CONTENT FROM BOSTON SCIENTIFICHow Boston Scientific built a corporate
culture of diversity and equity that
encourages collaboration and innovation.
CREATING BETTER
PATIENT OUTCOMES
WITH DIVERSE TEAMS
At Boston Scientific, inclusion
plays a part in ever ything from
designing medical devices to
conducting research.and inclusive corporate culture from the top down.
The health care field is following suit, with
many in the industry working to increase diversity,
equity, and inclusion to provide better quality of
care for patients. Medical device manufacturer
Boston Scientific is committed not only to building
diversity within its own workforce of 38,000 em-
ployees but also to listening to its physician
customers around the world to understand their
needs and offer innovative medical solutions.
“ We have a responsibility to both reflect and
serve our diverse customer base: nurses, surgeons,
health care providers, and, ultimately, patients
of every race, gender, ability, sexual orientation,
and ethnicity,” says Meghan Scanlon, president
of urology and pelvic health at Boston Scientific,
one of the company’s top-performing businesses.
“Different points of view are what make us power-
ful. These insights allow us to better innovate and
address the complex challenges clinicians and
patients are facing.”
Diverse perspectives help inform the way the
Massachusetts-based company designs physi-
cians’ tools, for instance, ensuring that the devices
are intuitive and easy to use for people with hands
of various sizes. Boston Scientific also deploys
research teams to observe procedures around the
world to continuously gain insights to improve its
products. In 2020, the company invested more than
$1 billion in research and development to fuel its
pipeline, and in 2019, nearly 5,000 patients partici-
pated in global clinical trials for the company.
To support a diverse workforce and foster collab-
oration and a sense of community, Boston Scientific
has significantly grown its global employee resource
groups. It also requires unconscious bias training
throughout the organization and works to recruit
and retain diverse candidates.
In an effort to create the change it wants to see,
Boston Scientific supports the rights of women, the
LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, and
other groups by partnering with leading advocacy
organizations as well as identifying and pursuing
concrete internal goals. For example, the company
aims for representation of women at the supervisor
and managerial level of at least 43%, and multicul-
tural talent of at least 23%, by the end of 2022—and
will continue to report on its progress.
Ultimately, companies that hold what Scanlon
calls “courageous conversations,” and are
champions of diversity, equity, and inclusion, will
become healthier, more productive workplaces—
while outperforming their competition. “ Teams
do better when they are diverse,” says Scanlon.
“Unique perspectives help us transform the lives
of patients worldwide.” QWHILE BUSINESSES IN RECENT YEARS HAVE MADE
diversity a cornerstone of corporate initiatives, the
inequities highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic,
combined with mounting urgency in the fight
against systemic racism, has spurred a cultural
reckoning that requires building a more equitable