LaShell Robinson

Senior Director, Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Clinical Research at Takeda Pharmaceuticals

Speaker

LaShell Robinson brings industry experience inclusive of both service providers and sponsors. Prior to joining Takeda in xxx, LaShell held the position of Clinical Operations Lead, Diversity & Inclusion in Clinical Trials (DICT) within the Global Development, Portfolio Management team at Janssen Research & Development. In this role, she supported the vision to ensure that all patients have access to innovative, high quality care and the best possible health outcome regardless of race or ethnicity. LaShell was responsible for providing strategic and tactical support to studies with a focus on enhancing diversity and inclusion in their trials. In that role, she established a roadmap to enable the support of multiple therapeutic areas including the COVID-19 vaccine portfolio. LaShell was instrumental in standing up community engagement programs that aimed at increasing education & awareness about the importance of clinical research and why representation matters.

Prior to the establishment of the DICT department at Janssen LaShell, was a core member of the Diversity in Clinical Trial working group. Her other roles included Investigator & Patient Engagement Portfolio team within Clinical Insights & Experience as a Program Manager responsible for developing and operationalizing global site & patient engagement strategies related to enhancing recruitment and retention. Her key responsibilities included critically evaluating protocols, examining the patient population affected by the disease and other relevant data, to identify gaps and opportunities for implementation. LaShell’s previous roles included site & patient engagement, supporting site selection and site monitoring at the CRO level.

Before entering the pharmaceutical industry, LaShell’s first career was a science and mathematics teacher in Florida public schools.

She has a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of South Florida and is a proud alumna of Tuskegee University where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in both Biology & Physics. At Tuskegee, she saw firsthand the impact historical clinical trial patient experiences had on research. This continues to fuel and influence her passion for educating others about clinical research and the patient experience. LaShell resides in Maryland with her husband and their 2 children. In her spare time, she loves spending time with her family, reading, physical fitness and volunteering within her community.