Black Americans with peripheral artery disease have up to four times higher risk of amputation than white Americans.1
Launched in 2020, Our Race to Health Equity (ORTHE) is our $100 million, enterprise-wide initiative that aims to help close the racial health gap in the U.S. by eliminating health inequities for people of color.
Two years in, Johnson & Johnson has spent $52 million of this total commitment on programs focused on closing the racial health disparity gap through investments in community health centers, community health workers, health literacy education and community engagement.
In 2022, we drove multiple initiatives to accelerate Our Race to Health Equity in different ways:
Funding Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) Businesses
Our ORTHE Business Match Fund (BMF) is our five-year, $50 million commitment to address racial health disparities for BIPOC communities. So far, the Fund has invested $30 million to support BIPOC health equity initiatives. Disbursements from the fund addressed varied priority health care issues including clinical trial diversity, upskilling health workers, fellowships and scholarships, and pilots and interventions.
Sponsoring Medical Students
We maintained our sponsorship of the Alliance for Inclusion in Medicine Scholarship Program, a $450,000 scholarship and mentorship commitment launched in 2021 with National Medical Fellowships (NMF) and the Alliance for Inclusion in Medicine (AIM). With support from Johnson & Johnson, NMF welcomed an inaugural cohort of 20 underrepresented medical students and selected a second cohort of second- and third- year medical school scholars. AIM scholars were paired with a Johnson & Johnson mentor to provide guidance and insight as these young scholars embark on their medical career journey.
William N. Hait, M.D., Ph.D.
Executive Vice President, Chief External Innovation and Medical Officer,
Johnson & Johnson
As part of Our Race to Health Equity, Johnson & Johnson partnered with Black Entrepreneurs Day for the second year to help eradicate racial and social injustice within public health by eliminating health inequities for people of color. During Johnson & Johnson’s Innovating for Health Equity Roundtable, Johnson & Johnson senior leaders discussed the chronic health care challenges faced in underserved communities.
Learn more about our progress in Our Race to Health Equity
Sponsoring Pharmacy Students
Through the Johnson & Johnson Pharmacy Student Scholarship, we have committed to increasing the pipeline of pharmacists from historically marginalized backgrounds. This two-year scholarship program awards underrepresented second- or third-year pharmacy students at one of the five U.S.-accredited historically Black college or university schools of pharmacy. Recipients must also have demonstrated leadership skills and a commitment to serving medically under-resourced communities.
Exposure to diverse providers who understand the different struggles patients, like my grandmother, experience will lead us closer to the goals of health equity.
Delyn Owen-Robinson
PharmD Candidate, 2024, Florida A&M University,
Johnson & Johnson Pharmacy Student Scholarship Recipient
The Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) and Johnson & Johnson Vision entered into a unique partnership with an unprecedented sponsorship to address the need for greater diversity in optometry. The Eye on Diversity initiative, supported by this new sponsorship from Johnson & Johnson Vision, allows ASCO to augment its initiatives focused on diversifying optometry’s student body and to address the challenges associated with DEI and belonging in optometric education. ASCO will use this extraordinary sponsorship to support programs such as efforts to educate an increasing number of undergraduates from underrepresented groups about the opportunities offered by a career in optometry through ASCO’s Optometry Gives Me Life campaign (www.futureeyedoc.org); cultural competency training programs, videos, and other resources for students, faculty and practitioners; and opportunities for engagement through programs such as a unique speaker series.
Supporting Healthcare for Black Americans
We are on a mission to help Black Americans get the care they deserve and avoid the needless, devastating loss of a limb. Janssen’s multiyear initiative, Save Legs, Change Lives, aims to address the hidden threat of peripheral artery disease (PAD)-related amputation. Janssen collaborated with leading professional associations, including the American College of Cardiology, as well as healthcare systems and community organizations, to raise awareness of PAD-related issues and facilitate equitable access to treatment. Through 2022, Janssen implemented thousands of free screenings and advanced research to help overcome PAD-related health inequities.
Learn more about Save Legs, Change Lives
Did you know?
1 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Facts about peripheral artery disease for African Americans. 2006, https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/public/heart/pad_extfactsheet_aa_508.pdf, accessed August 9, 2022.
