Leaving Academia to Start Their Own Companies
Women scientists are no longer considered a minority in academic settings, yet few women claim the title of CEO at biotechnology companies. A handful of female CEOs were asked about their journey to the top of the corporate world. Most left secure academic careers to follow their dreams, and to speed their rise, they founded their own companies.

Una Ryan, Ph.D., a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of medicine at the University of Miami, FL, first joined T-Cell Sciences (Boston) as its CSO in 1993. Her passion for science made her an enthusiastic speaker who pitched the company to investors. When the company transitioned into Avant Immunotherapeutics (www.avantimmune.com) in 1996, Dr. Ryan moved into the CEO slot. The company, now based in Needham, MA, makes vaccines and immunotherapeutics. Avant has two approved products that prevent Salmonella infections in chickens (Megan® Vac) and eggs (Megan® Egg), and six more products are in the pipeline.

After a 20-year career as a tropical-disease researcher at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Bethesda, MD, Carol Nacy, Ph.D., founded Sequella (www. sequella. com) in 1996 in nearby Rockville. The company discovers new treatments and diagnostics for tuberculosis (TB). “TB is a huge unmet medical need, with no modern products,” says Dr. Nacy. Sequella developed a skin patch that detects active TB and is undergoing Phase III trials in South Africa. The company plans to file an IND in 2004 for a second generation antibiotic screened from a combinatorial library, to treat antibiotic-resistant forms of TB.

Microbiologist Mary Pat Moyer, Ph.D., founded InCell (www. incell.com) in San Antonio, TX, in 1993. She left a tenured professorship at the University of Texas Health Science Center, where she had founded the Center for Human Cell Biotechnology. While a university researcher, she saw a need for niche products for cell biologists. At first, InCell shipped specialty culture media from her living room. Today, InCell offers preclinical testing and laboratory services.

In addition, the company’s cancer therapy adjuvant, dubbed AAFA, recently started clinical trials at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and the U.S. Air Force is funding the development of InCell’s oral smallpox vaccine.

Ruth Shuman, Ph.D., also wanted to make better products, so in 1988 she started Gentra Systems (www.gentra.com) in Minneapolis. As a genetics researcher at North Carolina State University, she knew that nucleic acid purification was a slow, tedious process. “We ran thousands of samples and had to develop our own methods,” says Dr. Shuman. Gentra’s first product, Puregene® DNA Purification Kit, was released in 1991. The newest product, Versagene RNA, which was released early in 2004, isolates RNA from animal cells or cultured cells.

In 1994, Judith Gwathmey, D.V.M., Ph.D., founded Gwathmey (www.gwathmey.com) in Cambridge, MA. The firm is a contract service company that specializes in preclinical toxicology testing. Dr. Gwathmey, who remains a professor of medicine at Harvard University, started her company to “stop bad drugs from reaching the marketplace,” she says.

Science-to-Business Transition
According to these researchers turned CEOs, scientists already have many skills that benefit them in the business world. The tasks of a CEO parallel those of a dean or department head at a university; however, the advantage of founding your own business is that you “hire who you want, instead of inheriting the departmental politics,” says Dr. Gwathmey.

Women who already run research laboratories and budget grant funds are just a small step away from running a small spin-off company. “But the transition to head a publicly traded company is a much greater transition,” says Dr. Ryan.

“A different type of learning curve accompanies the transition from academia to business, which involves managing products and forecasting revenues. However, people skilled at science are skilled, period, so you can learn on the job,” says Dr. Nacy.

Women versus Men
Women possess the innate skill of multitasking, and “are good at coordinating many things at once and making sure nothing slips up,” asserts Dr. Ryan. In contrast, men in CEO positions have “the disadvantage of having to fit a preconceived notion of what a CEO does,” she suggests, whereas “women can be creative and make their own roles.”

