Breaking the glass ceiling in Global Pharma and Biotech industry
To fulfil her simple dream of serving the human kind, a young Dimple Doshi traversed the journey from small town Rajkot (Gujarat, India) to the East Coast of USA, a global hub of Pharma and Biotechnology, where she has since emerged as an award-winning Pharma Strategist, Neuroscientist, and Mentor.
Today, she plays a crucial role as the Manager, R&D Strategy and Ops, in the Office of The CSO at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Tarrytown, NY. An acknowledged Thought Leader, she’s also a Board Member of the International Society for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Toronto, Canada and Advisory Committee Member for Strategic AI Certification program at Mercy University, NY.
Dimple always harbored big dreams, which fueled her consistent excellence in education. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology from Saurashtra University with a GPA of 4.0/4.0.
Empathetic and determined, she wanted to serve others by finding cures for biologically complex debilitating diseases. She dreamed of a career in the United States, known for ground-breaking discovery in drug development. Hence, in 2009 she applied to, and gained admission, for a Professional Science Masters Program in Biotechnology at Northeastern University where she received the International Student Scholar Award.
Since continuous study is a key to growth in her career, she completed other certifications like ‘Stanford Certified Project Management’ in 2016 from Stanford University and ‘Business Analytics – From Data to Insight’ certification from The Wharton School.
Post her Master’s, Dimple spent over a decade working in various small, mid-size, and large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the space of oncology and neuroscience. After spending nearly 5 years in Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) as a Senior Scientist/Investigator, where she worked in a late-stage drug discovery program for Alzheimer’s Disease and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), she was offered the prestigious position of a Manager-R&D Strategy and Ops, Integrated Portfolio Planning and Analysis, at Regeneron Pharma in 2023.
The product cycle in drug discovery and development is excruciatingly long. It takes over a decade, if not longer, for a drug to reach from the bench to the market. Throughout her career, Dimple has been able to work in late stage drug discovery projects for neurodegenerative diseases and has successfully transitioned the projects into clinic, marking a huge achievement. Her outstanding work ethics and excellent scientific and technical skill sets led her to receive many accolades like ‘Innovator of the Year’ and ‘High Quality Data’ awards during her time at Novartis.
Speaking about her passion, she tells us, “Growing up, I have always seen my parents involved in doing good for the society. Giving back to society is ingrained in our DNA. And what better way to give back than to find cures for debilitating and biologically complex diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s?”
Besides operational complexities, Dimple had to fend off various other challenges. When she moved to the US in her early 20’s, she was unaware of the intricacies involved in visa procurement. That along with being a 1st generation immigrant, navigating through cultural differences and growing in a managerial role being a woman of color was challenging.
However, the cultural diversity that she was exposed to over a decade in the US has helped evolve her thought process and develop more humility to diverse cultures that exist in the society. Mentoring has always been a key to her growth. She strongly believes in ‘Giving back to the society by paying forward’. “I love to share my experiences and have gone on to mentor many international students, women of color, and 1st gen immigrants, to help them leverage their strengths and navigate their early careers.”
Dimple is a mother to a 4-year-old daughter named Saahirah, who is the light of her life. Being an immigrant working mother with no family around to support, doesn’t leave Dimple with much free time. However, she steals time for activities that help her de-stress. Cooking, especially giving an Indian spin to non-Indian cuisines is her favorite way of bringing her ‘scientist’ skills to the kitchen. She also likes to kick-box, go on trails, be amidst nature, and travel to places in her bucket list.
Ambition and optimism are the twin pillars that drive Dimple to aim higher. “I am a big picture person and enjoy what I currently do in my Strategy and Ops role. I see myself continuously growing in this position and reaching the important decision maker role. Equally important is my personal goal – giving back to society. I see myself taking longer strides in mentoring initiatives and giving a voice to women of color. As a mother, I owe greatly to my daughter. My goal is to provide her growth opportunities and help her accentuate her strengths to mould her into a strong, independent woman, just like my parents did with me.”
A complete go-getter, Dimple’s high scientific integrity, resilience, and people skills have seen her ascend rapidly. Neurodegenerative diseases have been particularly difficult to cure, and it is in such fields that she has held on to her faith and not lost hope. Lastly, collaboration and collective thinking, both crucial to innovation, have seen her shatter every glass ceiling to emerge as an inspiration for women worldwide.
