The Life Science Women’s Conference is being held on February 19 and 20 at the Tampa Bay Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. Co-founded by Patti Rossman and Steve Fiske, the conference is an opportunity for women to accelerate their life science careers via mentoring, networking and education.
The Life Science Women’s Conference is being held on February 19 and 20 at the Tampa Bay Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. Co-founded by Patti Rossman and Steve Fiske, the conference is an opportunity for women to accelerate their life science careers via mentoring, networking and education. Rossman is the president of Globiox, an Austin, Texas-based life sciences consulting firm.
Speakers and panelists include Karen Zaderej, president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Axogen Corporation; Eva Dias, founder and chief executive officer of Phoenix Human Capital Solutions; Jan Flegeau, associate director of Regulatory Affairs at Johnson & Johnson – Sterilmed division; Qaali Hussein, a double board-certified trauma/acute care surgeon and surgical intensivist, co-founder of Advanced Surgical Skills for Advanced Providers, a Trauma and Acute Care Surgery training course for physician assistants and nurse practitioners; Patricia Lawman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Morphogenesis; Renee Morley, senior technical services specialist for Contec; Susanne Armand, co-owner and president, Ceutical Laboratories; Sarah Kitlowski, president and chief operating officer at Omeza; Stacy Arnold, vice president of Clinical Operations for AxoGen, and many others.
Jerrica Dodd will be presenting “The Opioid Crisis From a Pharmacist’s View”; Andie Kramer, partner at an international law firm, will present, “Gender Bias: It’s Not You, It’s the Workplace”; Frandale Johnson, Principal Consultant for McCoy Consulting Group, is presenting, “A Career Choice: Life as a Consultant”; career coach Tracy Costello will be giving a talk, “What They Don’t Tell You in Graduate School.”
Those are only a few of the presentations, panels, workshops, and exhibitors that will be attending.
For example, Cheri Mathews is giving a talk on Day 1 at 9:15 titled, “Inspiration from Wonder Women: Finding the Innovator in YOU.” Mathews began her career as a Computer Engineer specializing in R&D and Failure Analysis with special task force projects for NASA with IBM in Burlington, Vermont. She is currently the founder and chief executive officer of Healincomfort based in Austin, Texas, which specializes in post-operative garments to wear after mastectomy.
Karin Kline will present a talk, “Strategies for Protecting Intellectual Property Involving SaMD and Artificial Intelligence.” Kline practices intellectual property law, including trademark, patent and copyright procurement, enforcement and licensing. Before entering the law, she worked for the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
There are numerous smaller meetings on careers in pharma and medical device companies, engineering and technology careers, STEM Student Intro to Careers, workshops on working remotely, how to get a seat on the company board of directors, and “Negotiating for Women,” presented by Tracy Costello.
New this year, the Life Science Women’s Conference is hosting the 2020 Funding Forum, saying, “meet people who can help your new company grow by providing needed capital. Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, Family Offices and sources of funding in Government will be on hand to meet with startup companies and inventors looking for funding.”
Sponsors for the event, who will have exhibitions, include Globio, Advanced Analytical Testing Laboratories, Ceutical Labs, Omeza, Hitachi, Bonum Health, Axogen, Fast RFID, IKA, Cognis Pharmalicensing, Girls Scouts of West Central Florida, BioFlorida and Life Science Leader magazine.
Several previous attendees offered testimony, including Catherine Cheng, who was a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who said, “As an early career scientist, it was such a motivational and validating experience to learn from role models I could truly relate to. I look forward to the next one!”
And Savi Mittal, senior manager at Ernst and Young, wrote, “Congratulations on the success of the first Life Sciences Women’s conference … It was a very well-organized event!”
In addition to numerous other opportunities to network, the conference touts “The tastiest Networking Event Ever: Chocolate Decadence,” which includes live music, an auction, chocolate wine and “everything chocolate!” The event is sponsored by Crema Fina.
