Cubist Pharmaceuticals prides itself on being a good neighbor and is committed to improving the quality of life and enhancing the vitality of the communities in which it operates. We encourage members of our staff to volunteer on behalf of local community organizations. Our personnel are active in art, civic and environmental groups and initiatives and have provided assistance to educational groups, in particular science by providing science mentoring and classroom visits.
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."
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On December 3, 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.
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.
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 »
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.