Women entrepreneurs face unique challenges in the business world, from lack of representation, gender bias and inequality, lack of mentorship in entrepreneurship, challenges with work-life balance, and access to funding. This career development session aims to shed light on these challenges, provide real life stories from experienced entrepreneurs, and inspire attendees to fearlessly pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Our esteemed panelists include successful women entrepreneurs who have overcome various challenges and have successfully established thriving ventures. They will share their personal journeys, highlighting the hurdles they faced in nurturing the sense of equity and breaking bias to establish their business. The speakers will offer valuable tips on effective management and networking based on their experiences while guiding attendees on what to do and what to avoid when venturing into entrepreneurship.

The first panelist, Jahan Ali is a Vice President at SymBiosis, a biotherapeutics focused venture fund. Jahan is a leader with experience in venture capital, technology commercialization, startup accelerators, and in biotech business development. She will share her experiences on helping others on their entrepreneurship journey and will provide tips on how to translate ideas into commercial products.

The second panelist, Jo Varshney is the Founder and CEO of VeriSIM Life (VSL), and President and CEO of PulmoSIM Therapeutics (PulmoSIM Tx) which is the subsidiary of VSL. The speaker will offer insights on overcoming gender biases and fostering a supportive work culture. The third panelist, Kimberly Lupo is the founder and CEO of Portrett Pharmaceuticals. She leads an analytical testing laboratory for pharmaceutical drugs being investigated for Food and Drug Administration approvals. This speaker will share her entrepreneurial journey and provide advice on how to navigate the entrepreneurial world and practical tips on time management, prioritization, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
We will be asking the panelists questions around the challenges they faced as female entrepreneurs, how they built a strong network to support their venture, what financial strategies they employed to sustain their business, and what advice they have for aspiring entrepreneurs.

By attending this session, participants will gain valuable encouragement and insights into overcoming obstacles as women entrepreneurs. They will learn to be fearless in pursuing their dreams, develop strategies for effective leadership and collaboration, and understand the pivotal role of mentorship in entrepreneurial journey. Ultimately, the audience will leave inspired and empowered to take bold leaps towards building their own ventures, contributing to economic growth, and fostering gender equality in entrepreneurship. In conclusion, this presentation aims to empower and equip women entrepreneurs with the knowledge, inspiration, and tools needed to navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and achieve success in the business world. This proposal is a joint effort between the AAPS women in pharmaceutical science and AAPS inhalation and nasal community.

This session is intended for a panel discussion regarding women in entrepreneurship where each panelist will share their unique experiences and provide advice and insights on how to navigate the administrative, financial, and business aspects of entrepreneurship. The discussion will be around how to build a network and what kind of tools are available to become a successful entrepreneur. We will also discuss the different stages of entrepreneurship from idea to strategy to concretization. To enhance engagement, we will include breakout sessions by splitting the attendees into four smaller groups and promote discussion around their concerns/perspectives on entrepreneurship for about 10 minutes and circle back to the larger group for further discussion and brainstorming. A month in advance, we will share this session among the AAPS WIPS community to promote audience engagement and collect any topics or questions that attendees have regarding this topic that can be addressed during the panel discussion. At the end of the session, attendees of the EmpowerHer Workshop in the pharmaceutical industry will have heard different experiences and perspectives on how to thrive in entrepreneurship and will gain a better understanding on what skills are needed to be a successful entrepreneur, ensuring a holistic and strategic approach to their careers.

This panel discussion is designed for a diverse audience of women professionals and entrepreneurs involved in various facets of the pharmaceutical sector including early career to late career scientists and researchers, students, and anyone interested in becoming an entrepreneur. By tailoring the content to address the specific needs and challenges of women in various roles within the pharmaceutical industry, the workshop aims to provide valuable insights, foster collaboration, and empower attendees to thrive in their entrepreneurial and professional journeys.

Jahan Ali, Ph.D.

Dr. Jahan Ali is a co-founder of Longitude Ventures Consulting, a life sciences consulting firm. Jahan has spent the last 25 years at the early-stage biotech commercialization, investment and entrepreneurship, which has provided her with a unique lens to help her clients. Most recently, she led life science ecosystem activities for SymBiosis Capital. Prior to that, she led the entrepreneurship program at Weill Cornell Medicine, leading programs to help entrepreneurs succeed. Jahan also led the life science investments and ecosystem building at the Partnership Fund, a private fund founded by Henry Kravis. She also has deep expertise in business development and licensing gained through academic technology commercialization and while she was at Mojave Therapeutics. Jahan’s expertise includes structuring partnerships, leading and developing programs and resources for entrepreneurs, and getting funding from several types of investors, including SBIR/STTR, NYS and US EDA for various initiatives. In aggregate, she has been successful in raising over $70-mln dollars. Jahan has a Ph.D. from New York University School of Medicine, and did a postdoc at Rockefeller University.

Kimberly Lupo, MS, MBA

Kimberly Lupo is the founder and CEO of Portrett Pharmaceuticals. She has over 17 years experience helping clinical stage pharmaceutical companies obtain the Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Control (CMC) data required for their regulatory filing. Kimberly is a chemist by education, with a bachelor’s degree from UNC-Pembroke and a Master’s from UNC-Charlotte. She also obtained her MBA from East Carolina University. Kimberly is passionate about providing an outstanding service to her clients as well as developing her team professionally and personally. She founded Portrett Pharmaceuticals in the fall of 2021 with the goal of creating a customer service experience to clients that is unique for the pharma industry while creating a work culture that is collaborative and focused on professional and personal growth.

Jo Varshney, Ph.D.

Dr. Jo Varshney was born to a pharmacological pedigree in India. Being introduced to the world of drug development and research at a young age, and an ethic of competitive achievement, she developed a passion and understanding for science and technology much earlier than most.
Today, Varshney is the Founder and CEO of VeriSIM Life, and the inventor of VeriSIM Life’s BIOiSIM core technology. A virtual drug development engine that harnesses the power of traditional statistical modeling along with artificial intelligence and machine learning, BIOiSIM enables pharma and biotech professionals to bring more lifesaving and cost-efficient therapies to patients faster than ever before.

Over the past several years, Dr. Varshney has front-led numerous collaborative engagements with a host of pharmaceutical clients, government agencies, academic/medical institutes and industry innovators. She is a dynamic and celebrated leader and has received numerous accolades as well as delivered keynotes at several conferences.

Prior to starting VeriSIM Life, Dr. Jo Varshney gained her doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Oncology/Genomics from the University of Minnesota, as well as graduate degrees in Comparative Pathology from Penn State, and Computational Sciences from UC San Francisco.

Ines Santos, Ph.D.

Ines is a Senior Scientist in the Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacometrics, Disposition & Bioanalysis group at Bristol Myers Squibb. She is responsible for the development of LC-MS/MS methods (for small molecule drugs and therapeutic proteins) to characterize pharmacokinetic/toxicokinetic properties of development programs. In addition, she provides oversight of outsourced GLP bioanalytical validations and sample analysis for pharmacokinetic studies. Before joining BMS, Ines worked at AstraZeneca where she was responsible for the development of purification methods for discovery compounds. Ines received her Ph.D. in Biotechnology (Analytical Chemistry) from the Portuguese Catholic University.