VMAIL Weekend had an opportunity to talk with Johnson & Johnson Vision’s Thomas Swinnen earlier this month. Swinnen, who is president, North America, with responsibility for J&J Vision’s U.S. and Canadian businesses, is a strong supporter of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives. J&J Vision was one of the first companies to sign the 13% Promise, an initiative created by Black EyeCare Perspective to increase equity and representation in the industry and in optometry schools by increasing the number of Black students to mirror the 13 percent of Black people in the U.S. population. Swinnen spoke to Weekend about DE&I and how J&J Vision is working with its partners to increase diversity and support underprivileged students in the U.S. 

Question 1: A number of companies have become more involved and supportive of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs over the past few years. And Johnson & Johnson Vision seems to be among the leaders in these efforts. How did Johnson & Johnson decide to become so active in DE&I?

A: This is not new for us. Our credo guides us in this space, also. It talks about community, about supporting doctors, patients and nurses, and the credo is 80 years old. So it's always been in our DNA. And also the actions we've shown over the years kind of demonstrate that [type of thinking]. And I think doubling down on this even more in the last couple of years is what everyone has seen us do.


Question 2: What are some of the most recent J&J Vision initiatives in DE&I that you're most proud?

A: First of all, I'm very proud of my team. As I said, this is part of our DNA and part of who we are. We are a diverse group of people with a lot of respect for each other. But we also understand—and COVID made this even more visible—that not everybody has the privilege to have the same access or the same opportunities for eyecare and health care in general. That's where the team wants to make sure that we support the external environment. 

What I'm really proud of is that we recently signed on to work with Black EyeCare Perspective. And that's a collaboration. We call it the 13% Promise, which is equivalent to the percentage of Black people in the U.S. population. One of the goals is to make sure we encourage access to eye health, and also to make sure our doctors and optometrists and our partners here are represented appropriately. We were the first company to sign this 13% Promise, and we were the first to commit to it. 




Johnson & Johnson Vision showed its support of DE&I programs with its new partnership with the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. Shown at the announcement, held during the SECO 2022 meeting in New Orleans, are (l to r) Dr. Michael Bacigalupi, ASCO secretary and dean, University of Pikeville, Kentucky College of Optometry; Dawn Mancuso, EVP/CEO of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry; Dr. Charissa Lee, head, Professional Affairs North America at J&J Vision; Dr. Kelly Nichols, ASCO president and dean, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry; Dr. Melissa Trego, ASCO president elect and dean, Salus University, Pennsylvania College of Optometry; Thomas Swinnen, president, North America at J&J Vision; and Dr. Howard Purcell, president and CEO, New England College of Optometry.
Question 3: Do you think because of the size of Johnson & Johnson Vision and its heritage that it makes what you're doing more impactful?

A: It starts by being humble. We hope we can use our size for good in this area, but we need to be humble. And that's also why we're working [frequently] with partners. It allows us to be in sync with them, and they will tell us where we're doing great things and where we can do more and better things. 

Another partner that we’re working with is Sight for Kids. It's a program that was mainly run outside of the U.S. for more than 20 years and which has served more than 30 million kids so far. We brought them into the U.S. to also help us. For example, they provide school programs offering eye health exams for underprivileged children, which includes many children who are diverse. Already last year, we helped about 20,000 children. So we want to do [these things] ourselves, and at J&J we have a program called “Our Race to Health Equity.” 

But we also fully understand that this does require collaboration and partnerships.


Question 4: With respect to the leadership team at J&J Vision, what are the things you and your team are doing personally in the area of DE&I?

A: Yes, of course. First of all, I have two daughters, and they are 17 and 18. They keep me honest. It’s not because I feel I need to be challenged, but they do keep me accountable. And they're asking me those questions. 

I think a second piece of this, as a leader, is active listening. Sometimes it's uncomfortable having those conversations. And I was talking to [a colleague] earlier this this week. We were recalling that, about a year ago we spoke with Emmanuel Acho, who wrote the book, “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man,” and we had the opportunity as a team to talk with him. [What we learned is that] listening and learning are very important to being an active ally and standing for what we promote, which is inclusion, diversity, respect, and really making a difference. This is really close to our heart across the entire team.


Question 5: Are there recommendations you would give to other companies to help them be more proactive in this area?

A: It's always difficult to comment on what others should do, because everything starts with what can you do better yourself. I think this is a ‘society’ challenge. It's something that we need to solve as a society. There’s no doubt eye health is one of the most challenging and fastest growing issues we have today from a health perspective. We know myopia itself is going to double in the next 20 years in the U.S. alone, and that’s nearly 200 million Americans that [will] need vision correction of sorts in one way or another. And that's really terrifying.

If we don't tackle this [DE&I issue] as an industry, we won't be ready for the influx of need. We need to ensure it's both standard of care as well as providing greater access. Of course, it's great when you have a great standard of care, but when there’s limited access you haven’t solved the problem. And [we need to do] more to reach out to everybody in this industry. We can do this together. We've done this before, and we can do it again. So it's more of a ‘request’ than me telling anyone what they should do.