MPO Summit Women in Medtech Panel: Diversity Drives Innovation

MPO Summit 2015 has set the bar: Women in medtech are front and center of innovation, productivity and profitability in the industry.

The first day of the conference featured a panel of women speaking on the subject of the legendary “glass ceiling,” and how it manifests in the medical device industry for women and other underrepresented groups. The panel was hosted by regular MPO contributor Maria Shepherd, founder of Data Decision Group, a Lincoln, Mass.-based company that partners with medical device and diagnostic clients to to increase their profitability by reducing business risk in critical decision making. Others on the panel were Dawn Lissy, president and founder of the Empirical family of companies; Shacey Petrovic, chief commercial officer or Insulet Corporation; Janel Fillinger, chief financial officer of Clinical Innovations; and Lisa Dunlea, chief executive officer of XableCath Inc. and venture partner with Signal Peak ventures.

This formidable group of women highlighted a problem about which many are uncomfortable hearing—namely, that while it is true that everyone has to navigate pitfalls and challenging corporate environments, women and other underrepresented groups still face the added challenge of being overlooked for promotion and advancement based purely on their gender—something they cannot change. Nonetheless, the panelists who took part in the Summit session on Sept. 29 discussed how mentors, but most importantly sponsors, helped them overcome biases and establish themselves as invaluable contributors to the health and wealth of their respective companies.

Petrovic, for instance, has a degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and some business school education from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Continuous learning is imperative for any employee, but Petrovic found that her most valuable mentorship came in the form of opportunity, not guidance. She terms this sponsoring rather than mentoring. 

“What has helped me most were opportunities rather than what they shared with me,” she said. “I also try to share opportunity rather than ‘wisdom.’ A sponsor gets you the opportunity to look beyond your scope of work. My opportunity was taking an international assignment, which my sponsor said would be great for me and my career.”

Indeed, opportunity bypasses many women despite their obvious deservedness, which makes material sponsorship so invaluable to women in the industry. In response to an audience question about whether, in 2015, the glass ceiling really exists, Dunlea responded by describing personal experience.

“I have experienced the glass ceiling in different forms on a number of occasions,” she recalled. “At one point, working for large medical device manufacturer, my boss said, ‘You’re the best in our department, but I have males who have to support their wives and families, so I can’t give you the highest raise. But I want you to know you do the best job.’ What I did was find another job.”

Dunlea’s response was met with appreciative applause from the audience.

“In the venture industry—which is tougher than the operational side—I had a formal mentor assigned to me,” Dunlea continued. “I found out later that he wasn’t allowed to be in a room alone with me so I always had to have someone else there. We couldn’t fly together, either. I found out later his wife didn’t want to have him be close to a female. That was limiting my career.”

“Being the financial person in my organization, I see salaries,” Fillinger said. “There are times I see the people with the same experience level with more certifications making lower pay. Sometimes I scratch my head and say, ‘I really don’t understand why.’ There is data out there that shows there are gender biases on this.”

Petrovic recalled a moment in a company presentation when three men presented for two hours. The final presenter was a woman who gave an extraordinary presentation on finances. The chief executive noted, after she left the room, that he really liked her because she “accessorizes like my wife.”

“Being prepared to make a change when you hit a wall is important,” Petrovic said. “[Discrimination] can come in obvious and subtle ways—but it sends the same message when you’re the only/youngest women at table.”

And its not just about women, Petrovic noted. Diversity of all kinds across the board promotes better performance. Data across the Fortune 500 companies show that companies with higher percentage of women on their boards perform better.

“We should talk about it in terms of performance. Companies with diverse opinions, teams outperform competitors,” she said.

In discussing her first mentor—her grandfather—Lissy, who comes from a biomedical engineering background, discussed diversity in terms of perspective.

“My grandfather told me to go to school to have the opportunity to find out what engineering is all about,” Lissy said. “It’s about perspective. Young engineers think they’ll design the new space shuttle, but they design the next screw on the space shuttle—which is just as important.”

A summit attendee who identified himself as a research and development engineer, and who also belongs to a racial minority group, offered the comment, “Our work as innovators is really for community. Community is very diverse. We should be the change we want to see out there. That’s how you enable your contributions to contribute to positive clinical outcomes. Diversity drives innovation, and we’re innovating for life. With healthcare being a global construct, does it makes sense to constrict by gender or anything else? I think not.”