Only about a quarter of biotech and medtech executives and senior officers are women, including author Melissa Burstein.
Courtesy Ra Medical Systems
I
’m proud to be the executive vice president of a
medical device company I co-founded 16 years ago. I love my industry and
the innovative changes it creates that improve people’s lives around
the world.
And yet I’m dismayed to see how few female executives there are in the medtech and biotech industries — roughly 1 for every 4 male executives and senior officers. That imbalance
is bad for women and the future of these industries, because women make
up half of the population and represent more than half of health care
consumers.
Despite positive changes in family
responsibilities and greater shared parenting, in most households women
are still the primary decision-makers when it comes to family and
health. Like all industries in which the leadership doesn’t mirror the
consumer base, the gender mismatch in the medtech and biotech industries
can contribute to suboptimal health care products and services because
women can see health care perspectives and opportunities differently
than men.
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As a result, if women aren’t empowered to build and grow
health-related organizations, then an untold number of people will be at
a serious disservice and innovation in the medtech field and health
care industry at large won’t grow as it should. Patients simply will not
benefit without the unique expertise and knowledge of both men and
women.
There are many
ways to close this gender gap. Here are a few of the strategies that
we’ve put in place at my company, Ra Medical Systems. We had the chance
to start early, since the company had both a female and male co-founder —
gender equality at the top of the organization sets the tone of equal
responsibility, accountability, and participation that have cascaded
throughout the company:
Everyone is heard. The best solutions emerge when
all employees, male and female, are confident and secure that their
voices are heard. Men and women are expected — not just permitted — to
contribute equally. We encourage active communication, participation,
and collaboration, with no heed paid to gender, and we’re able to do
this because we are truly gender blind when it comes to expectations for
all of those things.
Be flexible. Flexible work schedules make it
possible for women and men to perform their best at work while
fulfilling their responsibilities at home. We employ women and men who
are the primary care providers of their families. Through enabling
flexibility across genders at work, we can all excel in our domestic and
professional obligations simultaneously. None of us should have to
choose between the two.
Work in teams. At Ra Medical, women and men work
side by side in production teams to manufacture excimer lasers and
catheters to treat skin diseases and open blockages to restore blood
flow in arteries. Patients’ lives are on the line, and producing perfect
medical devices is a shared imperative for all employees, regardless of
gender. This approach applies to all of the company’s departments, as
each component of the organization must work in harmony for us to make
effective and trustworthy medical devices.
Transparency rules. It’s essential to be
committed to transparency, especially in hiring. We do not hire
individuals based on gender alone, even if we are striving for equity in
our workforce. We hire for skill and cultural fit. We do individual and
group interviews so hiring managers and executives have visibility of
all of the candidates, and there’s a consensus based on shared criteria.
This ensures that no one can have a hidden agenda as it pertains to
gender.
While company leaders can create microcosms of equality in their own
shops, all of us need to play a role fostering environments to cultivate
female leaders in all workplaces. Women need to showcase their
accomplishments and speak up when they have answers or solutions. Women
must also demand answers for their continued professional education and
development.
I was fortunate to be nurtured and taught that the sky was the limit
to what I could achieve. I had parents, teachers, and other mentors who
believed in me and instilled in me the confidence to try and the freedom
to innovate. When it came to the medtech world, though, I didn’t have a
mentor — there weren’t any. Somehow I was able to figure out the
industry and make my own place in it.
To help girls and women believe in themselves, use their voices, and
demonstrate their talents at every level of their education and career,
female executives and their male counterparts need to implement
shadowing and mentoring programs, including more skill-building
opportunities and training. As an executive who is pulled in a dozen
different directions all day, I know it’s hard to take the time to
invest in the development of future leaders. But if we take the time to
mentor young women, they will take our industry further than we ever
envisioned.
Success is not created when we silo ourselves in our own
organizations. I urge my colleagues to cross-pollinate with executives
in other industries, share best practices, reach beyond their comfort
zones, and seek out contributions from men and women alike. Put everyone
around the conference table — and on manufacturing line — equally. This
will deliver greater success for women, which will translate into an
aggregate growth and strengthening of our industries.
Having worked in health care for almost two decades, my conviction is
that companies with diverse viewpoints, experiences, and talents
deliver superior innovations that benefit health and wellness. The
gender mix cannot be out of balance with the population if we truly want
to deliver better health for all. Melissa Burstein is co-founder and executive vice president of Ra Medical Systems, a California-based medical device company.
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