Hanna Krueger’s insightful article, “In the shadows of progress: COVID widened the gulf between The Port and Kendall Square” (Page A1, Feb. 28), dramatically elucidates the impact of income inequality between people who work in the life sciences industry and their Cambridge neighbors who struggle with poverty. What is not portrayed in the article is the substantial contributions coming from the biotech community through Life Science Cares, the industry’s collective effort to address poverty in Cambridge and across the Boston area.
Life Science Cares aggregates human and financial resources from the life sciences industry and deploys them through 27 nonprofit partners. Since 2016, this collective effort has resulted in millions of dollars donated to help those affected by poverty, thousands of volunteer hours from biotechnology employees giving their time and talent to assist their neighbors, and programs such as Project Onramp, which enables first-generation college students and students of color to be placed in paid internships in local biotech companies.
The biotechnology industry is not only focused on finding life-saving medicines to affect human health but is also using its dollars, creativity, and innovation to give back to those in need.
Rob Perez
Founder and chairman
Life Science Cares
Boston
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