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BIO’s plan to promote opportunity and access for the underserved

Nature Biotechnology volume 38, pages 1123–1124 (2020)Cite this article

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To the Editor — On Memorial Day this year, the senseless murder of another unarmed black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota, touched off days of protest against police brutality and racial inequality. In the ensuing months, disturbing videos of George Floyd and other minorities killed and mistreated by police have filled our television screens and stirred the American conscience. Meanwhile, the worst pandemic in a century rages unchecked across the globe, hitting communities of color the hardest because COVID-19 preys on the immunocompromised in a time when too many African Americans struggle to access quality healthcare.

The world is waking up to the reality that this new, cutting-edge industry called biotechnology is humanity’s best and only hope to eradicate the COVID-19 threat. Biotechnology is also the most powerful tool we have to broaden access to clean air and water, nutritious foods, breakthrough medicines and sustainably made consumer products.

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  1. Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Washington, DC, USA

    Michelle McMurry-Heath

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  1. Michelle McMurry-Heath
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Correspondence to Michelle McMurry-Heath.

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M.M.-H. works for industry trade organization the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). She was employed by Johnson & Johnson and holds stock in Johnson & Johnson.

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McMurry-Heath, M. BIO’s plan to promote opportunity and access for the underserved. Nat Biotechnol 38, 1123–1124 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-020-0688-8

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