Born in Nigeria, Yusuf Oni moved to the U.S. 15 years ago. A chemical engineer interested in medical research, he came east to New Jersey for his graduate studies at Princeton University so he could also do research in cancer, specifically the development of drug delivery devices.

Following a car accident, Oni experienced back pain that couldn’t be alleviated even with extensive therapy. An MRI showed some irregularities, and following a CT scan, Oni was diagnosed with kidney cancer. “My oncologist thought it was benign and told me to wait a few months to see if the tumor would grow,” he recalled.

Another MRI showed the tumor was growing rapidly. A biopsy during subsequent surgery revealed it to be malignant.

“When I was diagnosed, it was difficult to study or spend time with friends,” said Oni. “I would drive to a lake by the school and cry my eyes out. Then I would go back home and act like life was good.”

Surgery scheduled to last six hours took almost an entire day. Following a partial kidney removal – he now has a kidney and a half – Oni keeps his cancer in check with annual extensive imaging.

Oni, now the father of three boys, was featured on this year’s Stand Up To Cancer telethon, which brought together TV networks and some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities to raise money for cancer research. Bristol-Myers Squibb was a corporate sponsor of the event.

Looking back on the life-changing experience, Oni, a principal packaging engineer in Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Global Product Development & Supply facility in New Brunswick, N.J., says, “I saw people who could use my help. Being an engineer and someone who was well versed in cancer research, I was really interested in making a difference for other cancer patients. When the opportunity to work at BMS presented itself three years ago, I couldn’t pass it up.”

Earlier this year, Jen McKee, a Bristol-Myers Squibb immuno-oncology sales representative in Baltimore for more than four years, discovered a lump on her breast during a routine self-examination. Upon learning she had breast cancer, Jen realized she had no idea what to expect as a patient despite her professional experience.

"I live in oncology offices and infusion centers every day for my job," she said. "But what I discovered when I was diagnosed is I knew just a teeny, tiny tip of the iceberg of what the patient journey is really like."

McKee had a crash course in the patient journey, including the emotional side of a cancer diagnosis, family concerns, financial pressures and balancing her professional life.

"It can be overwhelming," said McKee, a wife and mother of three young children.

McKee didn't realize that there was a vast array of resources available to Bristol-Myers Squibb employees affected by cancer, including a broad range of services and support the company provides.

"We don't just provide services and resources for patients on our treatments," McKee said. "We also want to take care of our own."

Dr. David Shepperly, Leader of Employee Health and Fitness, has been working to increase the visibility of services and benefits Bristol-Myers Squibb offers employees directly affected by cancer — either as patients or caregivers. 

For employees in the U.S., this includes mammography vans that visit the workplace; on-site skin cancer screenings; counseling that helps smokers kick the habit; and healthy choices in the cafeteria.

These are just a few of the health and wellness programs that helped Bristol-Myers Squibb earn the CEO Cancer Gold Standard accreditation, which recognizes the efforts of companies in the U.S. committed to reducing the risk of cancer among their employees and covered family members.

In addition, Shepperly and McKee recently began discussing further enhancements the company could make based on McKee's personal perspective as well as her professional experience working with oncologists and other healthcare professionals.

"I recognize now that BMS is the very best place to be, not only from a professional perspective but also a personal one," McKee said. 

It's a rare opportunity for a medicinal chemist to discover a molecule that progresses in the clinic. To discover one that could potentially treat a disease they've suffered from since adolescence is almost unheard of in science. But Ryan Moslin, a senior research investigator at Bristol-Myers Squibb, may have done it.

Since joining Bristol-Myers Squibb's immunology research team in 2010, Moslin has been instrumental in the research and development of TYK2, an investigational inhibitor with the potential to treat autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis – a condition he has.

On his first day, Moslin started working on a small molecule to selectively inhibit TYK2, a member of the Janus (JAK) family of non-receptor tyrosine kinases. The asset recently completed its Phase 2 proof-of-concept trial in adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

"For medicinal chemists, playing a role like this from start to finish in a drug discovery and development program doesn't really happen more than once a career," Moslin said. "I'm appreciating the moment as much as I can, because it may not happen again."

As a kid, Moslin didn't think he would grow up to be a scientist. Over time, as he honed his natural ability for math and developed an affinity for chemistry, he increasingly embraced what made him different.

He did the same throughout college and graduate school at MIT, where he earned a doctorate in chemistry with a focus on organic synthesis and did post-doctoral research in materials science. Moslin liked that the two routes of study were different, and saw how, when brought together, they could be complementary in working to overcome difficult problems.

When asked what gets Moslin out of bed and into the lab each morning, the answer comes easily.

"It sounds a bit cliché, but I get up because of my kids," he said. "Parenting is a challenge. I do believe that a terrible amount of hard work, patience and love will solve almost any problem. However, there are problems that can't be solved that way. For some of those problems, that's where medicine may come in."

Moslin remembers his own struggles with psoriasis as a teenager. He's able to understand the impact potential new treatments could have on a person's life.

"The idea that you can help… if not your child, then someone else's child – even 10 years down the road – and that someone else is working on something that may help my child one day, is what it's all about," Moslin said. "You come to work for the next generation."