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The WIB Seattle Chapter
As the first chapter established on the West Coast of the USA, we are thrilled to expand the WIB organization and bring its resources to the greater Seattle metropolitan area. WIB Seattle Metro is an organization of professionals actively committed to promoting careers, leadership and entrepreneurship of women in the life sciences in Seattle, Bellevue, Bothell and the other cities located in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. We are dedicated to providing education, mentoring and professional development assistance to women and young women who are working in life sciences or in professions supportive of the life sciences, and young women and girls who are interested in science careers. Our membership consists of professionals at leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and device companies, non-profits, academic institutions, and support service companies, including law firms, consultants and financial service firms. To contact the Seattle Metro chapter, email Seattle@womeninbio.org. And be sure to join us on LinkedIn.
WIB Committee Leadership
Women In Bio committees support the professional and personal growth of WIB members and the organization as a whole.
WIB Seattle Metro Chapter Leadership, Board and Officers
Cynthia Adkins, Chapter Co-chair & President: Attorney and Managing Member, Adkins, Plant, Elvins & Black, PLLC, a life sciences and technology law firm
Dauphine Barone, Director, Program Management, Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
Kristin Beaulieu, Chapter Treasurer: Vice President, Wells Fargo Insurance Services
Kathleen Cain, Chapter Vice President: Founder, Creative Director and Writer, Cain Creative, a communications and marketing firm
Julie M. Eastland, CFO and Vice President, Corporate Development, Oncothyreon Inc.
Cheryl Lubbert, Chapter Vice-Chair, President, HPG, LLC
Ling Wong, Program Officer, Global Health Discovery, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Ewa Davison, Patent Litigation Attorney, Fenwick & West LLP
WIB Seattle Metro Chapter Committees
Chapter Leaders
Chair: Cynthia Adkins, Chapter Co-chair & President: Attorney and Managing Member, Adkins, Plant, Elvins & Black, PLLC, a life sciences and technology law firm
Vice Chair: Cheryl Lubbert, President, HPG, LLC
Communications Committee
Chair: Open
Funding Committee
Chair: Open
Membership Committee
Chair: Cheryl Lubbert, President, HPG, LLC
Vice-Chair: Kristin Beaulieu, Vice President, Wells Fargo Insurance Services
Program (Events) Committee
Chair: Ewa Davison, Patent Litigation Attorney, Fenwick & West LLP
Vice-Chair: Open
Young Women In Bio (YWIB)
Chair: Therese Seldon, PhD, Director of Product Development, Immunexpress
Co-Vice Chair: Hannah Thomas, George Washington University
Co-Vice Chair: Alica Racca Ward, University of Washington Department of Bioengineering
To contact any of the committees listed above, please email Seattle@womeninbio.org.
WIB-Seattle Past Events
WIB-Seattle Metro Welcomes Additions to YWIB Leadership Team
WIB Seattle Metro is pleased to announce that it has expanded its YWIB Leadership Team!
Hannah Thomas, B.A. and Alice Ward Racca, B.S., M.S., have taken on official Co-Chair leadership roles within YWIB. Both Hannah and Alice have been active contributors to the YWIB committee for the past six months, and were leading contributors to YWIB’s successful Photograph 51 event. These impressive women will continue to work with YWIB Chair Therese Seldon and the YWIB Committee to lead outreach programs that benefit young girls and women in the Seattle community. Thank you, Hannah and Alice!
About Hannah
Hannah is a clinical research professional with a focus in adult oncology and radiation oncology. She is currently a graduate student at George Washington University earning a MSHS in Clinical Research Administration. She is co-founder and president of the Scent of Water Foundation, an oncology patient assistance foundation. Hannah brings to YWIB a passion for promoting science careers to young women through mentorship; Hannah is a Bio Expo mentor for the Northwest Association for Biomedical Researchers and a contributor to the Association of Women in Science newsletter.
About Alice
Alice is a bioengineering Ph.D. candidate at UW with a strong drive to promote science within the Seattle community and to reach out to young people who are interested in science; Alice is an experienced academic teacher and mentor within UW, and she is an ideal role model for younger students wanting to pursue a science-based career.
WIB-Seattle Metro Inspired by Melinda Gates’ TEDxChange 2013 Event, Positive Disruption
On April 3, 2013, WIB-Seattle Metro joined 202 viewing events in 65 countries for TEDxChange 2013, “Positive Disruption”. The amazing line-up of speakers shared how they are positively disrupting society, agriculture, technology and communities in ways that make our world a better place, including two young vaccine advocates from Calcutta, and they inspired us and made us think of new ways to move positive disruption forward. We learned that just tweeting or posting about a social cause makes a difference. To watch the 90-minute event, go to: http://www.ted.com/pages/tedxchange_webcast. A big thank you to Cooley LLP Seattle for hosting us at their beautiful new office space.
