By Brooke Kellerhouse, Director, Marketing, Pyxis ES - Global Marketing Management

BD is passionately committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where our associates can be their authentic selves and realize their full potential. We know this is how our associates, and our innovations, can thrive and most profoundly contribute to our Purpose of advancing the world of health™.

One way we drive these efforts is through the power of our eight BD Associate Resource Groups (ARGs). Recently, BD was recognized as the inaugural Diversity Champion by the San Diego professional section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) for community advocacy and STEM outreach efforts of our local ARGs including Women’s Initiative Network (WIN), Out and Proud Employee Network (OPEN), African Americans at BD (AABD) as well as associate volunteers. Some of the efforts included:

• Collaborating with Athena, a premier women's advocacy organization that fast tracks women in STEM for allyship and professional development events.
• Hosting outreach events promoting STEM careers to local first-generation and underrepresented college students through panel discussions, tours and networking opportunities.
• Leading recruiting events with the University of California - San Diego’s LGBTQ+ student groups to promote belonging while preparing students to engage with recruiters and network at conferences such as SWE, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (oSTEM).
• Collaborating with University of California - San Diego (UCSD) PATHS program to share STEM opportunities with underrepresented college students.
• Judging science fair projects, mentoring students through an “adopt-a-school” program and founding “Femineers,” a program that encourages middle school girls to engage in STEM.

These activities help nurture early interest in STEM topics among school-aged girls and strengthen our ability to attract and retain women in STEM roles across all stages of their career.

"Each of our ARGs support women in achieving their full potential, so it was great to see everyone come together for this nomination,” said Kelly Hon, Manager, Product Development Engineering, BD, and co-lead of the WIN ARG. “I am proud of our ARGs for their collective efforts to cultivate a culture of inclusion at BD and drive positive change in the local San Diego community.”

At BD, we believe the continued steps we take toward inclusion, diversity and equity progress are essential to how we attract talent, unlock innovation, and deliver on our environmental, social and governance strategy – Together We Advance - because advancing the world of health™ is a promise for all.

Congratulations to all BD associate volunteers who participated in this impactful work.

Read more about inclusion, diversity and equity at BD.

Group Picture: top left to right: Andrew Schlossman, Brooke Kellerhouse, Amanda Tijerina, Christina Braden-Moore, Nicole Estrich, Tiffany Hamrick and Erik O'Riley. Bottom left to right: Kelly Hon, Jacqueline Garrison and Natali Gallegos

Inset Picture: Kelly Hon and Rachel Morford, SWE President, FY23