The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of supporting and listening to science. Even two years later, health and safety are at the forefront of many people’s minds. Thanks to women scientists, researchers, and medical professionals, the global populations have many more tools to use in this fight. Even though vaccine development has predominantly been male-dominated, these women researchers helped spearhead the fight against COVID-19.
- Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett is a viral immunologist and research fellow who led the National Institute of Health’s COVID vaccine research. She also worked alongside corporate teams to create the Moderna vaccine.
- Kathryn Jansen – Pfizers Head of Vaccine Research and Development, who led the effort to produce the first vaccine approved for Emergency Use.
- Nital Patel – led an all-women team of scientists to create the Novavax vaccine.
While these are just a few of the women who have been instrumental in creating a COVID-19 vaccine, there are many others.
In Africa, women scientists find and create innovative solutions to issues affecting their communities’ lives. Khady Sall led a project in 2020 to manufacture face shields for COVID-19[i]. Khady is a molecular biologist and entrepreneur in Senegal who helps guide students towards jobs in STEM fields and founded an innovation lab.
Dr. Malak Abed AlThagafi is a female scientist in Saudi Arabia specializing in molecular and cancer genetics. Recently, she has been a part of the Saudi Human Genome Program, which aims to build a genetic database of the Saudi population to understand and prevent certain genetic diseases[ii].
Finally, Tu Youyou is a Chinese pharmaceutical chemist who won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine[iii]. She discovered two drugs that have been instrumental in treating malaria and was a major breakthrough in the twentieth century. While she is now retired, she provides inspiration and reminds the impact women in STEM can have on the workforce.
At EMMA International, we are very proud to be women-owned and certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation’s largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the US.
Additionally, 87% of EMMA International technical team employees are women. This is extremely significant given that the STEM fields historically have been male-dominated. According to IDEA, “Today, just 30 percent of researchers worldwide are women, and only 35 percent of all students enrolled in STEM-related fields of study are women.”[iv]
In honor of International Women’s Day, for the month of March, the team at EMMA International is offering discounted rates to all women-owned companies that need regulatory support. Call us today at 248-987-4497 or email us at info@emmainternational.com to learn more about this special promotion.
[i] Powell, K. (2022, February 15). Rooting african science and technology education in cultures and languages. Nature News. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00449-0
[ii] Women changing the face of science in the Middle East and North Africa. The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/women-changing-the-face-of-science-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa-658745
[iii]The nobel prize: Women who changed science: Tu youyou. The official website of the Nobel Prize – NobelPrize.org. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/tu-youyou
[iv] IDEA, (2021, February 10). International Day Of Women And Girls In Science – February 11, 2021