YWIB-Seattle Metro’s Sold-Out Theatre Event at "Photograph 51", honoring the late Rosalind Franklin, Is a Huge Success
Tickets sold fast for "Photograph 51", a play honoring scientist Rosalind Franklin, whose contributions were crucial to the discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA. With a well-written script by Anna Ziegler highlighting the gender politics Franklin faced in a male-dominated field, the stage was set for avid young women scientists to be inspired and enlightened.
YWIB-Seattle Metro committee members coordinated large posters and information pamphlets on other notable but oft-overlooked female scientists, and encouraged future WIB and YWIB members to think about the role of women in science. YWIB maintained an information booth throughout the event and worked hard to address all of the questions that the young people, their parents, and other patrons had regarding women and science careers, and YWIB and WIB, and how to get involved.
Immediately following the performance, YWIB co-hosted a well-attended panel discussion and Q&A session, “The Glass Ceiling Under the Microscope”, during which patrons asked critical questions about what happened to Franklin, how science has changed in its recognition of the efforts of scientists, and how to pursue scientific careers, and we recorded the session and will be editing and posting the highly informative discussion session at a later date. The panel was led by Dr. Leroy Hood (MD, PhD), who was recently awarded the 2012 National Medal of Science by President Obama, and included YWIB’s nominee, Kalliopi Trachana, a young, postdoctoral fellow and Nature-published scientist at Seattle's Institute for Systems Biology, whose primary focus is the cellular mechanisms of cardiovascular disease.
Parents were excited to learn about YWIB and told us that they regarded the YWIB presence as incredibly helpful. Many young people and adults expressed a desire to join us, get involved, and help spread the word about WIB and YWIB and other science-minded events in the Seattle area.
This event launches the first of several events YWIB-Seattle Metro will be doing in the Seattle Metro area in 2013. Our 2013 activities will include work with the Seattle Girls School, the Pacific Science Center, and other outreach opportunities. To learn more, and to hear about our upcoming events for YWIB-Seattle Metro, please subscribe to our mailing list by following this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/P5PBDBG.
A huge thank-you to our event partner, the Seattle Repertory Theatre, who enthusiastically supported our YWIB team.
Ideas, Inspiration and New Connections at WIB Seattle Metro’s TEDxWomen 2012 Event
At this remarkable TEDxSouthLakeUnionWomen event held on Saturday, December 1, 2012, we were very pleased to join 10,000 other global participants at 150 local events held all over the world where presentations in Washington DC were live-streamed in more than 50 languages across 6 continents. Working with our sponsoring partners Microsoft Research, the University of Washington’s Information School and the UW Women In Informatics Group, we hosted a cross-generational and multi-ethnic mix of women, men and girls who enjoyed listening to a rich and stimulating array of speakers who sparked new ideas and inspired us to make new connections. Our two local speakers were Katie Davis, a youth and digital media scholar based at the University of Washington Information School, who talked about how youth today differ from those who grew up in the pre-digital age, and Munmun De Choudhury, a computational social scientist based at Microsoft Research, who shared her research about fostering emotional intelligence online. Our bonus session was a screening of Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s powerful Sundance documentary, Miss Representation, which explores how the media’s many misrepresentations of women contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence. The film features interviews with leading politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics including Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Rachel Maddow, and Gloria Steinem. All of the TEDxWomen 2012 sessions are available for viewing here, so you too can experience and share the inspiration of TEDxWomen 2012 with others.
WIB Seattle Metro Welcomes Additions to YWIB and Communications Teams
Welcome to Therese Seldon, Ph.D., as our new head of YWIB! Terese is currently Director of Product Development at Immunexpress, has led commercially relevant biotechnology projects for both academia and industry, including the University of California, San Francisco, start-up diagnostics company, PanBio Ltd (acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations), and Australian pharmaceutical company, CSL Ltd. Therese has a strong interest in technology commercialization and has completed postgraduate business studies in Technology Management at the University of Queensland, Australia, and Stanford University’s Ignite Entrepreneurship Program.
The Communications Committee also welcomed Ben Pearson as its new head of Social Media strategy and programming. Ben recently graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. His professional experience extends to technical project management and business, including positions at Overstock.com and Real Networks. He enjoys the science and business aspects of the life-sciences industry and has already provided useful insight into the Chapter’s Social Media efforts. Welcome Ben!
