Weiyi Zheng says he loves his career in the New Jersey suburbs, but he wouldn't turn down an opportunity to return to his native China. And thanks to the increasing globalization of the pharma industry workforce, his employer just might give him the chance.

Zheng earned his PhD in the United States and now works in clinical and preclinical drug development at Novartis Pharmaceuticals' sprawling campus in East Hanover, NJ. Under the right circumstances, Zheng says, he could see himself doing the same work in China. He says he's not ready to make the move right now, but he knows the potential exists, since Novartis is one of many life science companies expanding operations overseas.

"I have an advantage because I know both sides. I know the language and the culture there, and just as important, I know the way Novartis does business," says Zheng, 43. "There's a great opportunity for Chinese-Americans to participate in that. And maybe the opportunity will happen."

Zheng's story illustrates a shift in the way both executives and employees in the life sciences are viewing diversity. Thanks to the continuing stream of educated foreign-born people coming to the United States to study and work, as well as life science companies' growing presence overseas, it's no longer a simple case of black and white, or pink collar versus blue collar.

"There's no question that the world has changed, although there are a few different patterns driving this," says Fiona Murray, an associate professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Murray specializes in science policy and scientific competitiveness. "The overriding challenge, though, is to find the right people, and in the United States, people are beginning to ask if there are places to look outside the country for ideas and employees."

Global pharma companies are increasing their manufacturing capacities around the world, particularly in Asia, in part to tap into local markets. Smaller companies based in other countries may be potential partners for developing unique drugs, and they offer fertile ground for recruiting desirable employees. As more clinical trial work takes place overseas, a more diverse workforce can also be helpful in both understanding how diseases affect various ethnic groups and recruiting patients for such trials.

All this spells something of a trend, because life science companies are scrambling to find the best-qualified applicants to meet those goals. But quantifying the trend is difficult. Experts say numbers are hard to find, and various industry groups, such the Pharmaceutical and Manufacturers Research Association and Biotechnology Industry Organization, don't keep tabs on life science employees who are coming from Asia and other regions or, conversely, return overseas to work for a drug-maker's foreign affiliate.

"I don't think anyone tracks this, from a workforce standpoint, because companies don't want to put it out there," says Jeremiah White, chairman of The Osiris Group, a Philadelphia-based business strategy and marketing firm that specializes in life sciences. "There's no pressure to track the numbers, anyway."

Still, observers say the trend is real. Companies are increasingly hiring people who understand other cultures, legal systems, and ways of doing business. "As a result, I think that with many life science companies in the United States, you'll find their domestic workforces are increasingly diverse," Murray says.

Life science companies, or any company, for that matter, increasingly need people who can build trust, communicate effectively, exhibit leadership, function successfully in teams, and manage others amid a swirl of different cultural dynamics, according to Andres Tapia, chief diversity officer and emerging workforce solutions leader at Hewitt Associates, the consulting firm.

"Companies have been blindsided by cross-cultural differences," says Tapia, who is based in Lincolnshire, Ill. "So the most strategic thing is to equip the organization to manage those differences. It's difficult, though, because the center of power is shifting from the United States to other countries. The big multinationals increasingly have big chunks of their workforces based outside the country. So I see great opportunity for companies and qualified people."

Consider Novartis. In addition to its New Jersey campus, the Swiss drug maker, with a growing research facility in Cambridge, Mass., has 820 research and development job openings worldwide. The company must attract capable scientists from around the globe to compete with rivals eyeing the same therapeutic categories and the same emerging markets, according to Ron Califre, senior vice president of research and development operations.

"Certainly, India and China are important opportunities for us," says Califre. "We want to be able to understand those populations, and so we need people who reflect those populations. We've had a couple of very real instances where highly trained nationals working for us wanted to return to those countries. That was an opportunity to diversify, as we saw it, because we clearly want to establish larger presences in both places."

"For us, diversity is an issue both locally and globally," he adds. "So we participate in career fairs at universities, develop relationships with professional organizations, and we also partner with universities in other countries, such as China and India, to influence the curriculum to ensure we have the skill sets to draw from."

And recruiting isn't just a one-way street. Mark Ravera, who runs Strategic Pharma, a Chatham, NJ, consulting firm specializing in emerging markets, says that he's seeing more of the smaller companies in Asia expressing interest in hiring qualified people working for life science companies in the United States.

One recruiter says that qualifications and language skills, not a person's country of origin, really make the difference. "Generally, I don't see them beating down my door looking for anything beyond the run-of-the-mill minority or woman," says Annette Baron of Eagle Research, a Fairfield, NJ, recruiting firm that specializes in scientists and physicians. "If they're looking for a medical director for Latin America, for example, they don't care if the candidate comes from Argentina or Brooklyn, so long as he or she speaks Spanish and has all the other qualifications."

That's just what Harry Ramos is hoping. A former scientist at a big pharmaceutical company, he recently began looking for a new position in clinical-trial development, which he hopes to land thanks to an MBA, an MD in family practice, and fluency in Spanish. "I think this may enhance my opportunities with any company that wants to build a market in Latin America or conduct more trials there," says the Puerto Rico native.

Cliff Mintz, a former biotech executive who runs BioInsights, a consulting firm based in East Windsor, NJ, that offers job training and placement to life science companies, argues that Big Pharma often hires scientists from overseas because they offer cheaper talent.

"That's one reason you see an enormous amount of diversity on the lab bench, but not as much, proportionately, in the managerial ranks," says Mintz. "Generally, diversity is just a code word for minority representation. Where I think you will see things shift is the need for people who can speak whatever language and then go to another country knowing how to do business in America."

But Nancy Di Dia, director of diversity and inclusion at Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, disagrees. As she sees it, globalization is forcing her company, which is based in Germany and has US headquarters in Ridgefield, Conn., to change recruiting strategies and take a broader view of job descriptions and job criteria.

"The bottom line is that it becomes a talent war among companies," she says. "We're going to experience, more and more, a shortage of talent. That's why globalization has a big effect on us. We're all becoming more multicultural, and we're still in the early stages of understanding all of these things. But as long as the life sciences continue to grow, and people still want our products, we're going to be challenged by the need to retain and acquire talent."