Lisa McGrath, Chief People Officer, nChroma Bio
The shift over the past decade in the life sciences has been significant. Today, more women are leading clinical programs, heading R&D teams, and occupying C-suite roles across biopharma. These women are doing more than holding these titles. They’re driving innovation, building teams, and delivering results.
The talent has always been there; what’s changing is the access. We’re seeing more women step confidently into leadership by taking initiative and showing what’s possible. As an industry, we have an opportunity to match that momentum with clear advancement pathways that support continued growth and recognition.
That’s why we need to focus on more than just hiring, but also on retention, mentorship, and promotion pathways. Women need to see what’s possible, and they need leaders who actively support their growth. We also continue to advocate for pay equity and transparent advancement criteria.
The pipeline of future women leaders is stronger than ever, with more professionals from diverse backgrounds earning STEM degrees and choosing careers in biotech. With the right support at every stage, we’ll continue to see that talent rise and thrive in leadership roles.
When women lead, science benefits. So do teams, patients, and the future of this industry.
Elizabeth Jeffords, Chief Executive Officer, Iolyx Therapeutics
The life-science sector has made real—but still incomplete—progress in elevating women. Today women make up slightly more than half of the biotech workforce and now head hundreds of start-ups, investment funds, and late-stage public companies. We’re also more visible in R&D leadership: lab heads, project champions, and chief medical officers who move programs from bench to bedside.
Yet the upper tiers remain uneven. Fewer than one in five public-company biotech CEOs are women, board seats still skew male, and venture and other capital flows disproportionately to male-founded ventures. Closing those gaps will require the biotech ecosystem to look past familiar patterns and companies to build sponsorship and succession plans that keep talented women on a C-suite path.
Market turbulence has underscored the value of women in biotech. Data — and my own experience — show that women leaders thrive in constraint: we communicate candidly, mobilize teams around purpose, and stretch scarce resources with creativity. Those skills keep timelines intact when financing tightens. They also deliver results: several of the year’s headline M&A deals in oncology, gene therapy, and ophthalmology were negotiated by women CEOs. It’s a timely reminder that when leadership and capital become more inclusive, the entire innovation ecosystem — and ultimately, patients — stand to gain.
Katrina Rice, Chief Delivery Officer Biometrics Services, eClinical Solutions
Although progress has been made, many roles remain concentrated in support functions or middle management rather than at the core of business operations with profit-and-loss responsibilities; albeit expressing equal ambition to reach top leadership roles. Globally, women make up roughly 30% of researchers yet are vastly underrepresented in senior leadership and higher-paying R&D positions.1
Studies show that diverse leadership teams challenge antiquated ways and foster innovation – critical qualities in R&D, where creativity and progress are essential. Despite these findings, systemic barriers prevent women from ascending to senior roles including unconscious bias, limited access to sponsorship, and organizational cultures that often favor traditional leadership archetypes.2
This isn't just about fairness, it's about competitive advantage.3 Companies that embed diverse perspectives across problem-solving, analysis, communication, and leadership consistently outperform those with homogenous leadership teams.
Now, it’s more important than ever for companies to maintain and expand programs that support advancing women in leadership. Scaling back these initiatives would be a strategic mistake. Instead, organizations should build balanced leadership teams that excel at creative problem-solving and demonstrate greater adaptability in dynamic environments.4
The momentum toward equity is real, but true parity in leadership, science, and clinical care will require sustained and deliberate action.
2. Women Leaders in Pharma (2025 Edition): The Work Continues, the Impact Grows.
3. Why Gender Equity in the Workplace is Good for Business.
4. Women in the Workplace 2024: The 10th-anniversary report.
Orit Alul, Chief Architect, Viz.ai
The industry has made encouraging strides in advancing women in R&D and scientific leadership, though challenges remain — especially in deep tech and AI. We’re seeing more women lead groundbreaking research programs, shape product strategy, and influence how innovation is applied to solve complex healthcare problems. This shift is especially evident in digital health, where the intersection of engineering, data science, and medicine opens new pathways for diverse talent to drive impact.
At Viz.ai, we’re proud to have women leading across R&D functions — platform innovation, product development, data science, and beyond. Our approach is rooted in the belief that diverse perspectives accelerate innovation. We’ve found that inclusive teams are more likely to question assumptions, improve model performance, and deliver solutions that work across patient populations.
While clinical roles have historically seen more female representation, we’re now witnessing broader inclusion in trial leadership and study design, particularly in collaborations involving AI and real-world evidence. That’s a promising sign for the future of equitable, tech-enabled care.
To sustain progress, we must move beyond representation and focus on mentorship, sponsorship, and inclusive systems that support long-term career growth. Equity in R&D isn’t just a workforce issue — it’s an innovation imperative.
Lisa Sellers, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Vector Laboratories
We saw the most progress when the industry faced a talent war a few years ago. Just before that surge, many women leaders — myself included — began looking more broadly for roles that offered greater responsibility and challenge. As companies ramped up efforts to attract talent with aggressive packages, many realized it was more cost-effective to invest in retaining internal talent. Organizations that hadn’t been advancing women in leadership were suddenly forced to look inward, and thankfully, that led to meaningful change.
