The shared mission of the Lupus Research Alliance and our clinical research affiliate Lupus Therapeutics places people impacted by lupus at the center of all we do. We apply the same spirit and principles toward building a more inclusive organization by also putting our staff, partners, and communities at the center of our equity efforts. We do this because it is part of our core values and because we believe it strengthens our research efforts and impact to benefit from a variety of lived experiences contributing to our important work. We are carrying out activities around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) after an assessment of our organizational culture, practices, and impact. These include re-vitalizing a formal DEI committee, conducting a pay-equity analysis, training staff around inclusive leadership, developing a guide for inclusive language, and undergoing a benefits review which led to the addition of a generous fully paid parental leave benefit. In addition, we have revamped our performance management processes to help grow our most important resource – our talented staff.
While we are proud of the LRA work so far, we recognize there is still much more to be done. We will continue to pursue ways to remove barriers to full inclusion, participation, and equity in everything we do – both internally through our DEI work and externally through our Health Equity work to embrace all populations affected by lupus in searching for new treatments and advancing to a cure. Collectively, this work is a critical part of our organizational goals, ensuring we stay on track and accountable to our commitments.
