Lift Up Journeys: Women in Life Sciences

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, we were joined by the amazing Snehal Naik, head of regulatory, policy and intelligence at Spark Therapeutics. During her time at Spark Therapeutics, Snehal has established the Regulatory policy function, and is supporting global development of gene therapies. Snehal also co-chairs the regenerative medicine committee at BIO and staffs the regulatory affairs committees of the American Society of gene and cell therapy. Snehal has a passion for exploring the unexplored and has led biology programmes at both Pfizer’s centre for therapeutic innovation and Johnson & Johnson’s incubator. She has also founded and led a cross-functional gene therapy community of practice at J&J. Some of the highlights of the conversation include: "First and foremost, tell your story. Don’t ever feel like there isn’t something interesting in your story, or that there aren’t people out there who want to hear it. I think the more we put our stories out there, the more we just build up a stronger community, the more we create role models at every single level.” "Every part of my career, starting off in that lab-based role, then moving into industry, and still keeping the scientific focus on the basis, but really starting to think about it in the context of therapeutic development, and then a lot of what I do now on the regulatory and policy side, it’s to me, they’re all pieces of the puzzle.” “I think we have it in our head that you have to have achieved a certain level of success or a title, you need to be in a particular role to be the kind of person that could speak about your experience or that could serve as a role model. The reality is, when I look at every part of my journey, professionally or personally, what I really needed to see was someone who had made it just through what I was going through.” Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences.

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, we were joined by the incredible Sally Tucker, President of Global Services at Lexitas Pharma Services. Sally has dedicated her entire career to Ophthalmology, which now spans more than twenty years. Her strong desire to bring everything back to the patient is what led her career and led her to undertake her PhD in Ophthalmology. Sally is passionate about Life Science professionals working together to make a positive difference to the patients we all serve and can positively impact. Some of the highlights of the conversation include: "Being surrounded by people with potential, empowering them and helping them to develop, and being surrounded by people who are stronger in different areas, compliment the overall success of the team.” "I think that we all have a tendency to sit in the world, particularly in the world we are in today, where there’s lots of social media, there’s lots of expectations, everything should be perfect, you should have the answer for everything. But the reality is, none of us know what’s going to happen, nothing ever goes exactly to plan, but you’ll work it out. Every experience you go through, you learn something about yourself, that will help you with the next part of your journey.” Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences.

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, we were joined by the amazing Aman Khera, Vice President of regulatory science, strategy, and innovation at Worldwide Clinical Trials. In her role, Aman provides global strategic direction in Regulatory Affairs, and has done so for nearly three decades. Aman helps clients achieve effective Regulatory and development strategies. Aman looks at how regulatory, strategy and innovation are intersecting within healthcare. In 2021, Aman was recognised as a 2021 Pharma voice 100 honouree and recognised as one of the most inspiring and influential people within the Life Sciences. Aman joined us to talk about her inspirational career journey, as well as her experience in relocating internationally for her career, how innovation is integral within regulatory affairs, and where she sees the industry going in the future. Some of the highlights of the conversation include: "I want to do a good job at work, but then I also want to make sure I’m doing a good job at taking care of my family. At that time, there was no remote working. It was hard to balance in my mind, how this would work as well.” "It was probably the most rewarding thing that we did. And we think about it in so many different spaces. Not just for the career, but for family, because it broadened the scope for our family to look at it and also allow other family members to think about that too.” “Don’t worry about what other people are doing. Forge your own pathway. Never dim your own light.” Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences.

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, we were joined by the fantastic Brynn Scarborough, President and CEO at JK Products and Services, inc. Brynn currently works as President and CEO at JK Products and Services, an organisation that represent industry-leading brands in the commercial, wellness, and tanning equipment manufacturing space. With over 12 years of experience in progressive leadership roles, Brynn has since been promoted to the North American CEO in 2021. Brynn now works to advance the companies footprint, go to market strategy, and product portfolio, she continues to drive the business and industry forward, through bold leadership and continual growth. Brynn has joined us to talk about her career journey to this point, as well as the unique skills women bring to an organisation, Brynn’s tips on hiring a diverse teams, her passion for mentoring and creating a value proposition for a business. Some of the highlights of the conversation include: "Women are really good at coming together, forming consensus, leading with a mix of intuition and logic.” "I think we get stuck in this outdated idea that there’s a master plan, and you should have one, and if you don’t have one, somethings wrong. We are so many different iterations. I’m a different human than I was at 22 or 23, I will continue to be different iterations of myself in the future." “Being able t observe myself with my peers was a life-changing experience for me, especially with my non-traditional educational background, I was never with my peers, I was always outside the space of knowing where I measured up.” Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences.

