Project management is  an essential component to success in many industries including pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies, whether the company has thousands of employees or is just starting up. Join us in speaking with portfolio, program, and project managers to learn more about the important roles they play in achieving, prioritizing and setting the goals of their companies. They will discuss the factors considered while making their career path transitions from individual contributors to managing teams and setting strategies. In turn, you will learn what signs to look for when assessing whether to make a move into managing projects! 

This event is for you if:

• You are interested in learning more about project, program and portfolio management
• You want to broaden your perspective on career paths beyond the bench
• You are interested in moving from an individual contributor role to managing and leading teams

Panelists (Bios below)

• Jane Atkins- Senior Director, Portfolio and Program Management, Wave Life Sciences
• Lydia Harris- Project Management Consultant, Project Office Services and Course Director for Biotechnology Project Management, MassBio
• Melissa Lapierre-Devlin- Sr. Director, CMC Management, Sarepta Therapeutics
• Maggie Duffy- Sr. Director, Global Program Management, RNA Technologies/GeneTherapy, Sarepta Therapeutics

Early Bird Registration
(ENDS October 17th)
MASS AWIS members $10 · Non-members $20

Regular Registration
MASS AWIS members $15 · Non-members $30

Thanks to Sarepta Therapeutics for hosting the event!

Biographies

Jane Atkins

Jane has been at Wave Life Sciences since September 2016 and leads Portfolio and Program Management in Wave’s Development Organization. Prior to joining Wave, Jane spent 6 years at Biogen, where she led multiple early development programs in immunology, hemophilia and neurodegenerative disease. Prior to Biogen, Jane worked as a scientist for Intercytex, a start-up company that focused on developing regenerative medicine products for the skin and hair. Jane did post-doctoral work at the Center for Engineering and Medicine at Harvard Medical School, received her PhD in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University and her undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Lydia Harris

Lydia A. Harris, C.P.M., PMP has worked in the Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical Industry for over 30 years. Her experience ranges from Laboratory Bench Work to establishing Project Offices. During that time she has had the opportunity to be on the leading edge of developing and designing processes for increasing efficiency in the areas of Material Resource Planning, Technology Transfer, Project Management, and Drug Development in GMP and ISO 9001 environments. Her most recent work has been in the area of conducting assessments of organizational readiness for Enterprise Project Management, establishing the Project Office, developing project teams, designing and conducting training, and coaching and facilitating the work of project teams. Her work also consists of acting as a Project Manager for small and large projects related to biotechnology, medical device, and pharmaceutical development. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology, Masters of General Administration from the University of Maryland in Procurement & Contract Management, Certification of Project Management from Boston University, and is a Certified Purchasing Manager as well as a certified Project Management Professional. Additionally she holds a Masters of Fine Art and a Museum Studies Certificate from the joint School of Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University program.

Melissa Devlin

Melissa Devlin, PhD, MBA is a Senior Director at Sarepta Therapeutics where she heads up the CMC management group. Her team is responsible for the development, manufacturing, testing, regulatory and quality advancement of the portfolio from early through late stages.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Melissa received a bachelor’s degree from Clark University, Doctorate in Chemistry from Boston College, and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management. She started her career as a bench analytical chemist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda) where she developed, validated and characterized a variety of analytical methods. Her first participation on CMC teams was as a technical rep where her interest in learning how each function works to drive a program forward and implementing integrated development plans and strategies began. From there, she became the global CMC project team lead for both internal and alliance partnered programs mainly focused on the antibody drug conjugate assets. She drove complex development programs on one of the first global teams to successful milestones including IND/IMPD submissions, FPI, and Phase to Phase readiness.
In 2018, she joined Sarepta to build the CMC management group within Technical Operations and now oversees the CMC activities for the entire portfolio from research through clinical stages to commercial. Melissa’s group is accountable for inter-dependencies across functions, between tech ops and clinical, non-clinical, quality, regulatory to support execution of integrated program plans.
Ever searching for the sustainable work-life balance, Melissa is a wife, mother to two girls (ages 11 and 8), two dogs and two guinea pigs. She is often referred to as the Chief Logistical Officer of the Household. Melissa actively participates in her daughter’s schools and tries to share her love of science at the yearly science symposium where she teaches the “science of slime”.
Throughout her career, Melissa has been very fortunate to have some managers and mentors that have provided support, guidance and acted as a sounding board. She is a graduate of the Women Unlimited LEAD program, a 12 month leadership development program for women.
Favorite quote:
“In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Maggie Duffy

Maggie Duffy, Sr. Director, Global Program Management at Sarepta Therapeutics is a high performing and results driven program and alliance management professional with 20+ years’ experience in the Biopharmaceutical industry. A biologist by training, her diverse background across multiple indications, functions and roles, affords her a unique perspective to define strategy, lead teams and optimize organizational processes and effectiveness. Her authenticity and leadership further shines in her athletic pursuits as she has a long and storied history as an accomplished Iron(Wo)Man, distance cyclist, distance swimmer and marathoner. In her spare time, Maggie is a long-term supporter and volunteer of HBA; previously serving as a member of the HBA Ambassador Program and continuous mentor to young professional women over her career.