Leaders in Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence (LPBI) Group

Women Leaders in Cell and Gene Therapy

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

2.1.5.15   Women Leaders in Cell and Gene Therapy, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 2: CRISPR for Gene Editing and DNA Repair

Before we review the content, below – We suggest to nominate for inclusion in this list, Prof. Jeniffer Doudna of University of California, Berkeley who started THREE start ups on Gene Editing.

Pioneering names in CRISPR are Jeniffer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, both names are not mentioned in the ‘The Most Influential Women in Cell & Gene Therapy’ as is described in the names of 15 Women Leaders in Cell and Gene Therapy, below.

About Jeniffer Doudna contributions to Gene Editing, Read:

UPDATED – Medical Interpretation of the Genomics Frontier – CRISPR – Cas9:  Gene Editing Technology for New Therapeutics

Authors and Curators: Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP and Stephen J Williams, PhD and Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2015/09/07/medical-interpretation-of-the-genomics-frontier-crispr-cas9-gene-editing-technology-for-new-therapeutics/

Read also

UPDATED – Status “Interference — Initial memorandum” – CRISPR/Cas9 – The Biotech Patent Fight of the Century: UC, Berkeley and Broad Institute @MIT

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

https://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2016/01/06/status-interference-initial-memorandum-crisprcas9-the-biotech-patent-fight-of-the-century/

Women in Cell & Gene Therapy

When considering the hurdles to commercialisation, one of our partners described his situation as, ‘It’s no longer the science or investment, it’s the people.’ 

This month, the National Cell Manufacturing Consortium released their roadmap to 2025 and of the 5 key areas of focus mentioned in the white paper, workforce development is arguably the most pressing.

“Today’s hurdle in #celltherapy commercialization: ‘It’s no longer the science or investment, it’s the people.’ @phacilitate #STEM”

Full scale cell & gene therapy industrialisation is so close we can smell it.

The sector is buzzing with innovation, sound business structure and plenty of interest from external stakeholders. From our perspective, it’s absolutely fascinating to watch.

Medicine as we know it, is about to change dramatically. Major cell & gene therapy treatments will become the mainstay of doctor’s surgeries and hospitals. Healthcare leaders will be forced to consider a diverse portfolio of treatments for unmet medical needs.

DOWNLOAD 15 INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN CELL AND GENE THERAPY  eBOOK

But we have a problem. With a quick search on LinkedIn you’ll see that some of the major cell therapy developers are bolstering their workforce. Juno have advertised over 30 new roles in 10 days, GSK, Mesoblast and Pfizer are also recruiting for a wide range of science-based roles. A ball-park count shows there could be over 1000 industrial cell & gene therapy roles being advertised while you read this.

Research has shown time and again that diversity makes great business sense. Best-selling author Daniel Goleman advocates, the traits for successful leadership are knowledge and emotional intelligence, characteristics that transcend gender lines. Yet women continue to make up just 4% of leadership roles. The disparity was a hot subject of conversation at Davos this year and solutions are being discussed to attract talented females to this exciting and growing STEM industry.

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When we think of female science leaders, historical figures like Marie Curie and Rosalind Franklin tend to spring to mind. The emergence of cell therapy has created an opportunity for a new wave of experts to pave the future. It’s the teams that think differently, embrace diversity and encourage new ideas that will propel themselves to the front of the pack.

A fair gender balance within cell therapy firstly gives an inevitable increased pool of talent and therefore access to more innovation and progression.

Secondly, a truly equal balance of male and female characteristics has been proven to make businesses, industries and even whole countries thrive. It’s for these reasons we celebrate the exceptional women in our sector ensuring one day their stories will become the norm.

Thank you to Stacey Johnson of CCRM, Claudia Zylberberg of Akron Biotech and Susan Nichols of Invetech for their help in curating…

‘15 Influential Women in Cell & Gene Therapy’

Permission to Re-Publish

From: Michael Adeniya <michael@phacilitate.co.uk>

Date: Monday, July 11, 2016 at 5:51 PM

To: Aviva Lev-Ari <AvivaLev-Ari@alum.berkeley.edu>

Subject: RE: Women Leaders in Cell and Gene Therapy | Leaders in Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence (LPBI) Group

I hereby give you permission to publish the attached article titled ‘Women in cell & gene therapy’ 

Written by Michael Adeniya, Phacilitate Ltd 

Michael Adeniya

Tel:  +44 (0)20 7384 7951

Mob:  +44 (0)77 7932 7084

Email: michael@phacilitate.co.uk

Join our LinkedIn group Cell, Gene & Immunotherapy Leaders today!  

My initial Post included the following:

‘The Most Influential Women in Cell & Gene Therapy’

by

michael@phacilitate.co.uk

Full scale cell & gene therapy industrialisation is so close we can smell it. The sector is buzzing with innovation, sound business structure and plenty of interest from external stakeholders. From our perspective, it’s absolutely fascinating to watch. In the coming years, medicine will change dramatically. Major cell & gene therapy treatments will become the mainstay of doctor’s surgeries and hospitals. Healthcare leaders will be forced to consider a diverse portfolio of treatments for unmet medical needs. But we have a problem. Do a quick search on LinkedIn; you’ll see that some of the major cell therapy developers are bolstering their workforce. Juno have advertised over 30 new roles in 10 days, GSK, Mesoblast and Pfizer are also recruiting for a wide range of science-based roles. A ball-park count shows there could be over 1000 industrial cell & gene therapy roles being recruited for at the time of writing this. Research has shown time and again that diversity makes great business sense. Best-selling author Daniel Goleman advocates, the traits for successful leadership are knowledge and emotional intelligence, characteristics that transcend gender lines. Yet women continue to make up 4% of leadership roles. The disparity has been a subject of conversation at Davos this year and solutions are being discussed to attract talented females to this exciting and growing STEM industry. When we think of female science leaders, historical figures like Marie Curie and Rosalind Franklin tend to spring to mind. The emergence of cell therapy has created an opportunity for a new wave of to pave the future. It’s the teams that think differently, embrace diversity and encourage new ideas that will propel themselves to the front of the pack. A fair gender balance within cell therapy firstly gives an inevitable increased pool of talent and therefore access to more innovation and progression. Secondly, a truly equal balance of male and female characteristics has been proven to make businesses, industries and even whole countries thrive. It’s for these reasons we celebrate the exceptional women in our sector ensuring one day their stories will become ‘the norm’. Thank you to Stacey Johnson of CCRM, Claudia Zylberberg of Akron Biotech and Susan Nichols of Invetech for their help in curating: ‘The Most Influential Women in Cell & Gene Therapy

1. Sandra Glucksmann – Editas
2. Yael Margolin – Gamida Cell
3. Claudia Zylberberg – Akron
4. Connie Eaves – BC Cancer Agency
5. Fiona Watt
6. Janet Rossant
7. Helen T. Martin – Adaptimmune
8. Katherine A. High – Spark Therapeutics
9. Linda Marbán – Capricor
10. Kim Warren
11. Linda Powers – NorthWest Biotherapeutics
12. Molly Shoichet
13. Sue Washer – AGTC
14. Susan L. Solomon – NYSCF
15. Tory Williams

SOURCE

Click to access women_in_cell_and_gene_therapy_phacilitate.pdf

Associations for women in science and technology:

 http://www.womeninbio.org

 The Initiative on Women in Science and Engineering Working Group

 http://www.westorg.org/

 Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology (SCWIST)

 Canadian Coalition of Women in Engineering, Science, Trades and Technology (CCWESTT)

 Many universities have their own Centres for Women in Science, such as this one at Wilfrid Laurier University and this one at the University of Toronto