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, we were joined by the incredible Sarena Lin, Global C-Level Executive at McKinsey & Company. Sarena has a strong track record in driving transformational growth across global markets, leading successful global commercial organisational and people transformation programs in the life sciences and industrial sectors. Sarena joined us to talk about her impressive career journey, as well as current trends she is seeing in the life sciences, culture and transformation within organisations and the power of purposeful networking. Some of the highlights of the conversation include: "Learn about what this unique opportunity brings you and learn about particular skills and particular aspects of dealing with it that you’ve never done before.” "Culture is the values and behaviours that’s being manifested in the organisation. How do you dig into these beliefs and say, how can we do this scientifically, in terms of understanding the similarities and differences, and have a systematic way of addressing it." Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences.

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, Katy was joined by the excellent Aziza Johnson, global head of regulatory and patient safety RD at Recordati Rare Diseases. Aziza is a regulatory and development executive who's been delivering on startup and global companies missions to support patients through groundbreaking new drugs for over 25 years. Aziza joined us to talk about her impressive career journey, as well as what it's like being a woman on the board, employee retention, and how to align your values with an organisation's values. Some of the highlights of the conversation include: "In a midsize company, you don't have that safety net. So you kind of have to make a lot of mistakes. Yeah. And you do make them and it's painful. But you learn from them, and you learn from them pretty quickly." "So you learn a lot from this startup environment, you've got to pretty much worry about 20 different hats." "So I've got to try and make make that a difference, right? So I've got to speak up, I can't be having this imposter syndrome, I am meant to be here. And just changing the mindset a little bit." Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences.

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, we were joined by the incredible Jennifer Chadwick, former Chief Scientific Officer at Protogene. Dr. Jennifer has 20 years of experience leading teams in the discovery, research, and development of biological therapeutics and is recognised for her expertise in the analytical development, formulation, and stability of biotherapeutic drugs. Jennifer joined us to talk about her impressive career journey, as well as advice for teams looking for funding, her transition from academia to industry, and future goals and aspirations she has. Some of the highlights of the conversation include: "I think the most important thing was to recognise, you're not going to do it by yourself. For me, the positioning that I had being in that particular department, and the connectivity I had to industry was essential." "I actually love the translational piece, because of the growth oriented learning aspect of it for myself, and I thought this is the fit, right? It's why I went into the department in the first place because that was a better fit than traditional academia." Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences.

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, we were joined by the incredible Arunima Dhar. She is the Vice President of Supply Chain at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Arunima has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries. She has global experience managing large investment programmes and delivering operational turnarounds, and she is adept at delivering complex and large-scale transformations. Arunima joined us to talk about her impressive career journey, as well as how she dealt with relocating for her job and any advice she has for others, how to implement culture within a team and any barriers she has faced. Some of the highlights of the conversation include: "If you get an opportunity to relocate, take it, just you know, I hate to use the Nike tagline. But I always say just do it, because it opens up your breadth of experience, you learn a lot more about the culture. I think it makes you a better leader." "It's the mission. It's the sense of purpose that drives people. And you can see that in my teams, you can see that across the organisation, it was all around the patient at the end of the supply chain for us." "I actually now look for that trait, when I'm recruiting is how comfortable are you with ambiguity with a very imperfect data? Can you make a decision? Can you learn from it if you've screwed up and just move on?" Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences.

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, Katy was joined by the amazing Marta Parmar. She is the Chief Quality, Regulatory and Pharmacovigilance officer at Ferrer.   Marta has over 22 years of combined R&D and regulatory experience in the pharmaceutical industry. She's focused her work on driving registration and enabling early access of innovative medicines in a variety of therapeutic areas, including oncology, neuroscience, cardiovascular, and renal conditions to markets worldwide.   She joined us to talk about her career journey, as well as how she has supported the Life Sciences industry outside of her career, and advice for women looking to take the next step.   Some of the highlights of the conversation include:    "I think what what really also impacted me was the, you know, the the minority of female scientists."   "Smaller companies are fantastic to get an exposure to a variety of areas and to, you know, to be able to get your hands dirty with with a lot of different projects and different experiences."   "Nurture your network, build it, nurture it. Make sure that you work on your relationships with your co-workers, have support, you know, ask for help."   Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences. 

