Community Outreach

Community Outreach Update - Job Shadow Day

On June 8, 2010, Cubist participated in the statewide Biotechnology Job Shadow Day sponsored and organized by the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation (MassBioEd) and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio) as part of an ongoing effort to increase interest in careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Twenty-eight Cubist employees mentored 25 students and three teachers from Lexington High School. The day included one-on-one job shadowing as well as lab tours and scientific demonstrations. More than 350 Massachusetts high school students spent their day at 12 participating companies, shadowing biotechnology professionals as part of the first-ever statewide Biotechnology Job Shadow Day.

Mike Bonney Co-authors Article on Finding STEM Educators

Mike Bonney and Pat Kirby, executive director of Citizen Schools Massachusetts, co-authored an article for CommonWealth Magazine, called "Tap colleges, firms for STEM educators," that explores ways to enlist STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) professionals around the country to help close the STEM achievement gap between students in the U.S. and those in other developed countries. Mike and Pat cite the recent success of Citizen Schools as an example, and reason that such effort would benefit not only the K-12 children of today, but also companies looking to hire the well-qualified employees of tomorrow.

Cubist Corporate Giving Program Forum

State government officials, Cubist management, and employees who have been involved with the Corporate Giving Program convened at Cubist in Lexington on March 27th, 2009, to hear from six non-profit organizations that received Cubist grants totaling $100,000 in 2008, the first year of the company's formal giving program. Cubist President and CEO Mike Bonney addressed the group and stressed the importance of Cubist's corporate giving initiative, not only as a cultural imperative within the company, but also as a necessary example of corporate citizenship within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and beyond.

J. D. LaRock, Policy Director for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education, and chief policy advisor to Secretary of Education Paul Reville, spoke at the event. He said, "Massachusetts is a leader in scientific innovation. An educated workforce in the areas of science and math will be critical for Cubist to continue its success and growth and for Massachusetts to be competitive with other states. Cubist's Corporate Giving Program supports the Governor's vision on education by ensuring that young people will have the opportunity to participate in the future of our technology-based economy."

Click here to see full-size photos.

Cubist's Dave Mantus Appeared in FOX Public Service Announcement

On December 3, 2009, the local FOX television affiliate (FOX25) sent a camera crew to tape an interview with Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Dave Mantus for a public service announcement (PSA) about volunteerism. Click here for the FOX News "Salute to our Volunteers" piece which honors those who help make the holidays better for others.

MassEcon Award

Mike Bonney accepts the Gold-level Award in the Greater Boston Region MassEcon Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Awards from Susan Houston, Executive
Director of MassEcon. Click here to read the press release.

Dave Mantus WOW!s the Crowd at Citizen Schools Gala
Cubist VP Named First-Ever Citizen Teacher of the Year

It's one thing to be a dedicated volunteer, sacrificing one's time for the sake of a good cause, say, teaching middle school students about rocket science during extended learning time. It's quite another to be recognized as the standout volunteer of the past year by an organization with more than 3,200 volunteers. Dave Mantus, Cubist's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, accomplished that very feat when he was named Citizen Schools' first "Citizen Teacher of the Year" at its recent WOW! recognition banquet. However, Dave is quick to redirect the spotlight away from him and on to the immensely meaningful work being done by the nationwide non-profit organization that was founded in Boston in 1995. Read more »

Citizen Schools

We are especially proud of our association with the Citizen Schools apprenticeship program, a community outreach program targeted at the afterschool block of time for middle-school children in Boston and other cities. In 2007, a group of Cubist volunteers participated in a 10-week session at the Edison School in Brighton, Massachusetts. Each week the volunteers spent approximately 90 minutes with the students as they developed fictional medicines and learned about the challenges and rewards of drug development. At the end of the 10-week session, four groups of students visited the Cubist campus and presented posters describing their projects that had to do with drug development for diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The students spent approximately two hours at Cubist as the culmination of their work in the program, which is called their WOW! In addition to creating informative and attractive posters, they were tasked with answering questions and asking questions of some Cubist employees. Among the many supportive employees present were President and CEO Mike Bonney, Executive Vice President and COO Rob Perez, and Vice President of Non-Clinical Development Rick Oleson. The plan is to formalize the 10-week session into a modular program that will be made available to other companies who wish to replicate Cubist's success.