We are delighted to spotlight the two newest members of the amplifyHERscience team in this Tuesday Touch Base: Melisa Lopez-Anton PhD and Megha H. Unhelkar, PhD.
Meet them below, and join us in welcoming them to our enthusiastic, budding community!
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Women in bio: Greater New Haven leaders steer effort to diversify top ranks of CT’s burgeoning life sciences industry
amplifyHERscience's Grassie said one of the biggest obstacles for successful women faculty members is time, since many are also tapped for multiple boards and committees and are also juggling family responsibilities.
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UPCOMING EVENTS AND DEADLINES |
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EVENT
July 14, 2o21
Is Femtech the next big thing in innovation?
Join Martha Hodgson and Jessica Platt and explore how the power of inclusive, experience-centered design and smart application of technology has accelerated the rise of Femtech. During this webinar, you'll learn about the sector's growth and how an increasing focus on Femtech solutions will offer far-reaching opportunities to define new products, services, and technology experiences that improve women's lives through meaningful consumer and healthcare innovation.
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EVENT
July 15, 2o21
WIB-Connecticut & WIB-Greater Boston: The ABCs of Tech Transfer
Have you ever wondered how inventions and innovations go from academic labs to commercialized products? Join WIB-Connecticut and WIB-Greater Boston to learn from different perspectives about the tech transfer process, ranging from licensing intellectual property to corporations to creating start-up companies. And maybe even get some ideas for a future career path!
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EVENT
Multiple Dates
CTNext Summer Webinar Series – SBIR/STTR
Beginning Thursday, July 1, CTNext is offering a series of hour-long webinars designed to teach you everything you need to know about understanding and applying for Federal research/tech transfer funding through SBIR/STTR.
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EVENT
July 19 - 23, 2021
National SBIR Week
The 2021 National SBIR Week empowers you to connect with SBIR/STTR program managers through live panels & direct 1-on-1 meetings. Investors view start-ups who have secured SBIR/STTR funding very favorably as discussed in a recent conversation between Grassie and Mitzi Krockover, the founding member of the Golden Seeds AZ chapter. Krockover stated securing SBIR funding is seen as “a stamp of approval”. Golden Seeds are group of investors, seeking and funding high-potential, women-led businesses.
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EVENT
July 22, 2021
MALSI+2021
MALSI+2021 is the Commonwealth’s flagship event connecting scientific innovators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to celebrate the many ways Massachusetts leads the nation in bringing translational science to the market.
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DEADLINE
July 23, 2021
SaaS Launch Lab
SaaS Launch Lab is a series of virtual workshops for early- or pre-seed, female-led companies developing SaaS (Software as a Service) enterprise solutions. The program is designed to help female founders refine their proof of concept, find the right product market fit, build a team, and raise an institutional round. The series culminates in 1:1 sessions with M12 investors.
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DEADLINE: August 6, 2021
APPPLICATION TO PITCH AT THE STARTUP SPRINGBOARD
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amplifyHERscience SPOTLIGHTS
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Melisa Lopez-Anton, PhD and Megha H. Unhelkar, PhD joined
Yale OCR and amplifyHERscience this month. We are thrilled to have their enthusiasm, experience and ideas!
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Melisa's “why” for joining the amplifyHERscience community:
Melisa is committed to gender equality and women empowerment in science. She is the Chair of the Spanish Women Researcher Association in USA (MECUSA) since July 2018. In this position, she has raised funding to organize courses to encourage women in scientific venture. Despite some progress, scientific entrepreneurship remains a field dominated by men. According to the most recent data in the United States: 2.2% of venture capital goes to female founders, 12% of venture capital goes to companies with a female on the founding team, and 71% of venture capital firms have no female partners. Underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurship and venture capital is not solely an issue for women. Diversity is essential in the health industry as it drives innovation. Research led by the Center for Talent Innovation demonstrated that a workforce comprised of women ‘matches the market’ and is better suited to identify ‘points of pain’ among potential customers, and create appropriate solutions. A diverse talent pool brings a healthy spectrum of perspectives, and is more equipped to spot and nurture a greater variety of solutions. This is critical, considering that the US consumer market is diversifying, with women making most consumer purchases, and their economy growing rapidly. Life science VCs are missing opportunities and money on the table by only investing in people who look like them (mostly white men). Morgan Stanley estimates that VCs could be missing out $4 trillion by not investing in more diverse founders. Melisa joined amplifyHERscience to take action in the Yale community and change current life science entrepreneurial industry to reflect our social reality.
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Megha's “why” for joining the amplifyHERscience community:
During my BS, I went to pitch a business idea and I walked into a room full of … men, not a single woman. That was the first time the gender disparity was so obvious to me and it landed heavy. A decade later, despite women having continually contributed significantly in STEM and business, a substantial gender gap still exists. Roughly half the world population identifies as women, however, only a small amount to successful ‘women’ scientists, ‘women’ entrepreneurs, ‘women’ something exist. Even today, in 2021, just the fact that an achievement is tagged with ‘woman’ so and so, is concerning. According to a Forbes paper, women entrepreneurs in the U.S. raised about $22 billion in 2020, representing only 14.4% of $156 billion in total. (1) In fact, the pandemic has disproportionately and adversely impact on women’s careers as per the Harvard Business Report. (2) It is not that women don’t work as hard or are any less innovative or ambitious. It is generally the lack of resources, mentorship and support that stalls the growth. Through aHs, I hope to do my bit in reversing the situation by providing practical guidance, skill assistance and recommendations to women scientists to become successful entrepreneurs and have more representation at the table.
I was raised in a family of strong people, strong women. Even as a little girl in India, my parents emphasized I could achieve everything I wanted, independent of my gender. I hope, as a community, we build each other up, because empowered people (women), empower women.
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Women in Bio
Organization
Women In Bio's mentoring programs support women in various stages of their career and personal development. Many chapters have implemented and continue to develop exciting new programs that will grow within the Women In Bio community.
Interesting events are always being posted on the WIB calendar, such as Intro to Venture Capital happening 6/3/21!
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Theia
Organization
Theia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to inspiring and empowering the next generation of women entrepreneurs and investors in healthcare. Their resources will support you in your entrepreneurial journey and pursuit of changing healthcare. Gain insight into entrepreneurship with their framework for company building and their podcast, “Spotlight on Women in Health Ventures.” Join their virtual network of rising young professionals and successful entrepreneurs and investors on Instagram and LinkedIn!
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WEST Women Entrepreneurs
Organization
Boston based WEST helps women in science, technology, and engineering advance their careers. Our members are committed to developing themselves as leaders through learning, networking, and sharing.
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Thank you,
The amplifyHERscience team
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