Celebrating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Myriad Genetics

Here at Myriad Genetics, we take every opportunity to rejoice in our team’s diversity. During Black History Month, we’ve been doing just that.

Human diversity is an interesting thing. The genetic tests we work so hard to develop for clinical use highlight not our differences but rather our similarities: based solely on our DNA, all humans are 99.9% identical. But stepping away from the narrow DNA view lets us zoom out to see the beautiful diversity that exists in our rich cultures, varied ethnicities, and lived experiences.

The Myriad Genetics team truly values that diversity. We formed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) group a year ago to ensure that we attract diverse candidates in our recruitment process, foster discussions on a range of important issues, and provide training to leaders throughout our company. The DEI group is structured to facilitate much-needed, brave conversations among our team, and also to funnel back the most important themes and goals to shape new policies and procedures in our workplace.

This week, our DEI Forum hosted a panel discussion called Living While Black in America. It featured seven of our Black colleagues sharing their experiences of growing up, working, and being part of families in this country. We believe that one of the cornerstones of our DEI effort — sharing these personal stories — is really important to helping everyone on the team relate and learn from one another.

In many companies, and for much of our history here at Myriad Genetics, fostering these kinds of discussions was considered out of bounds. The sentiment in corporate America has long been that what happens outside of the workplace stays outside of the workplace. But this kind of compartmentalizing is simply not sustainable or beneficial. What happens in the rest of our lives matters very much in our day-to-day work environment and culture.

Allowing those boundaries to blur, and helping our team members see each other more fully, are major goals of our DEI organization. To be honest, it’s too early to say how significantly these efforts will shape our company culture and policies. Change takes time. But we are committed to the fundamental truth that a greater diversity of perspectives and experiences will make our whole team stronger. We are proud to report that nearly two-thirds of our engineering and IT new hires this year come from diverse backgrounds.

This year, during Black History Month, we celebrate centuries of remarkable contributions made by the Black community in this country. And just as importantly, we will continue the celebration long after February ends. As a company, we embrace what’s going on right now — the increasing commitment to diversity at our company and well beyond our walls, an awakening that is happening all around the world.

Ina Sangale, MD

Aishwarya Arjunan, MS, MPH