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Women find room at the top in biotech

Sector boasts many females at senior, executive levels in Mass. companies

By Alan R. Earls, Globe Correspondent, 10/20/02

Even with the recessionary climate, the biotech industry has retained its position as a bright spot in the Massachusetts economy.

That has helped the sector catch the attention of women who see it as a great place to launch or build a career. Indeed, the ranks of women in executive and senior positions in the industry have grown significantly in recent years, according to Dr. Una Ryan, chief executive of Avant Immunotherapeutics in Needham.

Neither the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council nor the Biotechnology Industry Association have statistics to back up that assertion.

However, the Mass. Biotech Council notes a number of high-profile women at companies here. In addition to Ryan, they include: Mara Aspinall, president of Genzyme Pharmaceuticals, and Gail Maderis, president of Genzyme Molecular Oncology (both business units of Genzyme Corp.); Cynthia Bamdad, CEO of Minerva Biotechnologies Corp.; Amy Dixon, CEO of Genetica Inc.; and Julia Greenstein, CEO and president of Immerge Biotherapeutics Inc.

''Biotech is a very welcoming industry for women,'' said Ryan. And, although growth has slowed and some firms have cut staff, Ryan believes the industry will continue to thrive -- and to provide opportunities for highly skilled female professionals.

Traditionally, women have not been as prominent in the life sciences as men. However, during the past 30 years, the participation rates for women have increased dramatically in educational programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral levels and, subsequently, in careers related to life science.

In Massachusetts that shift has been most visible within the biotechnology sector. The region boasts many women CEOs and presidents and a growing number of women in entry-level through management positions.

''The women in biotech are very supportive of each other,'' said Ryan. She said executive women have gotten to know one another through industry groups. ''Many of us feel we would like to go further and have at least a woman CEO retreat somewhere,'' she added.

Ryan said she believes biotech is particularly attractive to women ''because it's not just making widgets'' and is focused on improving human well-being. ''I am committed to making therapies that will help people with diseases,'' she said. ''And I assume that men in biotech are also committed.''

Before making the move to the commercial side of biotech, Ryan spent 30 years in academia, becoming a full professor in medicine at the University of Miami as well as a research professor at other institutions. Her employer, Avant, is a publicly traded company developing new vaccines to reduce the risk of heart disease as well as vaccine delivery methods that can improve preventive medicine for other diseases.

Despite her enthusiasm, Ryan admits that the field has its challenges. On the academic side, where she and many of her contemporaries began their careers, the requirements for success can be daunting.

''Women are perhaps more inclined to take a team-based approach to problem solving, which is not the way 'star-oriented' academic institutions have been operated,'' said Ryan. However, she argued that the competition-oriented academic track, while not for everyone, does a good job of producing sharp, focused researchers.

''It isn't all about glass ceilings -- or windows or floors -- you just have to recognize that success comes at a price,'' she said. Still, Ryan believes the commercial sector offers women much more -- greater opportunities for advancement and higher salaries.

BIO-IT World columnist Pearl Freier, who is also managing director for the life sciences division of the Talent Capital Group, a search firm, reinforces this point. While noting there are wide variations in compensation at both academic institutions and within commercial biotech, she said the commercial sector often provides much better opportunities. For example, she noted a recent placement of a PhD-level professional at a commercial biotech firm.

''She had been making in the $30,000s and immediately jumped to a salary in the $80,000s,'' said Freier.

One factor sometimes cited in favor of academia is its relative stability. But, Freier said even that is not an open and shut case since many academic positions depend on grantsmanship as much as professional accomplishments.

However, Christine E. Briggs, director of the Molecular Genetics Core Facility at Children's Hospital, says she prefers the certainties of academia to the uncertainties of the commercial sector. ''With the condition of the stock market, many companies are cutting back on research and emphasizing product delivery, which limits opportunities for people at my level,'' she said.

Julia Greenstein, CEO of Immerge Biotherapeutics, a Charlestown joint venture between Novartis and BioTransplant, is an academic veteran who moved to the commercial side. She came to Boston as a post-doctoral fellow at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and stayed on as an assistant professor ''doing very basic science work in immunology.'' In the late 1980s, her academic ties led her to follow another researcher to his new company, Immulogic, where she eventually became vice president for research.

''At that point it was fairly nontraditional to leave an academic position and go to biotech,'' recalled Greenstein. But the fact that she would still be doing basic science -- and could even bring a grant with her -- helped her make the transition.

After Immulogic, she served as vice president of research at Biotransplant. Part of that company eventually became Immerge, which researches means of transplanting organs from pigs to human. Greenstein acknowledged there are still hurdles for women in biotech. However, she added, ''In both my academic career and my commercial biotech career I have always been in organizations that were very gender neutral and where you were evaluated solely on your achievements.''

Greenstein also noted that since biotech is a relatively new industry it means there isn't an established ''old boy network.''

Of course, no one's guaranteeing instant success for those seeking careers in biotech. Greenstein pointed out that a number of the region's midsize biotech companies have weak financial situations and have had or may soon have layoffs.

Succeeding in biotech requires certain skills, so Greenstein advises women -- and men -- to get the best and broadest training including skills like communications and management. Then be ready with enthusiasm and ideas ''because you never know where your skills will lead you.''

Certainly, the industry has arrived in terms of its size -- employing more than 179,000 people nationwide, according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization. And opportunities in the field are growing locally because many companies are expanding their manufacturing capabilities as well as their research operations, according to Janice Bourque, president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. She stresses that biotechnology manufacturing does not resemble most other kinds of manufacturing.

''You don't have to be able to life 100 pounds to participate,'' she said. Rather, the requirements are for those who are ''competent, careful and bright.''

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