By: Farzana Bashir

When Dr. Leen Kawas led Athira Pharma to its initial public offering in September 2020, she became the first woman in twenty years in Washington State to take a company public. The achievement garnered recognition and awards, yet Leen Kawas views such milestones with mixed feelings. “I want my daughter to be the first person to do something—not the first woman,” she stated, reflecting on her hopes for the next generation.

This tension—celebrating progress while recognizing persistent barriers—defines much of the conversation around women in biotechnology leadership. Yet Leen Kawas’s perspective extends beyond representation metrics. As Managing General Partner of Propel Bio Partners, she argues that female leadership delivers measurable advantages that make it a strategic imperative rather than simply a diversity goal.

Why Life Sciences Needs Female Leadership Now

The biotechnology industry faces challenges that demand precisely the strengths female leaders often bring. Clinical trial diversity has become a regulatory and scientific imperative—trials lacking diverse participants increasingly face scrutiny from payers and regulators. Female leaders, often more attuned to inclusion issues, can address these requirements more naturally.

Patient-centric drug development represents another shift demanding different leadership approaches. “If you design clinical trials that have the patient’s voice in them, patient retention will increase (which is a problem in our industry),” Kawas explained. This empathetic, human-centered thinking reflects capacities that female leaders frequently demonstrate.

Capital efficiency pressures compound these needs. With funding environments tightening, the industry requires leaders who can build collaborative cultures and retain talent. Research consistently shows that companies with women in executive positions achieve higher returns and more inclusive cultures—precisely what biotech ventures need to navigate current market conditions successfully.

The Business Case Beyond Good Intentions

A 2020 survey of 107 biotech firms revealed that women comprise approximately half of the workforce but fill only 30 percent of executive roles and 18 percent of Board of Directors seats. Nearly 90 percent of surveyed companies’ CEOs were white men.

These statistics typically prompt discussions about fairness and representation. Kawas takes a different approach, focusing on performance outcomes. “There’s a lot of research showing when you have a woman on the helm (or part of the executive team), returns are higher, cultures are more inclusive, and innovation has a different, unique flavor,” she explained.

Women-led companies often demonstrate 60 percent better performance than similar businesses led by men, according to data Kawas has referenced. “I’m not just investing in women or minorities—I’m investing in diversity because this will bring the best innovation and the best returns,” she emphasized.

How Female Leaders Drive Different Innovation

The performance advantages of female leadership stem from identifying opportunities that homogeneous leadership teams overlook. This isn’t about superior capability—it’s about perspective shaped by different experiences.

Kawas’s investment approach at Propel Bio Partners illustrates this principle. The firm has invested in Inherent Biosciences, which developed epigenetic diagnostic tests for male infertility—a domain historically under-addressed. “Infertility has often been seen as a ‘women’s issue,’ leading to women shouldering most of the diagnostic and treatment burden, while male factors received minimal scrutiny,” Kawas observed. Yet up to half of infertility cases involve male factors.

Traditional venture capital, dominated by male investors, overlooked this market despite its size and unmet need. Female investors and leaders recognized it immediately because they or their peers had lived the experience of carrying the entire burden of infertility treatment. By supporting technology that “redefines the path to parenthood,” Inherent addresses a gap that traditional investment committees simply didn’t see.

Propel Bio Partners has also backed Persephone Biosciences, which focuses on infant health through microbiome-based interventions. The company’s work on giving babies a healthier start in life reflects attention to early childhood health that emerges naturally when leadership teams include people who’ve navigated pediatric healthcare systems as parents or caregivers.

This pattern extends to clinical trial design. During her tenure at Athira, Kawas recognized that potential trial participants were disappointed to learn that white men typically served as clinical trial managers. This visible lack of diversity discouraged many prospects from enrolling. Kawas predicted—correctly—that hiring more women and minority trial managers would increase participation from those demographic groups.

Female leaders also brought operational innovations that improved outcomes. Kawas’s team arranged onsite meals for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers during clinical trial days—addressing a practical need that traditional trial designers overlooked. These seemingly small touches reflected what Kawas describes as innovation with “a different, unique flavor.”