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys, we were joined by the fantastic Linda Bowen. She is the Executive Director - chief of staff and head of the regulatory centres of excellence at Seagen, a global biotechnology company dedicated to developing revolutionary therapies with real impact. Linda has over 40 years of experience in the Biopharma industry, with 30 of those years in the regulatory space. During this time, she has won several awards and has given back by mentoring several up-and-coming regulatory professionals.    She joined us to talk about her fascinating professional history, as well as the differences between working with big pharma and smaller biotechs, networking tips, and Linda's experience in mentoring professionals.     Some of the highlights of the conversation include:    "Not all of us in regulatory start in regulatory, it happens very rarely. Many of us come from the laboratory. Many of us come from Quality Assurance. People come from clinical development, they come from commercial, they come from toxicology, they come from all walks of life.”   “At the bigger companies, you're a number, it's just the way it is. Even if you have a great manager, you know, there's many layers.”   “My thing is that everything that I did, I learned something, and I repurposed those skills to this day that I learned 40 years ago."   Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences. 

In Episode 5 of the Lift Up Journeys podcast, we spoke with Donielle Johnson, the Vice President Global Regulatory Affairs in Medical Devices at Bausch + Lomb, about her career journey through the life sciences space. Donielle has worked at a number of leading companies in the life sciences, including Medtronic, Philips and Johnson & Johnson. During the podcast, she shared the importance of building meaningful relationships and the impact mentoring has had on her career.  She also spoke about how important it is to adjust your mindset to the situation you find yourself in.  Highlights of the conversation include: “I always tell people, ‘Yes, I'm very smart. Yes, I'm a hard worker. But in this industry, it's about relationships.’” “Companies are there to serve their best interests and their bottom line. You have to look out for your best interest and your bottom line.” “Even in 2023, gender and race matter… there are still barriers, and the glass ceiling does still exist for women and minorities.” Tune in to hear from another inspiring woman in the life sciences.  

In Episode 4 of the Lift Up Journeys podcast we were joined by Melisa Medrano, the Director of Talent at Sonoma Biotherapeutics, a company that’s developing engineered regulatory T cell (Treg) therapies to treat serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases driven by an imbalanced immune system. Melisa is also active in improving diversity and inclusion across the industry, as well as developing new ways to help her team develop their careers within the life sciences.  She joined us to share her incredible professional history and share the wisdom she’s accumulated along the way.  Highlights of the conversation include: “One of the biggest things for me in industry was getting that exposure to the drug development process, but also just learning about other functions and how they fit into the drug development process.” “We talked about the impact that affirmative action going away will have on diversity recruitment efforts.” “Leverage your network. Just this week, I talked to a couple people who I've worked with before, and who said, ‘Hey, I'm starting my search. I know, you don't have a job for me, necessarily. But can we talk?’” Join us to learn from another incredible advocate for diversity in the life sciences. 

In episode 3 of Lift Up Journeys we were joined by Lisa Stehno-Bittel, the President and Founder of Likarda, a biotech company that’s developing enabling technologies to transform the way cell therapies are delivered and optimised.  Lisa shared her story of founding a start-up straight from academia, as well as her experiences that led her to be named as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in Missouri by Women We Admire.  This conversation includes highlights like:  “That's when the university said to me, ‘This doesn't look like academic research anymore. This looks more like a business.’” “Having a young workforce, I think, keeps me engaged and moving forward.” “My mentors and supervisors were all women, and I hadn't thought about how important that was until later in life.” Listen in to learn from an inspiring woman in the life sciences industry. 

In this episode of Lift Up Journeys we were joined by the wonderful Debra Webster, who is the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Aditum Bio, an innovative biotechnology research company that’s making medication more accessible.  Debra has over 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and the regulatory environment, giving her a wealth of knowledge in the life sciences space. She joined us to talk about her fascinating professional history, as well as sharing how she juggled personal and professional responsibilities while raising a family, and the power of community.  Some of the highlights of the conversation include:  “You graduate with a degree in biology, you think, ‘Oh, my, I'm gonna be a doctor, I'm going to be a dentist.’ And the opportunities for other careers are not nearly quite so evident.” “As you're moving through your career, always look for opportunities to mentor someone who's just coming into the field.” “Everyone's so busy with their schedules, but it is important to try and maintain those relationships and expand on them.” “Once my middle child went off to college, and the second one was ending his high school career, that's when I went back to the workforce, in an office setting, because I really did miss that.” Tune in to hear from an incredible woman in life sciences. 

