3 minute read
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
As the son of a mixed Dutch-Italian couple, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Country Manager Marco Fossatelli knows just how important it is to be accepted for who you are, both in daily life and in the workplace. Having worked as a scientist, chemist and researcher at various pharmaceutical companies, Marco helped set up Alnylam Netherlands four and a half years ago. The global biopharmaceutical company, which now employs fifty people of twenty different nationalities at its premises in Zuidas, is specialized in developing medications that treat rare diseases by employing a self-developed revolutionary technology, able to stop the production of harmful proteins. We met with Marco at Alnylam’s offices in the Cross Towers to talk about the organization’s history and its take on diversity, equity and inclusion.
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Impact on patients and families Marco is a scientific researcher by training whose path eventually led him into the pharmaceutical world: “I started out doing lab work looking for specific types of medicines. Basically, that involved lots of experimenting with substances. But I was less interested in research, and more in the industry. I switched to the commercial side fairly early in my career, and in the last 15 years to biotech, centring on modern technologies. I was one of the first employees to join Alnylam Nederland here in Zuidas. My job was to set up our Benelux division and launch our first medication to treat a rare hereditary condition. Needless to say, it was an exciting time! I’m now country manager for the Netherlands, with responsibility for local operations and our large international office here in Amsterdam. Our mission is to help people who are ill and haven’t been able to get good treatment for a long time, so that’s very rewarding work. Developing the right medications has a massive impact on patients and their families.”
Sense of belonging: good for staff, good for the company From the outset, diversity and inclusion have been front and centre at Alnylam Amsterdam, Marco emphasizes. “Our
thinking is that when you really incorporate D&I in the company culture, people will feel they belong. That helps them tap their full potential, to grow and to do what they’re good at. It’s positive for them as they get satisfaction out of their work, but also for the company as a whole since people contribute more, the quality of their output is better and they might even carry on working longer as well. It’s also a central facet of our scientific research. Given that we have to develop visions on how to solve problems, it’s essential to get varied input about issues, problems and questions.”
Diversity, equity and inclusion are fun According to Marco, you can’t leave D&I to chance: “We have developed a whole internal framework around this topic. We offer awareness training and our HR department prioritizes diversity when hiring people. We want D&I to be an explicit consideration, and at the same time of course to ensure that employees with equal qualities get equal pay. Age, sex, gender and background are irrelevant. What matters is that you do your job well. Also crucial is creating a safe space where people feel they can report concerns. We have targeted internal protocols for that. Different groups have been organized bottom-up within Alnylam for women, people with multicultural backgrounds, the LGBTQIA+ community and parents of children. Everyone’s free to join these groups and show support for one another and celebrate things together. Our internal surveys bear out that employees really appreciate this. Just recently, a Spanish co-worker said to me, ‘Diversity, equity and inclusion are more fun than you’d think’, and I suppose that’s the crux. Lots of people feel like it’s obligatory or being force-fed, but once you delve deeper into it, you come back with new outlooks on life and get to know your colleagues better, which is so enriching.”
Marco Fossatelli
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Antonio Vivaldistraat 150 1083 HP Amsterdam info@alnylam.nl www.alnylam.nl
