51 TWENTYFOURSEVENBIOPHARMA Issue 1 / March 2026 WOMEN IN SCIENCE My current role feels like a culmination of all these experiences - it brings together everything I enjoy doing: leading and collaborating with teams, tackling complex analytical challenges, strategic planning, program management, and process design. It gives me the opportunity to apply and grow these skills while learning a new area of technology, which I find very motivating. Have you observed or experienced any barriers to career progression in the pharmaceutical industry, and how did you navigate them? Honestly, I haven’t experienced major barriers to career progression in biopharma - but that doesn’t mean it’s been frictionless. The biggest hurdle for me was pursuing roles that traditionally favor candidates with a scientific background or advanced degree (PhD), which is not me. Understandably, that can shape assumptions about what I’m able to contribute or how quickly I can ramp up. What made the difference for me was connecting with leaders who were willing to take a bet on a different profile - managers who saw the value of strong generalist skills, particularly when paired with subject matter experts, in translating strategy into execution. Perhaps more than anything else, those leaders had a big hand in shaping my career path. At the same time, I’ve always felt a responsibility to earn that trust. For me, that meant doing the work to build credibility - investing a lot of time to learn the science and the industry context, often late at night, eg, after the kids were in bed. It also helped that I’ve never been overly attached to titles or levels. I’ve been willing to make lateral moves - and occasionally take a step back on paper - if it gave me the chance to build a capability I knew I’d need or to get closer to the work that mattered. Especially in a field that rewards deep expertise, I’ve found that being a committed, curious generalist - and backing that up with effort and results - can be a real differentiator. How important is mentorship and visible female leadership in encouraging more women to pursue and progress in science? Visible female leadership matters a lot - and I say that from personal experience. Seeing women in senior roles helped me picture what the path could look like for me, especially during the years when I was trying to balance building a career and being truly present for my family. There are all kinds of advice out there about how to do this but seeing it modeled in a way that felt tangible made it more real for me. If you can see it, you can be it. Having a diverse set of female leaders to look to helped me understand that there isn’t one ‘right’ way to lead or mold to fit in shaping your career. Mentorship has been just as important for me. Many of the most meaningful moves I’ve made were influenced by mentors who took the time to understand what I wanted, pushed me to be honest about the trade-offs I was willing to make, and helped me see opportunities I might have overlooked. The best mentors didn’t just offer advice - they asked the hard questions, helped me build confidence in my own judgment, and when it mattered, they advocated for me. Having mentors that were truly in my corner not only helped to accelerate my progression, but more importantly, led me to roles that I found truly meaningful. I don’t think you can overstate the importance of mentorship for creating opportunities and informing the choices that ultimately make up a career. Have you seen workplace culture shift in recent years regarding diversity, inclusion, and support for women in leadership? I’ve been lucky to have worked in organizations that have genuinely ‘walked the talk’ on diversity, inclusion, and supporting women in leadership, so my experience may be a bit rosier than what others have seen. But even with that caveat, I do think there’s been a noticeable cultural shift in recent years. These conversations are more visible and more explicit than they used to be, and there’s a stronger expectation - from employees and leaders - that companies invest in diversity and inclusion. It’s a real positive that the conversation has moved beyond “it’s the right thing to do” (though it is) to a clearer understanding that diversity also improves outcomes. Diverse teams make better decisions and drive more creative solutions - and in fast-moving, high-stakes environments like biopharma, that matters. When teams bring different perspectives and experiences, you get better debates, better problem-solving, and it’s just more fun. The other big shift I’ve seen - and one that I think makes a difference for women in leadership - is flexibility in how work gets done. COVID probably accelerated this, but people now have a much greater ability to integrate the demands of work with their personal lives, certainly more than I experienced earlier in my career. When people have that kind of flexibility, it gives them the space to be
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjY2OTA4MA==