Seven influential women in biotech in 2026 

Women make up 56% of the life sciences workforce, yet the gender parity is skewed as they remain underrepresented at leadership roles. While barriers to opportunities remain, women continue to make a transformative impact in various fields in the life sciences, biotech, and medtech industries. As we celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11th, let’s have a look at some of the most influential women in biotech and healthcare in 2026. 

Shehnaaz Suliman 

Currently serving as the chief executive officer (CEO) of ReCode Therapeutics, a Maryland-based biotech that is designing genetic medicines to treat genetic disorders like cystic fibrosis, Shehnaaz Suliman has been in the business of biotech for more than two and a half decades.  

Under her leadership at ReCode, the company bagged $29 million last year and has kicked off phase 2 trials of the mRNA-based therapy RCT2100, having received orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year. 

She began her career as a clinical resident in Free State in South Africa. This was following her M.D. from the University of Cape Town Medical School in South Africa after which she completed both an M.B.A. and an M.Phil. from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.  

Suliman has worn many hats since. Before joining ReCode in January 2022, Suliman was president and chief operating officer (COO) of California-based Alector, where she helped scale the immuno-neurology and immuno-oncology company through capital raises and late-stage pipeline advancement.  

Prior to Alector, she held senior leadership roles in corporate development and strategy at U.S.-headquartered lung disease therapeutics company Theravance Biopharma and played key operational and portfolio roles at big pharmas, such as Genentech, Roche, and Gilead Sciences. And earlier in her career, she also worked in investment banking advising on buy- and sell-side transactions for life sciences firms.

At present, and on top of her role at ReCode, she also serves on the boards of publicly traded biotech and life science companies, including California-based Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals and 10x Genomics.   

Widely recognized for her leadership and impact, Suliman held a spot on Forbes’ ’50 over 50’ list among various healthcare innovators in 2023. 

Julie Kim 

Set to take the helm of Takeda, Julie Kim’s succession CEO in June 2026 will make her the first woman in history to lead the more than 240-year-old Japanese pharma giant.  

Kim brings nearly three decades of healthcare industry experience and a track record of strategic leadership across global, regional, and functional roles. Since joining Takeda in 2019 through the whopping $62 billion acquisition of Adderall developer Shire, she has risen through diverse leadership positions, including president of the Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit and, president of Takeda’s U.S. Business Unit and U.S. Country Head since 2022. 

Her experience in the plasma-derived therapeutics field was a boon during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Antibodies, which are derived from plasma, were strong contenders to beat the virus. Along with other drug developers, Kim helped set up the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance to develop treatments that fight COVID-19. 

Kim has worked across Europe, Asia, and the U.S., fostering diverse teams with a shared commitment to patient-centric innovation. She has also been active in community and industry leadership roles, having served on the boards of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and Croda International.   

A graduate of Dartmouth College with a B.A. in Economics and the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University (MBA), Kim combines business acumen with a deep knowledge of the industry. As she prepares to lead Takeda into its next chapter, her focus is on continuing innovation and deepening patient impact, amid upcoming organizational changes in 2026. 

Reshma Kewalramani 

When Reshma Kewalramani became chief executive of Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2020, she took charge of one of the most commercially successful biotechs. Known for its breakthrough cystic fibrosis therapies like Trifakta, Vertex had already transformed a once-fatal genetic disease into a manageable condition for many patients. The question facing Kewalramani was not how to stabilize the business but instead, how to expand it. 

Nearly six years into her tenure, Kewalramani has made clear that Vertex’s future lies well beyond cystic fibrosis. 

A nephrologist by training, Kewalramani joined Vertex in 2017 as chief medical officer (CMO) after more than a decade at Amgen. Her background in clinical development has shaped Vertex’s strategy, which was to address diseases that have a clear genetic target and to design therapies that intervene at the root cause. 

That approach reached a milestone with the approval of the first CRISPR-based gene-editing therapy for sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia, which Vertex developed in partnership with CRISPR Therapeutics. The authorization marked a regulatory watershed for gene editing, albeit facing criticism for being inaccessible to many costing around $300,000 per patient every year for a drug like Trifakta. 

But gene editing is only one piece of the pie. The company is advancing a stem cell-derived therapy for type 1 diabetes, programs targeting APOL1-mediated kidney disease, and a recently approved non-opioid pain medicine representing the first new mechanistic class in acute pain treatment in more than two decades.   

Under Kewalramani’s leadership, revenue from Vertex’s cystic fibrosis portfolio continues to fund research in high-risk, capital-intensive areas like cell and gene therapy — a luxury many smaller biotech firms lack. That internal funding capacity has allowed Vertex to weather broader sector volatility that has pressured early-stage companies and tightened capital markets. Meanwhile, she was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025. 

Although for now, Vertex remains anchored by cystic fibrosis, under Kewalramani’s guidance, the company looks to be reshaping itself into a broader genetic therapies enterprise. 

Katherine Vega Stultz  

Katherine Vega Stultz currently serves as CEO and board director of Wisconsin-based BrainXell, a biotech advancing stem cell-derived regenerative therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Under her leadership, BrainXell is accelerating its pipeline targeting conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease, areas where effective therapies remain limited. 

