Leen Kawas is an expert in building scientific careers for both men and women. Kawas is a managing partner of Propel Bio Partner Group, LLC, a Boston-based commercialization and design firm that helps individual clients in all phases of the development process, from initial research to clinical trials to the launch phase.
Leen Kawas was instrumental in the formation and growth of Berlex Laboratories Inc. At Berlex, she played an active role in finance, personnel and strategic planning while spearheading the company’s relationships with clinical investigators and numerous academic institutions in Asia. She received her MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a BS from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Leen Kawas is a Women’s BioAlliance Steering Committee member and is active in several other scientific organizations. She actively mentors women in biotechnology, encouraging them to be self-confident, work with their advisors, and know that men have very supportive family members.
Private biotech companies and venture capital firms are often willing to take a gamble on women with promising ideas or research. Still, some women find themselves stymied early in their careers because they need help obtaining funding for their research endeavors. This paper discusses some specific problems women face in becoming venture capitalists. It also discusses what steps can be taken to bridge the gap between the amount of funding available for women in biotechnology and the funding women in biotechnology receive.
Today, more women than ever are entering careers in science and technology as men are staying away from jobs that offer no chance for advancement and benefits. Men also stay in school longer, meaning half of all working-age men are not in the workforce. Biotechnology is an industry that offers a desirable balance between having a work-life balance and getting to do a job that they find interesting. This combination of factors presents the opportunity for women to enter biotechnology careers in greater numbers.
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