Eric Hughes, Head of Global R&D and Chief Medical Officer at Teva Pharmaceuticals, shares the stories of the three women who shaped his journey and whose impact has inspired him personally and professionally.

Both my parents were scientists. My mom and my dad had PhDs in chemistry. My father did organic chemistry, and my mother did inorganic chemistry.

At that time, most scientific disciplines were male-dominated worlds, and this was particularly so in chemistry. Throughout my entire life, my mother has told me stories of her experiences.

Some of her stories were pretty devastating. For example, one of her advisors during her PhD told her, “I don't know why I'm teaching you anything because you're just going to get pregnant.” This encounter still pains me to think about, and there's story after story like this of how barriers were raised against her throughout her career.

It is these women who, through their resilience, intellect, and unwavering dedication, have not only broken barriers but also left an indelible mark on my journey.

But my mother didn’t let them stop her. She became a professor of chemistry at two universities and then held CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls) regulatory positions in the industry. She ended up working at many of the largest pharmaceutical companies across the United States and finished her career at a boutique consulting company. Her insight and capacity in the various roles still amazes me.

My learnings from her are, first and foremost, that females in science have gone through tremendous struggles in the past. We've come a long way. But I know a lot of those struggles still exist. I also saw it in a practical sense. My mother is wildly intelligent. The fact that she had all these barriers along the way was not only unfair to her, but the companies lost out because they didn't capitalize on the value this employee had.

My mother was my first significant influence and her stories taught me the value of recognizing not only what women can bring to the table but also what everyone can bring. It's just an example of seeing the value in people. That was a clear way of realizing that when you lead people, you must identify the value they bring and use it.

The second person who inspired me was my professor in my undergraduate years at Haverford College, a woman named Judy Owen. I started in her laboratory early on a Howard Hughes scholarship and fell in love with working in the lab.

She saw something in me and taught me a love of immunology early in my career. At the time, I didn't realize how lucky I was to have a mentor to inspire such curiosity and love for immunology. Towards the end of my college career, she told me I shouldn’t just go to medical school and encouraged me to apply to combined MD and PhD programs.

That changed my life; it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s what eventually led to me going to Yale for an MD and a PhD in immunology.

Finally, one of my most savvy, interesting, and curious bosses was a woman named Janice Albrecht. She was at Schering-Plough Research Institute, and she was this tough-as-nails woman who grew up in the old system that we're all trying to get away from…… but she was brilliant.

Janice ran the entire clinical program for hepatitis C development at Schering Institute. They were world leaders in hepatitis C development. I was fascinated with it, the virology, the regulatory, the drug development, and the revolution that happened. Janice taught me a lot about how drug development should be done and how fast you can do it. And not only the science of drug development but the business of drug development, too. I credit so much of my understanding of how to launch a new drug to her.

It is these three people, my mom, Judy Owen, and Janice Albrecht, who, through their resilience, intellect, and unwavering dedication, have not only broken barriers but have also left an indelible mark on my journey. It is these three women who have shaped me to be the person I am today, and to them, I am immensely grateful.

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