ScienceMind x Wenite International Women’s Day Panel Discussion

Welcome to the ScienceMind x Wenite International Women’s Day Panel Discussion! Join us in person at King's College London Guy's Campus for an engaging discussion on empowering women in STEM fields. Our panel of experts will share insights and experiences to inspire and motivate attendees. Don't miss this opportunity to celebrate International Women’s Day with us! See you there!

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Join us for an inspiring collaboration between ScienceMind and Wenite as we come together to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) and empower women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)!

Prepare to be empowered and inspired! We want you to walk away feeling confident in your STEM journey, supported by a community of like-minded individuals. Our goal is to create a comfortable space for open dialogue, where shared experiences foster understanding and motivation to excel in STEM.

The panel will be facilitated by moderators from Wenite with expertise in driving discussions with leaders in STEM (see the Wenite Career Profiles in STEM).

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to celebrate women in STEM and take your career to new heights. Mark your calendars and join us for an unforgettable evening of insight and connection.

Panellists

Dr Silvia Ragno brings to Azafaros more than 20 years of experience in the global biopharmaceutical industry spanning both large pharma and small biotech companies.

Prior to joining Azafaros she was the co-founder of Stargazer Pharmaceuticals Inc and was their Chief Operating Officer (COO) from 2018. She co-led the formation of the company by setting and driving the product strategy, organizational vision, and operational strategy to develop a new treatment for Stargardt’s disease, a rare and inherited retinal disease. Her execution of program strategy saw the company preclinical GxP activities right through to Phase 3-ready clinical stage.

This enterprise came about after Silvia worked at Takeda Development Centre Europe as part of a group called TAKcelerator™. By adopting an incubator-like model, her goal – as external asset leader – was to take programs in rare diseases through translation into novel therapies whereby externalisation paths were made possible. Silvia successfully raised the first tranche of Series A funding for a single asset with Novo Holdings, the founding investor of Stargazer. She also out-licensed (in return for equity, milestones, and royalties) a second Takeda asset to Rhythm Pharmaceuticals.

From 2006 to 2014 she worked at Novartis Pharmaceutical UK, providing leadership in programs (including alliance programs) from lead optimization to life cycle management in Allergy/Asthma, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (Orphan Drug Disease), Pediatric, and Point of Care Diagnostics programs.

Earlier career appointments include Head of Pharmacology at Celldex Therapeutics (ex Lorantis Ltd, Cambridge UK) and academic research at the Medical Research Council (London, UK). Silvia received her PhD in Immunology from Queen Mary University in London.

You can find out more about Silvia’s journey into STEM by watching her video interview as part of the Wenite Careers Insights series on Youtube.

Dr Bahijja Raimi-Abraham is a pharmacist, recently promoted to Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Pharmaceutics at King’s College London, Founder and Academic Lead of King’s College London Fight the Fakes and Pharmacy Working Group Lead for the African Diaspora Malaria Initiative.

She leads her research group 'The Raimi-Abraham Group' where her primary research focus is the intersection of two key themes: (i) the generation of non-animal cell-based infectious disease models and (ii) the design and development of nanotheranostic antimicrobial metallodrugs. Dr Raimi-Abraham’s work in research-informed teaching has also been recognised by the Nuffield Foundation. Dr Raimi-Abraham channels her advocacy, awareness and stakeholder engagement activities towards addressing the global issue of substandard and falsified (SF) medicinal products and devices through King’s College London Fight the Fakes.

Dr Raimi-Abraham is the founder and host of Monday Science (selected in the top 25 Best UK Science Podcast by Feedspot and recently listed on Amazon Music’s Best Podcast of Week), a weekly podcast that discusses the latest in Science, Health and Technology. Monday Science previously received funding from the Royal Society of Chemistry towards a project aimed at opening conversations about diversity in chemical sciences and engaging the public with chemistry using creative approaches.

