Corporate Social Responsibility

Communities

The Just Project

Combating Disparity. Embracing Diversity.
Making our world a more equitable place

Throughout history, Black and Brown communities have faced ongoing injustice. The COVID-19 pandemic made this even more evident. During this time, communities of color faced a lack of resources to deal with the virus, many tragically reporting high infection and death rates.

At Thermo Fisher Scientific, we quickly reached out to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) struggling to cope with the pressures of the pandemic. To help address these disparities we launched the Just Project — a humanitarian response to this global crisis - named after Dr. Ernest Just, a globally recognized Black scientist. As part of this initiative, we pledged time and resources to help protect the health HBCU staff and students. This has helped them safely reopen their campuses, allowing students to continue their education.

/Health/
Prioritizing every life during the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic was the biggest health crisis our world had witnessed in over a century. As of 2022, Black and Brown people are twice as likely to die from Coronavirus than their White counterparts.¹

We believe that the color of someone’s skin shouldn’t determine their access to healthcare. That’s why we have committed $32 million in donated instruments, kits, and supplies to set up on-site COVID testing labs that serve nearly 60 HBCUs. Regular testing helped identify infected people, enabling students and faculty to get medical attention. This also helped reduce the number of positive cases, allowing participating colleges or universities to reamain operational all year.

/Education/
Investing in a future that belongs to all

Despite operating virtually, all colleges and universities were suffering from the impact of the pandemic. As schools started to re-open, institutions required additional resources to welcome students back safely.

Unfortunately, HBCUs didn’t receive the same resources as other institutions. That’s why we initiated efforts to help HBCUs reopen safely and enable people from these communities to continue their higher education.

/Recruitment/
Initiating an equal starting point

We believe that everyone has something special to offer the world, and deserves equal opportunity to succeed. We’re committed to helping HBCU graduates jumpstart their careers to build on their passions, share their unique perspectives, and drive innovation and progress that will improve the lives of those in their own communities. As we continue to strengthen and expand our relationships with HBCUs, we are also hiring their alumni into Thermo Fisher. We are well on our way to achiving our goal of 500 HBCU alumni hires through 2023.

Quotation marks
"A successful organization is diverse. HBCUs play an important role in closing the achievement gap and in consistently training talented professionals who are invaluable to companies like ours seeking to attract top talent and build a more inclusive workplace.”
Fred Lowery
Senior Vice President and President, Customer Channels at Thermo Fisher Scientific

/Thought Leadership/
Forging a path for health equity

At Thermo Fisher, we are always looking for opportunities to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. As the Just Project allowed students to safely continue to their education, our priority expanded to ensuring they were also set up for health and success post-graduation.   

Newly launched health equity initiatives, including variant sequencing, help us stay one step ahead of the disease. And as we further engage in conversations with fellow experts in the field, we are joined by our HBCU partners so together we can learn and collaborate on the actions needed to strengthen equity in science and healthcare.

Why do we call it the Just Project? 
Meet Dr. Ernest Everett Just

Dr. Ernest Everett Just (August 14, 1883 – October 27, 1941) was an African-American biologist, academic and founding member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, inc..  Dr. Just is known for recognizing the fundamental role of the cell surface in the development of organisms. In his work within marine biology, cytology and parthenogenesis, he advocated the study of whole cells under normal conditions, rather than simply breaking them apart in a laboratory setting.  Despite the adversity he faced as an African American scientist, Dr. Just was eventually internationally renowned for his scientific breakthroughs.  Dr. Just is an alumnus of Dartmouth College and became a professor at Howard University in 1907. 
 

¹ Published: Feb 22, 2022. (2022, February 22). Covid-19 cases and deaths by Race/ethnicity: Current data and changes over time. KFF. Retrieved June 23, 2022

Dr. Ernest Everett Just

Dr. Ernest Everett Just (August 14, 1883 – October 27, 1941) was an African-American biologist, academic and founding member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, inc..  Dr. Just is known for recognizing the fundamental role of the cell surface in the development of organisms. In his work within marine biology, cytology and parthenogenesis, he advocated the study of whole cells under normal conditions, rather than simply breaking them apart in a laboratory setting.  Despite the adversity he faced as an African American scientist, Dr. Just was eventually internationally renowned for his scientific breakthroughs.  Dr. Just is an alumnus of Dartmouth College and became a professor at Howard University in 1907. 

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