Employees Articles

Purpose & Ideals

Cancer Survivors' 'Butterfly Club' Network Fosters Support and Partnership

For many cancer survivors, life splits into two stages: before cancer and after cancer. That’s been the case for Lynette Bojko, Pfizer’s Head of Strategic Sourcing & Business Management. She was diagnosed with breast cancer just before her 40th birthday. “Unfortunately or fortunately, cancer is a lot of my identity,” she says. When treatment began, she didn’t want to hide what she was going through at the office, so she talked about it. That openness allowed her to connect with colleagues who...

Real People

The Butterfly Club: Stories of Volunteers that Colleagues with Cancer Can Lean On

When Nikki Shaffer was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35, she had so many questions. How should she tell her three young children about it? Should she keep working? Would she see her kids grow up?That was in 2009. As Shaffer went through treatment, a non-profit connected her with other cancer survivors, but she didn’t click with anyone. “They connected me to people who were in their 50s when they were diagnosed, and their questions and their concerns were not the same as mine,” says Shaffer...

Real People

The Story of Kendall Square Orchestra, a Symphony of Scientists

In Cambridge, Mass., Kendall Square is where some of the country’s top minds solve global problems. The area is a super-magnet for renowned biomedical and technology businesses. In 2009, a consulting group dubbed it “the most innovative square mile on earth.”1 It’s also a place where music unites, entertains, and maybe even heals. Since 2018, scientists and technology professionals have come together as musicians in Kendall Square Orchestra (K2O). Each season, they perform at community events...

Real People

5 Inspiring STEM Women Who are Making Medicine Happen

Numbers don’t lie, so the saying goes. And in the United States, statistics about women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) seem to speak less than impressive volumes of truth. Here are the facts: In 2021, only 24% of people working in the United States held jobs in a STEM field1. And while women made up 50.5% of the total U.S. population2, they accounted for only 35% of people employed in STEM jobs.1 Moreover, out of the 24% of all people who worked in STEM1, 65% of...

Next-Gen Scientific Changemakers: An Infectious Disease Specialist on a Mission to Develop Vaccines

Soldiers, firefighters and police officers likely come to mind when you think of professions that require a good amount of courage. But Iona Munjal, a physician and pediatric infectious disease specialist who helps design and oversee vaccine clinical trials for Pfizer, argues scientists should be counted among this group, too. “You have to be brave in research,” she says. “When you’re out there pushing the envelope, you have to expect to fail more times than you succeed — that’s an essential...

Unlocking the Secrets of Biology With Novel 3D Imaging Technology

Shoh Asano’s grandfather first taught him how to use a microscope as a child. He’d pull the antique instrument from its wooden box to examine leaves and other specimens gathered outdoors. “I’ve always been interested in looking deeper into the natural world to visualize life directly as it’s happening,” says Asano, who grew up in Germany. Three decades later, Asano is among a group of researchers recognized for using cutting-edge microscopy techniques to show the mouse brain in unprecedented...