Celebrating our differences to make CorneaGen a more equitable place to work and innovate.
Join Our TeamAt CorneaGen, we are dedicated to transforming how ophthalmologists treat and care for every person impacted by corneal disease – regardless of financial resources, skin color, race, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within our organization is critically important. Creating a culture of Equity isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also the smart thing to do for our employees to accomplish our Mission, by serving surgeons, patients, and donor families.
CorneaGen is an Antiracist Organization. Racist ideas, behavior, and policies have no place here. Our ongoing diversity-focused internship program is just one example of how we are holding ourselves accountable and are committed to making positive change within our industry.
Hear from our President and CEO, Bernie Iliakis, as he speaks in an interview for Inside the OWL Studio, about CorneaGen’s approach to diversity, inclusion and belonging, and the many ways this is part of who CorneaGen is.
Celebrating National Native American Heritage Month: Watch Simera Nichols (Director of Partner Relations and Strategic Communications, San Antonio Eye Bank) and Tricia Rodriguez (Senior Hospital Services and Partnership Specialist, San Antonio Eye Bank) talk about Tricia’s heritage and connecting with her indigenous side.
Celebrating Women’s History Month: Watch Katie Sachs (Learning and Development Manager, Seattle) and Christina Cooper (Director Quality Insurance, Seattle) talk about Christina’s tenure at CorneaGen, her background and how it all lead to the work she does at CorneaGen.
Our foundational DE&I programs aim to support our employees, our clients, and our industry. Read more about our work:
Since we made the promise in June of 2020 to ensure that members of the Black community in the United States are not deprived of a sight restoring cornea transplant due to finances, we have provided 653 gratis tissues to Black and other diverse communities.
We have had four interns of color since we started the program in 2021 (one each in our Cell Therapy, Distribution, Human Resources, and Technical Services departments).
Employees at CorneaGen have accumulated 2,015 hours of DE&I training so far (June 2020 to Nov 2022)!
CorneaGen has employees in 8 offices and 28 states – all from different backgrounds and with unique origin stories.
CorneaGen has a longstanding commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), from our humble beginnings as a non-profit Lions Eye Bank, to our founding partner’s (SightLife) work in developing countries to restore sight, to our drive to end corneal blindness for all.
Our journey to build and refine our DE&I strategy formally started three years ago, and we’ve made so much progress.
CorneaGen formalized its commitment to DE&I by engaging with Potential Unleashed Consulting to deliver executive coaching, employee foundational DE&I training, and support and coaching for employee led equity teams.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at CorneaGen today.
CorneaGen Commitment to Black Lives Matter
To make a measurable impact within our own industry, CorneaGen committed $100,000 annually to ensure that members of the Black community in the United States are not deprived of a sight restoring cornea transplant due to finances.
CorneaGen Starts Internship Program
To make sure that the next generation can break through, CorneaGen commits $30,000 per year to create paid internships for trainees wishing to learn the skills and gain the experience needed to become lab technicians, quality control coordinators and operations professionals. Our goal is to recruit young professionals of color to these roles.
Learn more about internship program
CorneaGen Leadership Begin Executive DE&I Coaching and Strategy
Potential Unleashed guides our executives through sessions to develop a shared language; build a DE&I vision and rationale connected to a business case for the work and align it with organizational goals; and cultivate relationships based on supporting each other in accountable and transparent growth toward the organization’s DE&I vision.
CorneaGen Hires First 2 Interns of Color
All CorneaGen Staff Begin DE&I Training
Potential Unleashed leads all CorneaGen staff through listening sessions, which provide staff with the opportunity to share thoughts and feelings, hear colleagues, and sit with the “big ideas” of DE&I.
Foundational Training on Equity and Belonging for All CorneaGen Staff
All staff go through 8 hours of live, foundational DE&I training in small cohorts.
Internal DEI Learning Site Created
CorneaGen begins creating an internal DE&I learning site, to share recommended training, books, videos, etc. with staff.
DE&I Fridays Learning Series
CorneaGen L&D hosts an optional, virtual Friday discussion series where staff can watch a short video (of various DE&I topics) and share thoughts and experiences in discussion.
CorneaGen Forms Our Inaugural Equity Team
Our first Equity Team is comprised of 10 members from 7/10 different departments and 5/9 different office locations.
See more about our Equity Team.
Equity Team Creates Internal CorneaGen DE&I Site
The Equity Team creates an internal DE&I website as a place to share resources with all of CorneaGen, post updates on the active projects the team is working on, and to solicit input from CorneaGen staff.
Equity Team Launches Committee for Community Service and Giveback
The Equity Team forms a committee to focus on our external communities and finding ways to support and give back. This committee includes staff from all office locations.
CEO Coaching Sessions
Our CEO begins 1:1 equity coaching sessions with Potential Unleashed.
CorneaGen Launches Our “Diversity Statement”
The Equity Team and the CorneaGen leadership work together to craft a statement that reflects our strategy and mission, and our commitment to equity, inclusion, and diversity.
Equity Team and Executive Team Complete “Equity Lab”
The two teams participate in 4 hours of education, focusing on approaches to real-world scenarios and how CorneaGen might handle similar situations in the future.
The CorneaGen Equity Team formed at the beginning of 2022. This team is comprised of CorneaGeners from across the company, from different departments and levels, and from a variety of backgrounds and lived experiences. The Equity Team works to provide DE&I learning experiences for the company, to champion DE&I projects (like this webpage), be the voice of our peers to our leadership, and promote DE&I principles in all of our work.
