PDA West Coast Chapter 4th Annual Women in Life-Science Event

Jodi Andrews is currently the Co-CEO and co-founder of ProTrials Research, Inc., a Silicon Valley-based clinical research organization dedicated to improving the quality of clinical research. A graduate of California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo with a B.S. degree in animal science and business, Jodi began her career in clinical research at Syntex Pharmaceuticals, where she held several roles within clinical development. Jodi also served as the project manager and team leader for multi-disciplinary study teams. Jodi later served as a global clinical project manager at Otsuka America, where she directed multiple Phase I through IV protocols focused on HIV therapies in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In addition to her work at ProTrials, she has contributed articles to leading industry outlets including FiercePharma and ClinPage.

Dr. Sangeeta Ghosh has 19 years of drug development experience that spans all phases of drug development and includes FDA regulatory approval of Gocovri, Intermezzo, and other drugs. She is currently the Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing at Spruce Biosciences. Before joining Spruce in 2018, Dr. Ghosh served as Vice President at Adamas Pharmaceuticals, before which, she had leadership roles at Transcept Pharmaceuticals and Anthera Pharmaceuticals. She started drug development at ALZA Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson Company. Dr. Ghosh conducted post-doctoral researcher at the University of Florida and Universite Louis Pasteur at Strasbourg. She earned her Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and synthetic organic chemistry from IISc Bangalore and her M.Sc. degree in chemistry from IIT Kanpur.

Ruby Galati is the Head Supplier Collaborations and Quality Management Genentech. She started her career as Process Development Specialist at Barnes-Hind Pharmaceuticals Inc, which developed drugs to treat tuberculosis and glaucoma. Over her 30+ years of experience in the life-science industry, Ruby worked at Collagen Corporation, Syntex, Aradim, Cardio Dx and Novo Nordisk before joining Genentech as Director QA of External Quality in 2019. She holds a Master of Business from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor's degree in Microbiology from San Jose.

Marisa Hewitt is the Associate Director of Business Operations at BioMarin Pharmaceutical and is responsible for operational excellence, training and development, and portfolio management for the Novato biologics manufacturing site. Before this role, she worked extensively in the technical arena, most recently supporting the design and new product introduction of a gene therapy facility in Novato, CA. Marisa co-founded the BioMarin women's leadership development group, the first employee resource group at the company, which recently celebrated its second anniversary. She is passionate about building the culture of inclusion and encouraging women to own their stories and their ambition. Marisa is currently pursuing an executive MBA at the Berkeley Haas School of Business.

Leslie Konher is currently a Senior Scientist within the Protein Science division of Boehringer Ingelheim. She has been with the company since 2015 and has over 12 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. Her previous experience includes working for Grifols, Beckman Coulter, and multiple start-up companies. At Boehringer Ingelheim, she serves as the Career/Leadership Development co-Lead for the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI). She organizes the Conversation with Woman Leader Series, connecting WLI members and industry leaders to advance professional growth. Leslie has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Women’s Studies from San Diego State University.

Susanne Rommel, Ph.D., MBA, is the Executive Director, Quality at Gilead for Commercial OSD and Quality Systems. She leads a team of Quality professionals providing oversight to Contract Manufacturing Organizations, managing Global Product Quality Complaints and Gilead’s Annual Product Reviews. Susanne started her career as an Artificial Intelligence data scientist at Bayer in Germany.

An expat assignment in Quality Assurance at Bayer Berkeley site brought her and her family to the Bay Area, where she continued her career holding diverse positions in Quality Assurance, Quality Engineering, and Quality Control. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and her Master degree in Biology from the University of Hamburg, Germany, and holds an MBA from Santa Clara University.