Shir Netanel

Shir Netanel is an accomplished leader in the field of healthcare advocacy and clinical trial management, currently serving as the Associate Director of Patient Advocacy and Clinical Trial Advocacy within the Global Medical Affairs Oncology division at Johnson & Johnson. With a background in biological sciences and a deep commitment to social justice, Shir has dedicated her career to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to advance beyond industry standards when it comes to representation in clinical trials.

At Johnson & Johnson, Shir leverages her lived experience as a queer individual to spearheaded initiatives that advocate for the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ folx in clinical research, determinedly working to break down barriers and promote understanding. In this role, she challenges traditional approaches to caring for queer communities by dispelling the stigma that associates the community solely with infectious diseases and mental health. Instead, Shir encourages people to view the work through a lens that recognizes how the SDoH impacts intersecting marginalized communities within sexual orientation, gender identity (SOGI) groups, and how they can profoundly impact health outcomes. A direct outcome of her efforts is the initiation of the LIBERTAS study – which is one of the first degendered and transgender inclusive prostate cancer clinical studies and serves as a foundational model for SGM inclusion in research.