Prior to BrainXell, Stultz was president and CEO of Ocelot Bio, where she guided the company through a $36 million series A financing and secured U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its lead candidate targeting hepatorenal syndrome with acute kidney injury — a rare and rapidly progressing liver-related condition. She also previously served as COO of Graphite Bio, helping scale its gene-editing programs and prepare the company for public-market growth  

Stultz’s career spans senior roles at Celgene, Eli Lilly, and London-based medical devices company ConvaTec, where she contributed to the development and commercialization of therapies across indications such as blood disorders, cancer, and inflammatory conditions. Her leadership is marked by a focus on bridging scientific discovery with operational execution to ensure that biotech programs can move efficiently from early research to clinical and commercial milestones. 

Cindy Perettie 

Kite Pharma’s Cindy Perettie is another in the pharma space to reckon with. When she stepped in as executive vice president and global head of Kite, run by pharma giant Gilead, in mid‑2023, she took over its cell therapy programs, which are designed to reprogram patients’ own immune cells to fight cancer. 

Perettie arrived at Kite with more than 20 years of experience across scientific, commercial, and strategic leadership roles in global biopharma, including as CEO of Massacchusetts-based Foundation Medicine and head of Roche’s Molecular Lab Solutions, where she oversaw PCR and sequencing businesses. Her appointment came as Gilead sought to sustain Kite’s momentum, broadening its reach and impact in CAR‑T cell therapeutics. 

At the center of Perettie’s mandate is expanding access and innovation in cancer immunotherapy. As only a fraction of eligible patients currently receives CAR T-cell therapy, Perettie has previously vowed to bring these curative treatments beyond major academic centers into community practices. 

Kite’s flagship therapies — Yescarta and Tecartus — have become standards in treating certain lymphomas and leukemias, offering potentially curative one‑time treatments for patients with late-stage cancer.  

At the 2025 American Society of Hematology annual meeting, Perettie highlighted anitocabtagene autoleucel’s performance in the clinic. The drug had a 96% overall response rate, and Perettie stated that the goal was to “deliver a differentiated, one-time treatment option in 2026 that may reduce patient burden and improve access, including in outpatient and community oncology settings.” 

Last year was a big one for Kite, under Perettie’s leadership. It announced plans to acquire Pasadena-based Interius BioTherapeutics to bring an in‑vivo CAR‑T platform into its fold. 

Perettie also emphasizes operational execution at scale. In recent years, Kite has streamlined manufacturing, achieving FDA approval for process changes that reduce the median turnaround time for Yescarta from cell collection to product release in the U.S., a significant operational improvement that could greatly impact patient care. 

Ashley Magargee 

Ashley Magargee, a veteran leader with nearly two decades of experience at Genentech and Roche, assumed the role of CEO of Genentech, two years ago marking a new chapter for the California‑based biotech. 

Magargee had been serving as interim CEO at Roche-owned Genentech since late 2023, stepping into the top post following the departure of Alexander Hardy to BioMarin. 

A member of Genentech’s Board of Directors and Roche’s Pharma Leadership Team, she brings decades of cross‑functional experience spanning commercial portfolio management, lifecycle strategy, market access, digital engagement, and global operations, including a stint as general manager for Roche in Singapore and Brunei. 

At the core of her agenda is translating scientific discovery into broadly accessible medicines, particularly in oncology.  Magargee has emphasized strengthening Genentech’s commercialization strategy to align with its pipeline, which includes blood cancer therapies such as Columvi and Lunsumio, as well as late‑stage assets in breast cancer, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, which is a rare life-threatening blood disorder, and multiple sclerosis. 

Her leadership extends beyond drug launches.  Genentech broke ground on a $700 million manufacturing facility in North Carolina, a major expansion aimed at bolstering domestic production capacity for metabolic and other novel medicines last year.  

Magargee has called for integrating technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools into drug development and commercialization. She has voiced her support for the role of computational biology and machine‑learning systems in accelerating discovery and enhancing patient care and in framing technology that complements scientific expertise rather than replacing it. 

Yvonne Greenstreet 

Yvonne Greenstreet is guiding Massachusetts-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals through a pivotal phase as the company expands its pioneering work in RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics. Since assuming the role of CEO in 2022, Greenstreet has focused on creating RNAi therapeutics, which is essentially the process by which certain genes are silenced to act as a defense against viruses, that address both rare and more prevalent diseases. 

Greenstreet’s joined Alnylam in 2016 as chief operating officer, was named president and COO in 2020, which was followed by her current role as CEO. Under her leadership, Alnylam has doubled down on its Alnylam P⁵x25 strategy as it launched Alnylam 2030 last month, which details the American company’s five-year plan in RNAi therapeutics development and mapping out investment strategies. 

 Before joining Alnylam, Greenstreet built more than 25 years of industry experience in senior roles at GSK and Pfizer, where she oversaw medicines development and corporate strategy at global scale. Her mix of clinical and commercial expertise — she trained as a doctor before earning an MBA — is telling of her role at Alnylam. 

The company’s portfolio includes approved RNAi medicines targeting conditions such as transthyretin‑mediated amyloidosis. Under Greenstreet’s stewardship, the company has nabbed regulatory wins like the approval of AMVUTTRA, the first RNAi therapy to reduce cardiovascular death, and fitusiran’s approval for hemophilia A and B last year, putting RNAi squarely on the map as a viable platform for promising medicines. 

Yvonne was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2025 for services to the biotechnology and life sciences industry. She was recognized as the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Woman of Year in 2024 for her contributions to healthcare and the advancement of women in the workplace. And this year, she was presented the Golden Door Award by the International Institute of New England, highlighting her contributions as an immigrant leader in the U.S. life sciences sector.