Women Leading Biotech: Precision Medicine

Dr. Jennifer Levin Carter, CEO and founder of Medzown, spoke to PharmTech about her experiences as a CEO of a biotech company. Medzown combines data analytics, expertise, and personalized navigation to connect patients with treatments.

In this interview, Dr. Carter provides a strategic roadmap for innovation and leadership within the life sciences sector. Having pioneered the field of molecular oncology decision support through her first company, N-of-One, Carter offers insights on the importance of precision medicine and data-driven evolution.

Carter emphasizes that women are currently serving as primary “thought leaders” in the advancement of precision medicine . In the context of pharmaceutical development, she points to women leading phase 1 programs and clinical trials at top medical centers, as well as those developing new models for drug development .

While the industry currently benefits from several remarkable women in executive roles, Carter notes that there remains significant room for growth in leadership diversity. She identifies the need for increasing opportunities for women to take on executive responsibilities in biotech and pharma. A critical component of this growth is the availability of mentorship and coaching to help professionals navigate the “complex systems” that exist within both small and large organizations. Carter asserts that veteran leaders have a responsibility to mentor younger women, helping them understand the challenges of the field and how to grow into leadership positions.

Reflecting on her experience as a founder and CEO, Carter underscores that the life sciences industry requires constant evolution and learning. She advocates for an open mindset where leaders listen to other innovators and observe industry trends to determine what is working and what is not. Carter suggests that leaders must bring external industry challenges back to their organizations to evolve their solutions head-on.

By focusing on continuous improvement and testing ideas against real-world data, companies can better meet the shifting demands of precision medicine and drug development. This philosophy of constant testing and listening ensures that manufacturing entities remain agile and responsive to the broader healthcare landscape.

About the speaker

Jennifer Levin Carter, MD, MPH, MBA is Founder & CEO of Medzown. Dr. Carter is a globally recognized leader in precision medicine, with a proven track record of building transformative companies at the intersection of data, technology, and patient care. She was the Founder and President of N-of-One, Inc., where she served as CEO from 2008–2012 and later as President and Chief Medical Officer until its acquisition by Qiagen (Market Cap $8B) in 2019. At N-of-One, Dr. Carter led the development of award-winning solutions that continue to deliver novel treatment strategies to hundreds of thousands of cancer patients worldwide.

In 2018, Dr. Carter founded a novel clinical trials company focused on reimagining trial design and access. She served as CEO until its pre-launch acquisition by Integral Health (now Valo Health) in March 2019. These experiences cemented her reputation as an innovator in precision medicine, clinical trial delivery, and patient-centered care models.

Following these ventures, Dr. Carter became a Managing Partner and Venture Partner at Sandbox Industries and Blue Venture Fund, a unique collaboration between BCBS companies, BCBSA, and Sandbox. It was in this role—working closely with BCBS executives—that she gained a deep understanding of the challenges associated with the rising costs of cell and gene therapy. This insight inspired her to launch Medzown, where she continues to address those challenges by building scalable, technology-enabled solutions to improve patient access to advanced therapies.

Dr. Carter is also a seasoned healthcare executive, investor, and board member with expertise spanning healthcare IT and services, digital health and machine learning, genomics, drug development, and the creation of next-generation platforms to improve therapeutic access. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Synteny.ai, TempraMed, Inc., and Target Cancer Foundation, and is a strategic advisor to numerous venture-backed healthcare and life sciences companies.

Previously, she has held board roles at Oncocyte (NASDAQ: OCX), XSphera Biosciences (Co-Founder), CareMax (NASDAQ: CMAX), DFP Healthcare Acquisitions Corp (NASDAQ: DFPH), HouseWorks, eCaring, and others. She also serves on the Director’s Advisory Board at Smilow New Haven Cancer Center at Yale University, the Board of the Blavatnik Fund at Yale University, and the MedExec Women’s Advisory Board.

Dr. Carter earned a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude with distinction) from Yale University, an MD from Harvard Medical School, an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health, and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. She is a member of the American Association of Corporate Directors (Advanced Professional Director Certification), National Association of Corporate Directors, Women Corporate Directors, Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation, and Women in Bio.

Transcript

Editor's note: This transcript is a lightly edited rendering of the original audio/video content. It may contain errors, informal language, or omissions as spoken in the original recording.

Hi, my name is Jennifer Levin Carter. I'm the CEO and founder of Medzown. My background is I'm a physician by training. I've been in precision medicine since pretty much the beginning.

I started one of the first precision medicine companies called N-of-One, and we started the field of what today is known as, molecular oncology decision support. That company was acquired by Qiagen. I've been in the space as both an investor and entrepreneur for many years, and now I am the CEO and founder of Medzown.

From your experiences and your understanding of the life sciences industry in general, is the industry reasonably gender diverse when it comes to leadership?

If you look at, the healthcare industry and the biotech industry, there are quite a few leading women executives in the industry at this time doing really remarkable work. There is plenty of room for more women to grow to leadership positions, and for us to make increasing number of opportunities for women to excel, gain additional executive opportunities, and take on leadership roles in biotech, pharma, healthcare companies.

The opportunity to help women succeed in these roles and have good mentorship, and mentorship that really helps women understand, or any person of any gender, really understand what's necessary to grow in their career to take on new responsibilities and new challenges.

To get the kind of coaching to help people understand and navigate complex systems that exist in, in small and larger companies is critical, regardless of what gender you are. I think for women, identifying those mentors and having really good mentors is still a critical and important, challenge and opportunity that we need to always pay attention to, and create that for, younger women as they come into the field.

How can women help improve innovation within the pharma industry? Have there been any specific examples from your speciality that you can highlight here?

You know, there have been many women leaders, both in terms of developing, new drugs. I know quite a few women who are, thought leaders in clinical trials and who run phase one programs at very leading cancer centers and medical centers around the country. Those are truly some of the thought leaders in advancing patient access to precision medicine.

There are a number of women who are leading exciting biotech companies and developing new drugs and new models around drug development. So, there are women in all aspects of technology and in drug development and in healthcare, who have made really significant advancements, both in the development of drugs as well as for patients.

Are there opportunities for more women? There always need to be, and there are always opportunities. And just as I said in my last question, I think for those of us who have been in the industry for a longer period of time, it's on us to help mentor those women and help them get access to these opportunities and learn how to grow and accept those challenges as they, progress in their career.

Is there a specific lesson you have learned from founding and being the CEO of a life-sciences/tech company?

I think that being a founder and a CEO in this industry requires constant learning, constant evolution, constant testing of one's own ideas by listening hard to the ideas of other people I respect in the industry, or other people who are driving innovation in the industry, observing what's working, what's not working, and being able to use all that data as we develop our solutions.

It requires an open mindset of always wanting to improve, always do better. It's really important as a CEO to be listening to where the industry is moving and what some of the challenges are, and bring those back to the company as we evolve and try to meet some of those challenges and take them on head-on.