Ever since my school years, I was intrigued and attracted by mathimatics and physics. At first, it begun as mind games or quizzes, solving problems and equations. Then after university, I realized how science can explain and solve the problems we face in everyday life, business and economy and deeply appreciated their impact, in a different way.
Your organization field and mission
BIOEMTECH is a preclinical Contract Research Organisation and imaging systems’ manufacturing company. BIOEMTECH Laboratories, facilitate preclinical drug discovery in all stages of drug testing and evaluate promising radio-drugs towards the clinics. Our mission is to partner with pharma companies in creating new, safer and more efficient pharmaceuticals for the clinics.
Please tell us briefly about your role in the company / at your organization:
In my role as COO of BIOEMTECH Laboratories, I ensure that all laboratory operations run smoothly and are continuously updated and upgraded, in a way that they allow the company to constantly keep growing. As Co-Managing Partner, I work towards making and sustaining BIOEMTECH as a leader in the preclinical drug discovery sector.
Your interest in STEM
The truth is that I never had very specific role models. I always liked reading biographies and interviews of successful people (i.e., people that made an impact), but also looked relaxed, happy and in control. These could be actors (like Steve McQueen), jornalists (like Maria Rezan), businesspeople (like Steve Jobs) and sometimes scientists (like Dimitris V. Nanopoulos). But today, I have come to highly admire any person who follows his or her fulfilling purpose, creates an impact in his/her field and finds balance between an apiring career and a gratifying everyday life.
Your studies
I would say something like the following:
- Strengths: Strong analytical and communicational skills and a keen interest in science and data.
- Weaknesses: Working (even though in research) while doing my PhD, sometimes made me lose my focus on my studies.
- Opportunities: Access to cutting-edge universities and inspirational people.
- Threats: At some points, I flirted with the idea of following different fields (outside science), that could have guided me in a very different route.
Do it for yourself. If you enjoy science, dive into it and get the most out of your studies. Be curious and talk to as many people as you can find in your way. It is from peoples’ stories that you might discover what you want to do with your life. Create a strong network, both with your classmates and teachers and try to maintain it after the completion of your studies.
You at work
In our company, we are notorious for selecting new collaborators mostly on their personality, attitude and enthusiasm, rather than just their pure CV and technical skills. This means that vibrant people, with strong personalities, very different to each other, come together and create things. I believe that this is a true example of diversity that produces beautiful results.
On a company level, I am proud of having created a team and infrastructure, that allows high quality research to be done and at the same time (usually) for people to enjoy doing so. On a personal level, I am proud of having made all the professional choices, that today make me feel that every day, I can work on the things that I want, like, and choose and not the things that I must or should.
Work hard, but without making a fuss about it. Mind your own business, don’t listen or be influenced by people you do not admire. Be creative and have confidence, show your work in a respectful and elegant way. Create a strong network of people you admire and learn how to communicate with data. Having a strong network will give you access to more opportunities and knowing how to exploit and work with technology and data, will give you higher chances to win these opportunities.
Your point of view
I believe that data empower women. When a woman is educated in gathering and communicating data-driven opinions, results and facts, this is a skill that always prevails.
Understand deeply the nature of your work, learn how to communicate with data and numbers and how to demonstrate your work without making a fuss, but in an eloquent way. Prevail by elegance and quality.
As in all sectors, I would like that we lack the need to talk differently about men and women and focus on results alone. Things are progressing fast, and I believe that we might reach the stage where we only talk of people, and their needs and strengths.
To finish with
If I had to choose the most important values for me, I would say attention to detail, courtesy with good humour and data-driven decisions and discussions. These are values that I communicate in my everyday life and always try to find collaborators that share these sincerely. I am lucky enough to be working with people that see these values eye-to-eye with me and often these create a go/no-go decision for new collaborations.
I feel that the biggest challenge will be to not stop learning and find the way to maintain a clear view of the cutting-edge scientific progress, so I can be part of the most innovative and promising solutions in the drug discovery field. Also, to keep growing the team and the company and maintaining the quality of products and services, along with the culture and values of the people that started the company.
Things are evolving very fast, both for our company and the drug discovery field, so this is hard to say. I know I want to remain in the drug industry and keep working towards better therapies and also be able to have business partners that I admire and gain pleasure from our everyday collaboration and co-creation. If I have these things, I will consider my plans achieved in 2030.