Reframe Problems, Create Solutions
Safe Haven Dialogues has introduced Equity, Inclusion and Individual Engagement (EIIE) as the next phase of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).
Who We Are
Safe Haven Dialogues was founded in May 2020 in response to the public murder of George Perry Floyd Jr. The futile and powerless pleas of the sympathetic witnesses to stop this horrific act deeply affected Dr. Douglas. He resolved to focus on enabling and empowering individuals to reduce the impact that systemic discrimination can have on their wellbeing.
The mission of Safe Haven Dialogues is to enable individuals and organizations to find productive solutions to conscious and unconscious acts of systemic discrimination. Safe Haven Dialogues LLC (SHD) uses its Reframing Process to achieve its mission
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Reframe for Resilience
Safe Haven Dialogues has introduced Equity, Inclusion and Individual Engagement (EIIE) as the next phase of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).
The Safe Haven Dialogues Reframing Process is described and demonstrated in the book, entitled: Addressing Systemic Discrimination by Reframing the Problem, by Dr. Frank L. Douglas.
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 Meet the FounderÂ
Dr. Frank L. Douglas Ph. D., M.D.
An award-winning industry veteran with more than three decades of experience in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and entrepreneurship, Douglas has held leadership roles in both large and small biopharmaceutical companies. Prominent among these was his role as Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Management of Aventis SA (now Sanofi), where he was responsible for global research, development, regulatory affairs, and marketing support. He led teams that were responsible for the development and marketing approval of many drugs, including Allegra, Lantus, Taxotere, and Actonel. He was also Chief Scientific Advisor of Bayer Healthcare AG and served on the Boards of several Biopharmaceutical companies, including as Chairman for Alantos Pharmaceutical Inc. This company was sold to Amgen.
Douglas has also held academic positions including Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Hypertension Clinic at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. While at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Douglas was a Professor of the Practice at the MIT Sloan School of Management and also held similar appointments in the departments of biology, biological engineering, and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and was the founder and first executive director of the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation. Douglas has introduced and implemented several innovative concepts in industry and academia. These include Value Driven Engineering, The Accountable Care Community, the i6 Process for transforming bedside observations into innovative products, and the use of Chemical Biology in Drug Discovery. He was a University Professor in the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, University of Akron, where, in collaboration with three hospitals and the Northeast Ohio Medical University, several of his concepts were implemented.
Awards and Honors
Douglas is the recipient of the 2007 Black History Makers Award and has been honored twice as the Global Pharmaceutical R&D Director of the Year, in recognition of his leadership and success in improving innovation and productivity in pharmaceutical companies. He has also received the Medal of Honor and an Honorary Professorship from the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. He was honored as one of Geoffrey Beene Gives Back® and GQ Magazine’s 2010 Rock Stars of Science™, and received the Caribbean Luminary Award from the American Foundation for The University of the West Indies and the Executive of the Year Award from the local affiliate of Sales and Marketing Executives International. Other awards include the NOBCChe Lifetime Achievement Award, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest’s Odyssey Award, and the Louis B. Russell Memorial American Heart Association Award.
Douglas is the senior partner emeritus of PureTech Ventures. He is a former member of the Battelle Memorial Institute Board of Directors, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Advisory Council (NIH), BioOhio Board of Directors, Governor Kasich’s Ohio Medical Corridor initiative, national chairman of the Value-driven Engineering and U.S. Global Competitiveness initiative, and was a member of the Lehigh University Board of Trustees.
Academic Training
Douglas holds a BS in Chemistry from Lehigh University, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, and an M.D. from Cornell University. He did his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution and a fellowship in neuroendocrinology at the National Institutes of Health.
Meet the VIPS
Victors in overcoming Injustice in their Professions:
A key feature of Safe Haven Dialogues is the role of the VIPs-Victors in overcoming Injustice in their Professions. They serve as members of panels that help the aggrieved individuals find productive solutions by Reframing the Problem.
Stories from our colleagues
One of the fortune 500 companies had a position open for a manager. I had been working as the assistant manager for over two years. I applied for the job; however, the Vice President indicated I didn’t have the required experience. I ran the department while they searched for a manager. They gave the job to a white female with only a high school diploma. The VP indicated it was my job to train her and get her up to speed. How am I qualified to train the manager if I’m not qualified for the job? Why weren’t they concerned I would teach her incorrectly? I felt this was a case of Racism.
—VS
Derrick Albert Bell Jr. was an American lawyer, professor, and civil rights, activist. In 1971, he became the first tenured African American professor of law at Harvard Law School. Attorney Bell cited in his book “Faces at the Bottom of the Well” that every African American, regardless of who you are, will experience racism in America. Racism is an integral and permanent part of American society. Systemic racism is, in my mind, the most critical issue in the United States today, and it has been so since the founding of our nation. Systemic racism is ingrained in nearly every way People of Color move through society in the policies and practices at institutions such as banks, schools, companies, government agencies, and especially law enforcement. Collective Responsibility is needed when our society is facing unprecedented disruption and upheaval, and public tax dollars are being used to support business solvency and liquidity of these institutions that have practiced systemic racism for generations.
-LM
While serving on the University Board of Trustees, I was invited to have dinner after a Board Meeting in Manhattan by a Fellow Trustee who was a retired steel executive. He selected an exclusive restaurant normally requiring reservations weeks in advance. Without a reservation, within moments after our arrival we were seated and my fellow Trustee accosted our waiter to have the owner come to our table. I was the only Black in the restaurant (including waiters and bus staff). The dining room was the size of a classroom and anything said above normal conversational tone could be heard by all the diners. Perhaps 10 minutes later, the owner – Leon Leonidas- comes to our table. My host then booms …Leon, this is my friend Reggie. He is the only (n word) on the Board of Trustees. At this, the restaurant became perfectly still. I chose not to make a scene and the other diners went back to their meal. I am confident that my fellow Trustee was totally unaware of this affront which, I am convinced, in his mind was an intended compliment.
-RJ
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