A BMS Science Career Blossoms with the Help of a Mentor

Mentorship can be an incredibly powerful experience, positively affecting the lives of the mentor and the mentee. These experiences can hold even more weight to members of groups and ethnicities underrepresented in STEM fields, where individuals might not be aware of opportunities and therefore fall back on familiar careers they’ve had exposure to.

Such was the case with Jesus Moreno, Principal Scientist and Medicinal Chemist in Small Molecule Drug Discovery at Bristol Myers Squibb. Growing up, Jesus had an intense interest in the sciences, but until he developed a varied and resourceful support system of mentors that helped him navigate and refine what his interests were, he felt a bit disillusioned as he realized how few people around him in the sciences didn’t look like or have a similar upbringing to him.

Real Benefits for Mentees and Mentors

As well as the overall benefits for the mentee, Jesus mentioned how mentoring not only fits in with his personal desires to give back, but also fits in with the mission of his work, day in and day out. “What keeps me motivated at the end of the day, is that I’ve always wanted to do something to help people,” he said. “Whether that’s going into the lab and designing the next generation of medicines to help patients, or whether that’s inspiring the next generation of Latino and Latina scientists, I feel lucky to be with an organization like BMS that encourages me to explore my many passions – and give back.”

Jesus’ world at BMS is one in which pragmatism and aspiration can live comfortably side by side, as he again spoke of the generation following him. “This mentorship program is the type of initiative that has benefits all around,” he said. “Sure, there are business objectives being met: BMS would love to have someone like Christina return once their education is complete. But bringing more diverse talent to BMS is a long-term commitment, and inspiring the next generation to stay excited about science is incredibly fulfilling.”

Next Steps: From Mentorship to a BMS Co-op Program

While participating in the OLA Mentorship Program as an undergraduate student, Christina applied for a Co-op Program with Small Molecule Drug Development and was accepted; she concurrently worked at BMS while completing her undergraduate degree in Chemistry. Come the fall semester, she'll begin her doctoral studies in Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles. It’s a situation that sounds like a perfect next step for her career journey.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” she said. “BMS is such a positive and friendly environment where we eat lunch together, there are different ongoing events, a great work/life balance, all the different Resource Groups, and getting to know all these chemists and scientists inside and outside our department; you really feel connected by the work.”

Could You Benefit from a Mentorship Program?

Once again, Jesus touched on the OLA Mentorship Program as a pathway to diversity. “But diversity comes in a lot of flavors,” he said. “We need to commit to the next generation of scientists and assess all the different things they can bring to the table, because there isn’t just cultural diversity. There’s diversity of thought, geographic and educational diversity. We’ve benefitted from bringing people from all walks of life to our department, and it’s worked really well.”

If you’d like to explore more about what it’s like to work at BMS and see the entire range of our early career programs, click here to learn more.