Dr Raimi-Abraham is the first graduate of the University of East Anglia School of Pharmacy to be awarded a PhD and was the 2018 recipient of the Outstanding Woman in STEM Precious Award. Dr Raimi-Abraham is a Board Member of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Great Britain (APS). More recently, Dr Raimi-Abraham was the recipient of the 2022 APS Emerging Scientist Award. Before her current position at King's, Dr Raimi-Abraham held positions at University College London (UCL) as an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) postdoctoral researcher position and at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as a seconded Quality National Expert.

Emma Williams’ career journey encompasses several different Commercial and Marketing roles across two very distinct industries, oil and pharma. After completing a PhD in prostate cancer research at Imperial College, Emma decided that laboratory life wasn’t quite for her, and so decided to gain business experience by joining the graduate scheme at Shell Petroleum Company. Here she was able to utilise her analytical and communication skills developed from her science background, and over the next 10 years experienced a variety of local, regional, and global Commercial roles, ranging from pricing, brand & comms to procurement and global product management.

Missing her scientific roots, Emma then took the leap to return to the world of science and joined the pharmaceutical industry as a Senior Product Manager, and over the course of a few years saw her develop into the role of Head of Marketing for one of Takeda’s rare disease business units in the UK. Subsequently, with a number of UK product launches under her belt, she decided to move back to a global role, joining Astellas Pharma as Commercial Strategy & Operations Associate Director.

And now… after 17 years of working in these two exciting but different industries, Dr Emma Williams works as a Senior Director at Strategic Healthcare Consultancy, Be Possible. Here, by using her scientific knowledge, strategic mindset and extensive Marketing experience, Emma supports her pharma and biotech clients to drive commercial value of their brands.

Anthonia Osagie is a passionate advocate for women's health and a dedicated professional with a multifaceted background in healthcare, research, and technology. Graduating with her BSc in Biomedical Science from the University of Brighton, she embarked on a journey focused on sexual health, maternity, and reproductive biology.

Whilst studying for her undergrad degree at Brighton, she spearheaded a contraception and sexual health clinic for students. After graduating she transitioned seamlessly into roles at GSTT NHS trust such as Sexual Health Adviser where she provided sexual health screening consultations and later a Sexual Health Clinical Coder, where she streamlined services and ensured accurate data collection.

Furthering her education, she pursued a MSc in Reproductive and Developmental Biology at Imperial College London, delving into research on early pregnancy loss. This research led her to become a pivotal figure at Daye, a women's health tech startup, where she served as a clinical research intern, contributing to groundbreaking studies on CBD-infused tampons, contraception and the vaginal microbiome. She went on to become a research associate at Imperial College London and worked as part of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC4C) investigators. She independently developed a new protocol where she did metabolic phenotyping using mass spectrometry of biological samples of COVID-19 patients who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 and since recovery. In this time she also worked on large commercially sponsored clinical trials for new and existing therapies for Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and Non Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH).

Anthonia has a deep interest in tech and started off her journey with evening classes learning web development coding languages to attaining Epic certifications and now completing Amazon Web Services cloud engineering certifications. She has been carving out her own journey into the niche area of health tech in maternity and women’s health and continues to do so in unique ways. She is currently a Lead Analyst, and has spearheaded the biggest implementation of Epic electronic health record systems across multiple NHS Trusts, including Guys and St Thomas', King's College, and Royal Brompton & Harefield. Her main focus is on improving patient care through technology in maternity and women’s health departments. She is the only lead analyst in the entire Apollo programme who is certified to build maternity outpatient technology workflows.

Beyond her professional endeavours, Anthonia is deeply invested in addressing healthcare disparities, particularly in black women. She is an investor in women's health tech innovations and a great advocate for sickle cell awareness. She will be working on a health tech startup focused on black women's health in the future. With a mission to close the gaps in research data and improve real-life patient outcomes, she leverages her expertise in data analytics to highlight disparities and advocate for policy changes. Driven by her passion for equity in healthcare, she aims to break down barriers and provide access to services for communities in need.