1. October 2002
New networking group for women in bioscience set to launch
By Jeff Meredith
October 24 will mark the first public networking event for Women
Advancing Bioscience (“WABio”), a new networking organization
created to support women working in or supporting the biosciences.
Lynn Baker, director of marketing for local tech law firm Gordon &
Glickson, has been an integral part of the group’s early organizing
efforts and says WABio “detected that there was a real need to have a
strong networking organization for women in the biosciences. To a
certain degree, it’s still a men’s club and we thought it would be terrific
to have a resource for women - a listserv, somewhere for them to go
and tap into all of the terrific insights that women here have that are
in the biosciences.”
The group already boasts an impressive slate of officers and directors
who can share their wisdom. Sharon Ayd, CEO of Advanced Life
Sciences, is serving as president, and Nancy Sullivan, an assistance
director of new business initiatives for ITEC who works with biotech
companies, is executive vice president.
WABio directors include Annette Gilchrist of cueBIOtech, and Melody
Swartz, an assistant professor in Biomedical Engineering and Chemical
Engineering at Northwestern University, among many others.
Baker said brainstorming for the group began shortly after the annual
Biotechnology Industry Organization meeting held in San Diego during
May 2001.
Upon attending the last annual BIO meeting in Toronto, Baker
expected that WABio’s plans would correspond with networking
organizations already set up in biotech centers like Boston, but
observed many hadn’t approached the idea. “Even folks on the East
Coast that you would think would have a lot of women’s organizations
set up, they were really excited about it,” said Baker.

2. WABio (www.womenadvancingbioscience.org), has three initial
objectives. It seeks to conduct small meetings with a cross-disciplinary
group of members to address industry issues, to educate industry
members and the community at large on business issues facing
women in the biosciences, and to develop educational outreach
programs focused on female students.
The latter will focus on fostering interest in science and math, an area
where women are traditionally under-represented. Citing U.S.
Department of Commerce statistics, WABio notes that women
comprise 46 percent of the U.S. workforce, but only hold 12 percent of
science and engineering jobs in business and industry.