Beth Willers, Principal, White Matter Communications
The World Bank projects that 49.7% of the human population is female. And according to a 2024 Fierce survey, 56% of the life sciences sector entrants were female.
This may seem positive. But speaking solely from my experience starting in this industry in 2016, there are more women on the floor at tradeshows than ever before. I see more women in the lab. I see more women in management.
But then it pretty much completely stagnates in the executive, board, and financial levels. The same survey confirmed that only 24–28% of executive and board roles are held by women, and we see similar numbers for investing. This is number drastically slides by 3-fold+ for women of color versus white women in the industry to only 7% in executive, board, and investor level roles.
The consistency that I have seen women’s careers halted at a director or vice president level is quite honestly infuriating. Some of the most talented women I know had promotions or titles they EARNED taken by lesser qualified men because, well, they are a woman. And there still is not fear to say things like this straight to our faces behind closed doors. This makes it hard for me to celebrate the rest of the progress when I know this behavior so closely because I have also experienced it myself.
Quite simply, these numbers do not reflect the world we live in (like medical research). With so many women’s groups springing up in life sciences and this continued increase in diversity, it can be easy to pretend that we no longer have a parity problem, but we cannot buy this myth. Not only are women exceptional at leadership, but women are also the ones that can help the life sciences correct the deep divide of medical research traditionally focused on men. The time is NOW!
Denise Dajles, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Cytrellis Biosystems
As a female CEO and Ph.D. engineer in the aesthetics industry, I’ve seen significant progress, but there’s still more work to do. Over the past decade, more women have taken on executive and board roles as companies increasingly recognize that diverse leadership results in better outcomes. This change is especially crucial in aesthetics, where women make up most patients, but, for too long, they were excluded from decision-making in innovation and strategy. We know that when women design for women, the results are more empathetic, relevant, and effective.
In R&D and clinical development, the pace of change has been slower, but it remains promising. I’ve led teams at multiple companies and have observed more women entering the field, along with a stronger emphasis on mentorship, training, and advancement.
The growing pipeline of women in science, technology, and patient care motivates me. At my company, women hold senior leadership roles in clinical, commercial, and operational areas. However, progress requires ongoing effort. We must ensure that women not only have a seat at the table but also receive the support and opportunities to lead, contribute, and shape the future of this industry.
Haiying Grunenwald, Ph.D., Head of Biology, R&D, MilliporeSigma, the Life Science business of Merck KgaA
Over the past decade, the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries have made meaningful progress in advancing women into leadership, R&D, and clinical roles. From boardrooms to bench science, we’re seeing growing recognition of the value that diverse perspectives bring to innovation, patient outcomes, and industry growth. We’re no longer just in the room — we’re shaping the science, leading teams, and influencing the future of healthcare.
I've seen firsthand how diverse voices lead to better questions, bolder ideas, and more human-centered innovation. As an industry committed to advancing health, we have both the opportunity and responsibility to lead by example — ensuring talent, regardless of gender, can thrive and drive impact.
Targeted mentorship, inclusive hiring, and stronger leadership pipelines are helping close long-standing representation gaps, especially in research and medical affairs. Yet true progress is about more than numbers — it’s about shifting culture and building environments where women can lead authentically and sustainably.
There’s still work ahead, especially in breaking down systematic barriers that remain too invisible to many. But the progress is real — and what gives me hope is the next generation coming up: confident, collaborative, and uncompromising in their vision. We owe it to them — and to ourselves — to keep going.
Sojeong Lee, Ph.D., Director of Upstream Development, Samsung Biologics
The increasing complexity of biologics, coupled with rigorous quality standards, expedited development timelines, and evolving regulatory compliance, is dismantling traditional boundaries between siloed functions.
To meet these ever-evolving demands, the biopharmaceutical industry is embracing a more cross-functional, collaborative leadership style — one that is attracting more women into influential roles.
Women leaders are playing a key role in fostering collaboration and building trust across departments, particularly in areas such as clinical and regulatory affairs, development, manufacturing, and engineering.
At Samsung Biologics, we nurture diversity and inclusive work environments. Our leadership team values gender balance and cultivates a culture where every voice is heard, and every perspective helps shape cohesive strategies.
For instance, last year, I led a cross-functional team to address critical challenges identified during the manufacture of toxicological materials. By facilitating open communication and encouraging input from across departments, we were able to quickly identify and implement the best solution. Every team member’s insights were applied or considered, ensuring we resolved the issue within a tight timeline. My role focused on fostering an environment where diverse perspectives could come together to solve problems strategically and effectively.
As the biopharmaceutical industry evolves — with CDMOs expanding their end-to-end service offerings, modalities, and global operations — success depends on leaders who can bridge functions and unite teams to deliver solutions for the company and its partners.
Women’s leadership is vital not only for fostering inclusive and collaborative cultures but also for driving innovation and resilience in an increasingly complex industry. By bringing diverse perspectives, emotional intelligence, and a holistic approach to problem-solving, women leaders help organizations adapt, connect more effectively across functions, and stay agile in the face of constant change. Empowering women in leadership is a strategic imperative for building stronger, smarter, and more successful organizations.
