Biotech has a big footprint in Massachusetts, and according to a 2023 report, women make up less than 6% of leadership roles in the industry. We asked some women who are in those positions on how biotech can be more welcoming.
Kristen Fortney, CEO and co-founder, BioAge Labs: “That’s a hard question. Education starts really, really young, right? So I think there needs to be even more exposure to women leaders.”
Sheila Gujrathi, co-founder, Biotech CEO Sisterhood and Lila Biologics: “It’s really not anyone’s fault. I think there’s just a lot of conscious and unconscious bias that we deal with. Of course, I’m a woman, but I’m also a woman of color. So there’s intersectionality in terms of the different biases I’ve had to deal with.”
Lyn Baranowski, CEO, Avalyn Pharma: “I have a friend’s daughter who said to me recently that she’s not good at math. And my friend, Erin, said, no, she’s actually quite good at math. But somehow she’s gotten the signal that this isn’t for her. And those are the kinds of issues I think that we need to combat. … I think that there’s just a dearth of role models at these early stages. You know, that means both high school age, college age, but even really early education. So I think we in industry now again have a responsibility to try to do more to make sure that women stay in these fields.”
Laura Tadvalker, managing director, RA Capital: “There are organizations: The Biotech Sisterhood, Breaking 7%, which is women in venture group that brings women together to support each other at whatever level they are today and also to support the next generation.”