First Annual WIB Seattle-Metro Members-Only Event Draws Big Crowd and Inspires Growing Interest in Chapter!
Despite some pretty significant traffic delays in the downtown Seattle area, WIB Seattle-Metro held a very successful Annual Members-Only Event – one year after the Chapter’s launch in September 2011 - on Thursday, September 27, 2012.
Home to the University of Washington Huskies, Seattleites love their local college football just as much as they love their coffee. As it turns out, our first Annual Members-Only event was scheduled (unbeknownst to us) the same evening as an all-important Huskies game! Regardless of this, over 70 WIB Seattle-Metro Chapter members braved the football traffic (some travelling to the Event for 1.5 hours!) to celebrate what was a tremendously successful inaugural year!
As the first Chapter established on the West Coast, WIB Seattle-Metro enjoyed the following successes over the past 12 months, and the enthusiasm continues:
- A momentous launch – 200+ people attended the September 2011 kick-off event
- Positive local press coverage
- 13 events held in the past 12 months (many sold-out)
- Incorporation as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization
- Our first $10,000 donation
- Growing presence in social media
- Establishment of a marketing communication plan and strategy
- Solid member growth (we are over 170 members, as of October 2012)
- A high-energy volunteer base that continues to grow
So…there was much to talk and feel good about at our anniversary celebration and much to look forward to for the remainder of 2012 and into 2013. Members, together with the Leadership Committee and Committee Chairs first remembered the year past, our first-year adventures, events and accomplishments, and then looked forward, to the opportunities that lie ahead next year. And we issued a call to action to continue the momentum!
Overwhelmingly, the Leadership Committee received positive feedback and renewed commitments to support the Chapter and WIB’s mission of supporting women in the life sciences, by actively participating in WIB events, volunteering, hosting and sponsoring Events, donating money, etc.!
Some select quotes include (and we’re paraphrasing a bit):
“I didn’t realize all that had been accomplished in this past year. Thank you for having this meeting to share it with us.”
“This is the best and most well-run professional organization I belong to.”
“I belong to other organizations that have great ideas, but WIB actually makes them happen.”
“At one of the 2012 WIB events, my company found one new employee and three new consultants, so I can tell you that WIB works.”
Furthermore, and as a result of this event, the Seattle-Metro Chapter:
- Received interest in volunteering on various committees
- Received interest in leading our Social Media effort and YWIB
- Enlisted every member’s help in attracting new members with a “Tell 2 Colleagues” request.
Continuing With the Women In Bio “Interview a WIB Member” Series
This new series showcases WIB members as they describe the navigational tactics of climbing their own professional ladder to success. We continue with the second interview in this series is with Cheryl Lubbert, Seattle Metro WIB Chapter and President of Health Perspectives Group (HPG, LLC).
Cheryl Lubbert, one of the founding members of the Seattle Metro WIB Chapter and President of Health Perspectives Group (HPG, LLC) currently runs a group of specialty healthcare communication firms, Health Advocacy Strategies and Patient Health Perspectives. These companies find real people and incorporate their health experiences into branding, marketing and communications.
In this WIB Interview, Cheryl shares her 25 year journey from bench research to biopharmaceutical corporate leadership with companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Amgen and Abbott to her marketing services and communication entrepreneurial ventures. Along the way, she found her professional passion for bringing talented people together to innovate and accomplish the seemingly unattainable through the importance of networking, mentoring and being open to new opportunities. Cheryl’s journey has taught her that anything is possible if you can envision it; you just need to have the right attitude and be persistent. Her philosophy is that there is a valuable lesson to be learned from every situation, and her story highlights how the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry provided the opportunity to combine her love of science with her passion for running businesses.
In her spare time, she enjoys helping her husband manage their Asian pear orchard and business on Vashon Island in Washington State.
Click here to read the entire interview with Cheryl. Stay tuned for future interviews with interesting WIB members from various chapters.
WIB-Seattle Metro Chapter Hosted TEDxChange Event on Global Health & Development
More than 150 people attended an amazing TEDxChange event on global health and development, live-streamed from Berlin, Germany and hosted at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation campus in Seattle, on April 5, 2012.
Members of WIB-Seattle Metro were granted a special invitation to this event by the Gates Foundation, who supplied breakfast and refreshments and lots of support for our Chapter.