Leadership Attributes That Build Stronger Organizations

Beyond identifying different opportunities, female leaders often bring distinctive approaches to team building. Leen Kawas has identified several attributes that create competitive advantages.

Female leaders frequently display high emotional intelligence, enabling them to understand team dynamics and recognize non-verbal cues. This capacity for empathy helps cultivate supportive workplaces where all team members can thrive, driving the higher retention rates that companies with female executives typically demonstrate.

Many female leaders also emphasize collaboration over internal competition, promoting innovation and problem-solving—particularly valuable in biotechnology, where cross-functional collaboration often determines success.

Personal resilience distinguishes many female leaders who have navigated significant challenges. These women often view setbacks as temporary obstacles rather than permanent defeats, helping inspire their teams to maintain momentum during difficult periods.

Confronting Persistent Barriers

Despite evidence supporting female leadership’s strategic value, women in biotechnology continue facing significant obstacles. Leen Kawas has experienced these barriers firsthand and speaks candidly about them.

During her time as Athira’s CEO, Kawas recalled a meeting where a potential investor compared her to a competitor’s male CEO with similar qualifications. The investor stated he would not invest with Athira solely because Kawas was a woman. While Kawas’s advocates pushed back, the investor ultimately declined to fund the company.

Women-led biotech companies typically ask investors for less money than their businesses actually need, while male leaders ask for more than required and often receive amounts closer to their actual capital needs.

“Women don’t get promoted as much as men. If it’s a man who’s promoting another person, they relate to the experience of the males, not the woman. It’s easier for them to make that promotion,” Kawas remarked, explaining structural factors that limit women’s advancement.

Yet Kawas also observed how one positive experience can shift patterns. An investor’s favorable return from her company led him to invest in other women-owned firms, several of which are performing very well. “I gave opportunities to other women,” she noted.

Strategic Pathways Forward

Rather than simply documenting barriers, Leen Kawas offers concrete strategies for addressing them. Aspiring female leaders should actively counter both overt and subtle gender bias while prioritizing skills development. Self-advocacy proves equally important—waiting for others to recognize talent often means waiting indefinitely.

“Find mentors, but most importantly, find advocates. Find those who will advocate for you to grow professionally and personally,” Kawas advised. The distinction matters profoundly. Mentors provide guidance, but advocates actively create opportunities and champion women for leadership positions. “We don’t have as many women in leadership positions, but find someone that will advocate for you and say, Christine, Angela, or Leen is going to be the most valuable person we have to put in this leadership position,” she emphasized.

Female leaders should also cultivate alliances at networking events and industry conferences, where successful female mentors can provide ongoing guidance and open doors to leadership opportunities.

From Intentional to Organic

Kawas’s position at Propel Bio Partners enables her to address gender disparities through capital allocation decisions. The majority of companies Propel Bio has backed have women in leadership positions—not by quota, but as an outcome of seeking mission-driven innovators who can identify underserved opportunities and build strong organizational cultures.

Leen Kawas emphasizes that achieving gender equity requires intentionality until it becomes an organic part of organizational culture. This transition from deliberate effort to natural practice represents the ultimate goal—a workplace where female leadership emerges as frequently as male leadership simply because talent and capability determine advancement.

The strategic argument for female leadership in life sciences rests on demonstrated performance advantages, distinctive perspectives that identify overlooked opportunities, and leadership attributes that build stronger teams. These benefits transcend representation goals. The evidence suggests female leadership in biotechnology delivers competitive advantages that forward-thinking organizations will increasingly leverage.

“I have a daughter, and she is my biggest inspiration. I want her to be the first person to do something—not the first woman,” Kawas concluded. This aspiration captures the distinction between treating female leadership as a trend versus recognizing it as smart strategy. Trends fade when attention shifts elsewhere. Strategic imperatives persist because they deliver results—and that’s precisely what female leadership represents in life sciences.