In Episode 1 of the Lift Up Journeys podcast, we spoke with Eylem Demir Sentürk, the Founder & CEO of Women on Stage, about the work she does to mentor and support women in the life sciences industry in Switzerland. Eyelem has a fascinating background, having started her professional career in private banking before moving into the life sciences 22 years ago, thanks to a desire to make more of an impact with her work.  She also spoke about her experiences as a refugee and the impact that had on her opportunities and outlook.  Highlights of the conversation include: “Sometimes my managers or senior directors were really surprised. ‘How can it be that someone without a scientific degree can propose something like this?’” “I was not promoted for seven years, almost. And this is something that not only I was experiencing, but a lot of women have been experiencing.” “Human rights were in the centre of my life” Join us to hear from another inspiring woman in the life sciences.  

On Episode 8 of the Lift Up Podcast, Sophie Packer was joined by Dr Sheuli Porkess, who is currently serving as the Chief Medical Officer for Copeland Clinical Ai. Sheuli has been working in medical affairs and the pharmaceutical space for decades. Her roles have spanned across consultancy, academia, start-up founding, Big Pharma, biopharma scale ups, as well as industry and government bodies in the UK. She is passionate about improving patients’ lives, and is currently using her experience to lead Copeland Clinical Ai towards a better future for the healthcare industry. Sheuli does all of that while raising her two children with her partner. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did!

Welcome to Episode 7 of the Lift Up Podcast, bringing you the inspirational voices from women in Life Science. On this episode we were joined by Anna Kostikova, a Director at Novartis. Anna has always been fascinated by biology and computer science, and pursued an academic career in Switzerland, undertaking a PhD in bioinformatics. In 2014 Anna’s career pivoted when she took on a data science role at tech company Booking.com, before returning to the life sciences in 2019, when she joined Novartis as Director of Data Science and Bioinformatics. Anna is also a working mother to two children, and goes out of her way to encourage women to get into the incredible world of data science and bioinformatics. We talked about topics from academic grants to battling imposter syndrome in the industry. Listen in for a fascinating episode!

Welcome to Episode 6 of The Lift Up Podcast! We’re joined today by Dawn Wofford, the VP of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at the innovative startup Wheeler Bio. Dawn’s career has taken a winding route through the life sciences, spending time with archaeology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biologics and tissues, all through the lens of quality, regulations and compliance. She is passionate about preservation, going as far as helping to restore Mighty Mo. In this episode we dive into Dawn’s incredible history, how she’s moved from area to area and her advice for anyone who’s looking for their next adventure. Tune into today’s episode to hear more about this fascinating woman and all of the work that she’s done in the life sciences!

On Episode 5 of The Lift Up Podcast your host Sophie Packer was joined by the lovely Christy Mazzarisi. Christy is the Senior Director for Quality Compliance at Mersana Therapeutics and the chair for the ASQ Women in Quality Network. She is also a small business owner and entrepreneur, and heavily active in the world of nonprofits, particularly the Tourette Association of America and Make A Wish Foundation. She’s the mother of two boys, both of whom were diagnosed with Tourette's at age three leading to Christy’s passion for neurodiverse advocacy. She supports causes and raises awareness to create a better future for her children. Christy is an incredibly driven and passionate woman with a wealth of experience both in and out of work. We spoke about leadership, advocacy and empathy in this moving episode. Enjoy!

This episode of The Lift Up Podcast features the wonderful Michele Champagne. Michele has led a hugely successful career in foodtech and biotech, leading research into petroleum and animal agriculture alternatives while working towards a more sustainable world. She is a decisive and inspirational leader who founded her agency Champagne Consulting in 2020, and is now helping startup companies develop fermentation-based technologies. When Michele isn’t working she spends her time at an off-grid home in the mountains of Colorado. In this episode we cover everything from Michele’s fascinating career history to how to find your next job. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!