The speakers’ presentations included many calls to action about finding innovative ways to prevent disease by installing simple sanitation systems in Southeast Asia, building a greener and less hungry world by making renewable energy a reality, enlisting the help of young people in India to promote the vaccination of babies against polio, and encouraging women whose activism and achievements have been largely ignored to step forward and claim their role in changing, saving and improving the world. The forum closed with an impassioned speech by Melinda Gates about access to family planning for some of the world's poorest women in developing countries around the world.
We invite you check out the stories in “How Have Contraceptives Changed Your Life?", and then to share your story and encourage everyone you know to add their voices to those of Melinda Gates and others who are making the case that access to contraception and family planning is an issue that is not controversial, but absolutely essential to the health and economic welfare of everyone on the planet. If you missed the event, or would like to watch it again, the full video is embedded at the end of the Melinda Gates post.
On behalf of everyone who attended from WIB-Seattle Metro, we’d like to extend a BIG thank you to the Gates Foundation for opening its doors to us. It was an amazing and inspiring experience.
WIB-Seattle Metro Chapter Incorporates
Launched just last September, WIB-Seattle Metro has recently become incorporated! Since launch, the Chapter has attracted almost 100 new members, established a leadership committee, held several sold out events, and secured its first $10,000 donation. The Chapter is also gathering a growing body of new volunteers and has plans underway to augment the leadership team, to launch its 2012 marketing communications, membership drive and fundraising efforts, and to fill the calendar with exciting and new programming, including a Young Women In Bio inaugural event at the end of March.
Seattle Women Motivate during WIB/TEDxWomen Event
Written by Ruth Kunath
On December 11, 2011, members of WIB Seattle Metro hosted a TEDxSouthLakeUnionWomen event in collaboration with TEDxWomen, an all-day event that was streamed live from New York and Los Angeles to local gatherings in cities all over the world. The Seattle event was held in the JBL theatre at the Experience Music Project Museum. Devoted to presenting Ideas Worth Spreading, the event broadcast a dazzling roster of more than 35 speakers including Sharira Amin, the Egyptian journalist who reported from Tahir Square; filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, whose new film “Miss Representation” documents how the inaccurate and woefully biased presentations of women in the media are “killing our daughter’s ambition and destroying empathy and emotion in our sons;” Ivy Navarrette, a reformed L.A. gang member turned restaurateur; and Gloria Steinem, the original doyenne and advocate of women’s issues. The presentations sparked spirited conversations and renewed passion and commitments to making further inroads for women. Videos of the provocative and inspiring speakers are accessible here: http://tedxwomen.org/videos/. We would like to thank Seattle women, Ginny Ruffner, Lili Cheng, and Rose McAleese, for their gracious presence and live presentations:
• Lili Cheng, General Manager of FUSE Labs at Microsoft Research, gave us a glimpse into programs that enable children (yes, girls too!) to design and build creative software.
Discussion with Expert Series Recap
Live-Streamed Series with the Expert program with Dr. Marlene Haffner was thorough, informative and great that Seattle, Boston, Chicago and RTP chapters of WIB could share in the DC’s Chapter event being held at the J. Craig Venter Institute. Much learned about orphan drugs…the what, why, how and how the FDA actually can be very helpful. But the highlight of our Seattle event was we had our own local expert for the “after-party.” Dr. Nancy Boman (Senior VP of Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs of CTI) was kind enough to tell her about her experiences with orphan drug submissions and she fielded lots of interesting, varied and relevant questions from our both knowledgeable and knowledge-seeking attendees. People stayed after to talk, trade cards and keep the conversation going!
Successful Progressive Dinner Held at South Lake Union
On October 17th, the WIB Seattle Metro chapter experienced firsthand how the South Lake Union area has developed into a thriving neighborhood for life sciences and technology innovation. First stop was the Vulcan Discovery Center where WIB members and guests who were initially strangers quickly progressed to stimulating discussions on toxicology, global health, tips for meeting people at conferences and career strategies. The next stop for the progressive dinner was the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. Guests were greeted with wine, food, and an incredible all-women panel of local biotech executives, and then on to dessert. A big thanks to Susan Morgensztern for thinking of and orchestrating this event, the sponsors, the panelists, Vulcan, Seattle Biomed, and everyone else who helped make this another tremendously successful WIB Seattle Metro event. For a full summary of the event, click here.
More than 200 Gather for WIB-Seattle Metro Kick Off
We are very proud and thrilled with the 200+ person turnout for the WIB-Seattle Metro chapter's opening event, which was held on September 15, 2011. Xconomy.com's Luke Timmerman posted articles of this exciting event. Click here and here to view the articles. To view pictures and read a recap of the event, click here.
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