Massachusetts is a hub for biotech: According to the latest MassBio industry snapshot, biopharma accounted for more than 15% of job growth in the entire state in 2023. This month, we’re hearing from women leaders in biotech on how female representation at the top can make a difference.
Aimee Raleigh, principal at Atlas Venture: “Why is it important to have female leadership? I think there are a lot of amazing traits in the women — not just CEOs, but CSOs, CBOs, etc. — in our portfolio. And oftentimes they bring a real empathy, which is essential for any kind of drug discovery or development.”
Dr. Alise Reicin, CEO and president at Tectonic Therapeutic: “Female leaders bring a different perspective all along the way. Sometimes it’s ... 'small’ as when people are thinking about making a change in where a company is located and nobody’s thought about child care. And it’s often the female leader in the room who says, 'Wait. Has anybody thought about how this is going to impact our young people?’”
Emily Minkow, venture partner at RA Capital Management: “I like to say that our industry, I think, is solving some of the hardest problems in the world, trying to find treatments for intractable diseases, working on science at the molecular level, and thinking all the way, how’s that going to translate through into a medicine? It’s a more than decade-long journey. We need the best and the brightest talent from all over the world to solve these problems. And that means that we need to recruit leaders from everywhere, not just from the same backgrounds as the people who are already in the industry, but from everywhere. We need diverse scientists and thinkers and innovators and problem-solvers and also leaders who will attract diverse teams.”
