Mentorship, advocacy and knowledge sharing are essential for women's advancement in life sciences sector
An impressive Women in Life Sciences Luncheon was held to mark International Women's Day (IWD), alongside a highly successful Women in Life Sciences Leadership Summit.
AusBiotech and Medicines Australia partnered to deliver the Women in Life Sciences Leadership Summit that focused on equipping mid-level and emerging leaders with the skills, confidence, and connections needed to progress into senior leadership.
Generously supporting the two events, AusBiotech and Medicines Australia brought together leaders from across biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical technologies, digital health, research and government.
When women progress, the life sciences sector is stronger, more connected and more equitable
Aligned with the Give to Gain ethos, the program reinforced the principle that generosity — through mentorship, advocacy, and the sharing of knowledge and opportunity — is essential to helping women advance. And when women progress, we all gain a stronger, more connected and more equitable sector for everyone.
Activity focused on equipping mid-level and emerging leaders with the skills, confidence, and connections needed to progress into senior leadership.
"Mentorship, advocacy, and the sharing of knowledge and opportunity are essential to helping women advance," said the not-for-profit peak body for life sciences, AusBiotech.
The 2026 Leadership Summit explored a number of contemporary themes including:
- Leading with calm and resilience through uncertainty
- Making clear decisions when information is incomplete
- Balancing agility with authenticity in modern leadership
- Building trust, ethics and human-centred leadership in an AI-enabled world
- The leadership skills that endure, even as everything else changes
Aligned with the Give to Gain focus, the Summit highlighted the importance of peer learning, shared insight, and the power of connection in accelerating leadership growth across the life sciences ecosystem.
Speakers at the Leadership Summit included:
- Nirelle Tolstoshev, General Manager, Astellas Pharma Australia
- Meredith Crowe, Senior Vice President, Global People & Culture, Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited
- Robyn Langham AM, Chief Medical Officer, Therapeutic Goods Administration
- Sue MacLeman, Chair, Medicines Australia
- Geraldine Murphy, Site General Manager, AstraZeneca
Actively shaping the future of women leaders in the life sciences sector
“The Women in Life Sciences Luncheon and Leadership Summit are part of AusBiotech’s ongoing commitment to actively shaping the future of leadership in our sector. The life sciences sector is built on collaboration, and the Give to Gain theme reflects a simple but powerful truth: when we give time, visibility, mentorship, and opportunity to women, we strengthen our organisations and our entire ecosystem. There is enormous shared opportunity in women, from all parts of our sector, working together to advance health innovation. I’m delighted that AusBiotech is again partnering with Medicines Australia to deliver this year’s luncheon and now partnering on the Leadership Summit. These events create space for honest conversation, collective learning, and connection across our sector. “By bringing leaders together at different stages of their careers and from different parts of our sector, we can turn individual experience into collective momentum and help build a more inclusive, future-ready life sciences sector,” said AusBiotech CEO, Rebekah Cassidy.
“Our continued collaboration with AusBiotech — including our longstanding support of the Women in Life Sciences Luncheon — reflects a shared commitment to strengthening leadership pathways for women across the life sciences sector. This year, we are particularly proud to expand our partnership to include the Leadership Summit — an important step in reinforcing our shared commitment to practical leadership development and tangible progress for women across the sector," said Liz de Somer, Chief Executive Officer, Medicines Australia. “Australia’s life sciences community benefits enormously from the expertise, innovation and leadership women bring to research, industry and healthcare. However, meaningful progress requires sustained effort — through sponsorship, advocacy and collective accountability — to remove structural barriers that persist. By investing in women’s advancement, and by continuing to show up through initiatives such as the Luncheon and Leadership Summit, we strengthen our sector and deliver better outcomes for patients and the broader community.”
AusBiotech is an impressive and impactful organisation that actively creates connections, shares knowledge, advocates for the issues that matter, and helps innovation reach further.
Medicines Australia leads the research-based pharmaceutical industry of Australia, supporting its members to discover, develop and manufacture the medicines that are the foundation of a healthy and prosperous society, including prescription pharmaceutical products, biotherapeutic products and vaccines. Its members invest in medical research, taking local discoveries and developments to the world.