Women Making an Impact | Pharmaceutical Technology

In recognition of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science ^1.2 on February 11, PharmTech spoke with a number of ladies working within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors about their careers; the present state of girls in science, expertise, engineering, and arithmetic (STEM) fields; and the way forward for healthcare. Common themes present in these interviews have been the distinctive perspective ladies carry to the pharma business and the necessity to handle the “confidence gap” and gender imbalance in management to maintain the progress in areas akin to uncommon drugs.

How is innovation advancing affected person care?

A major focus throughout the interviews was the evolution of remedy fashions. Dr. Jennifer Levin Carter, founder and CEO of Medzown, discussed the shift from generalized care to precision medicine, which makes use of biology to design medicine for particular illnesses at particular instances.³ This strategy has superior oncology therapies by way of genetics and genomics and is now being utilized to uncommon and neurodegenerative illnesses.

Dr. Michelle Longmire,CEO and co-founder of Medable, advocated for the “digitome,” a digital illustration of a affected person that permits “precision prescription” by choosing the right remedy primarily based on particular person organic variations.⁴

In the sphere of oncology, Dr. Stacy Lindborg, president and CEO of IMUNON, highlighted the development of DNA-mediated immunotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer.⁵ Her firm’s TheraPlas platform goals to show “cold” tumors “hot” by secreting cancer-fighting proteins instantly into the tumor microenvironment.

This deal with unmet medical wants was echoed by Dr. Maria de Miguel, director, Clinical Research for START Rioja, who emphasized that early-phase drug development requires scientific rigor blended with a patient-centered perspective, notably when information are restricted.⁶

What is AI’s position in pharma?

The use of AI by pharmaceutical firms and regulators is increasing. Beena Wood,chief product officer, Qinecsa Solutions, outlined a vision for AI-driven pharmacovigilance that may detect security alerts throughout world datasets in hours fairly than months.⁷ However, she warned that this requires “boring foundations”—the standardization and harmonization of fragmented information.

Dr. Longmire talked about how agentic AI could also be utilized to resolve inefficiencies in medical trials, the place 80–90% of processes stay handbook.⁴ By automating tactical information assortment, Longmire says, AI permits professionals to deal with strategic work, akin to optimizing trial enrollment.

Katy MacLellan, Technical Team chief, Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services Ltd., additionally noted AI’s potential to streamline drug discovery, probably lowering the decade-long timeline for bringing medicine to market.⁸

“Drug discovery is typically a long process spanning a decade or more; however, with advancements in AI to streamline this pathway, assist in improving lead target identification and the potential for safer drugs evaluating existing data, this may reduce critical timelines to bringing a drug to clinic,” MacLellan mentioned.

What are a few of the challenges for girls in STEM?

Despite the business’s development, a number of consultants level to stagnating illustration. Dr. Elisabeth Gardiner, chief scientific officer at Tevard Biosciences, noted that while women make up nearly half of the workforce in the United States, they occupy solely 35% of STEM jobs and simply 20–30% of STEM roles inside the pharmaceutical business.⁹ Furthermore, Dr. de Miguel identified that whereas ladies are well-represented within the broader biomedical workforce, they maintain solely 20–30% of management roles.⁶

Dr. Gardiner spoke a few “confidence paradox”: whereas curiosity in STEM is rising, the self-reported confidence of women of their scientific skills has dropped from 70% to 60% over the previous decade. To fight this, each Gardiner and MacLellan⁸ emphasize the necessity for early, hands-on publicity to science in colleges to demystify complicated ideas like coding and math.

Leadership and the facility of mentorship

The interviewees typically credited mentorship as a catalyst for his or her success. MacLellan shared how seeing ladies in management roles at Eli Lilly made her personal profession objectives really feel sensible. Dr. Lindborg advocated for a “servant leadership” type grounded in humility and empowering a workforce of “brilliant people”. According to the consultants, the varied views, empathetic management, and cutting-edge science are key to overcoming the business’s most complicated challenges.

More to return

Be certain to examine PharmTech.com all through February for extra insights from ladies working within the bio/pharma business.

References

1. UN. International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 11 February. UN.org. https://www.un.org/en/observances/women-and-girls-in-science-day
2. February 11. Women and Girls in Science. https://www.womeninscienceday.org/
3. Haigney, S. Personalized Medicine Vs. Precision Medicine. PharmTech.com. Jan. 9, 2026. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/personalized-medicine-vs-precision-medicine
4. Haigney, S. The Transformative Potential of AI to Enhance Patient Treatment. PharmTech.com. Jan. 13, 2026. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/the-transformative-potential-of-ai-to-enhance-patient-treatment
5. Haigney, S. Women Leading Biotech: Advancing Treatments for Ovarian Cancer. PharmTech.com. Feb. 3, 2026. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/women-leading-biotech-advancing-treatments-for-ovarian-cancer
6. Haigney, S. Women in STEM: Early Phase Drug Development. PharmTech.com. Feb. 6, 2026. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/women-in-stem-early-phase-drug-development
7. Cole, C. Why Data, Trust, and Skills Are the Foundations of AI-Driven Pharmacovigilance. PharmTech.com. Jan. 9, 2026. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/why-data-trust-and-skills-are-the-foundations-of-ai-driven-pharmacoviginlance
8. Haigney, S. Women in STEM: Inspiration from Innovators in Pharma. PharmTech.com. Feb. 2, 2026. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/women-in-stem-inspiration-from-innovators-in-pharma
9. Haigney, S. Women in STEM: Cultivating Scientific Confidence. PharmTech.com. Feb. 4, 2026. https://www.pharmtech.com/view/women-in-stem-cultivating-scientific-confidence