60: Creating Your Own Opportunities, with Yasmeen Long, Director, FasterCures, A Center of the Milken Institute

Meet Yasmeen Long:

Yasmeen Long is the Director of FasterCures, a Center of the Milken Institute. Previously, she served as the co-director of the Health Policy Fellowships and Leadership Programs at the National Academy of Medicine and as a Program Officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. She was also a Research Program Manager at the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Yasmeen received a B.Sc. in Health sciences and Health Management from Howard University, and a M.A. in Sociology and Women’s Health from Suffolk University. 

Key Insights:

Yasmeen Long has been intentional in her leadership and career. 

Getting a Foot in the Door. Yasmeen wanted to work at Johns Hopkins. So, after graduating from Howard she moved to Baltimore, became a temp for Johns Hopkins, cultivated relationships with faculty, and ultimately was hired in a full-time position. (5:11)Finding Common Ground. Yasmeen’s international travels taught her to think differently about the world. She learned to juggle technical and interpersonal skills, finding common ground while working with diverse groups. (17:19)Believe in Yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. There is a self-care component to that, ensuring that you feel good so that you can focus on what matters to you. (21:31)

This episode is hosted by Ceci Connolly. She is a member of the Advisory Council for Her Story and President and CEO of the Alliance of Community Health Plans.

Relevant Links:

Learn more about FasterCures at the Milken InstituteRead Yasmeen’s report about “Achieving Health Equity: A Multi-Stakeholder Action Plan to Address Diversity across the Clinical Trials Enterprise and the Biomedical Research Ecosystem”Follow Yasmeen on Twitter