out
25:43to have some programming
25:44because we really have to own that
25:46and try to make sure that we get prevention
25:50because as Dan said you don't have to
25:52you know HIV is not a death sentence
25:54but we have to get access to those who really need it
25:57I'll double down on that
26:00and the other thing I'll add in my responsibility in the company is
26:06I want you to hold me accountable
26:08I want my team to hold me accountable for
26:11I do
26:12Are you doing that?
26:13Yeah
26:14Okay, should I just?
26:15No
26:17But I know you do every day
26:19but also you should hold other people in positions of leadership accountable
26:24you know we're beholden to a lot of stakeholders
26:29none more important than the community that sits in this room here
26:33particularly in the diseases that we work on
26:35so just as I said you know we hold our community partners accountable
26:39you should hold us accountable for the fact that
26:42we are a good steward of you know economic enterprise
26:49global black economic enterprise
26:51but also that we do the right things
26:53not only to run a sustainable business
26:55but to make sure we're investing
26:57and making real progress in health and black equity
27:00Thank you both for your time your insight and your transparency
27:03these are difficult topics to discuss
27:05thanks for sharing the strategies that you use
27:07and some of the efforts that you're making
27:09so Deb Tellman
27:10EVP of Corporate Affairs at Gilead Sciences
27:13Daniel O'Day CEO of Gilead Sciences
27:16Thank you both
27:17Thank you
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