According to Dr. Gwathmey, “Few women have made it to the CEO level in the biotechnology arena.” This can make it more difficult to negotiate business deals. “I rarely see a woman sitting across the table from me,” she says, and “when talking at the CEO level, there’s never another woman sitting across the table from me.”

Even fewer women control venture capital funds. In the Boston area, which is home to the second-largest number of venture capital firms after the San Francisco Bay Area, Dr. Gwalthmey knows of only one female venture capitalist. This creates a barrier for women seeking venture capital funds.

“I went through trial by fire when it came to dealing with Wall Street when my company went public,” says Dr. Ryan. “Venture capitalists tend to be men and may be more judgmental of women,” agrees Dr. Nacy. Consequently, “you have to work extraordinarily hard to convince them that you are good at what you do,” she adds.

Launching one’s own business allows one to shape the work environment. “When you found your own company, you can steer and drive the ship,” says Dr. Gwathmey. Moreover, you can develop a favorable corporate culture. Within established companies, “it’s hard to change the culture,” she says, even if a woman climbs to the top.

An example of corporate culture includes shifting the work force in favor of women. The staff at Gwathmey consists of 80% women. Dr. Gwathmey says she recruits women from academia whose talents are underrecognized. When women interview with her, they are more concerned about the ethics and integrity of the company than men. “I’m very proud to have a group of outstanding women working for me. Their integrity and dedication can’t be matched anywhere,” says Dr. Gwathmey. Similarly, the work force at Sequella consists mostly of women. “I hire the best people, and many happen to be women,” says Dr. Nacy.

Myths and Advice
What words of wisdom do these successful CEOs offer other women? Beware of the “bogus academic person’s business model for starting a biotechnology company,” warns Dr. Moyer, referring to the stereotype of hiring a CEO who raises money from venture capitalists to run the laboratory.
“That’s the dream situation,” says Dr. Moyer. Instead, she grew a company by selling niche products and services. She also suggests forming consortiums with other small companies to trade services.

Another pitfall is the belief that women can have it all. Running a business takes over your life, and a CEO should expect to “work like a dog,” says Dr. Ryan—or, at least, “80 to 100 hours a week,” says Dr. Moyer. That leaves little time to “worry about the ugly pink wallpaper at home, because you have to meet payroll,” says Dr. Moyer. And don’t expect to get rich. “There’s an assumption from the dot-com world that the rewards are huge and you’ll get fabulously rich,” says Dr. Ryan. That’s not necessarily so.

“Women must recognize that the world is not fair,” says Dr. Gwathmey, “so passion has to drive you.” If you don’t love what you do, then “don’t start a company,” she adds. “Starting a business takes a certain type of person who likes to take risks,” adds Dr. Shuman. “If you are that type of person, then follow your dreams,” she says. Noting that there is always demand for skilled people, Dr. Nacy urgests women to “go for it,” and finds that most impediments are less real than perceived. To move forward, she recommends perseverance, hard work, and keeping one’s eye on the goal.

But don’t expect your children to follow in your footsteps. “My children have gone as far from science as you can get,” says Dr. Ryan. One daughter works in government affairs, and the other is an artist.

Married to a physician and the mother of five, none of Dr. Nacy’s children chose science or medicine. Instead, they pursued the law, film making, and journalism. “We told our children to do what they love and have passion for it,” says Dr. Nacy. Dr. Moyer’s children work in real estate and computer science. At age eight, Dr. Shuman’s daughter is too young to choose a career path. But she already has asked her mother, “Does everyone have to work this hard?”

To make any comments on this article, or to ask a question of the author, please contact the publisher. If you would like to submit an article please subscribe to our PL Intelligence service.

The opinions expressed in the articles published in this section do not necessarily reflect those of Innovaro Pharmalicensing or Innovaro Corporation. No actions including proposals to or agreements with other companies should be taken by any reader without obtaining specific business or legal advice. Neither the publisher nor the authors accept any liability for any actions or activities undertaken by any reader or other third party as a consequence of these articles or for any errors or omissions therein.