Women@SLS, formerly Medtech Women @SLS and Medtech Women @SEMDA, is a group dedicated to enhancing opportunities for women in the medtech and life science industries.
The group’s inaugural event was held in 2016. Following the event, Founding Chair Tiffany Wilson wrote:
It takes a village to continue to begin to realize the full development capabilities of the southeast’s medtech ecosystem and you are all a part of it. I would especially like to thank Executive Director Jason Rupp, the Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (OIE) at the U.S. Department of Commerce and our stellar roster of panelists and speakers. The insights you delivered provided the perfect launching pad for the group’s vision of serving as a strong advisory network for mentoring and professional development for female professionals and innovators across the medical technology industry in the Southeast. We want to see more women positioned for executive leadership in the industry and involved in the entrepreneurial process. Diversity and inclusion matters.”
Since its inception, Women@SLS / Medtech Women@SLS has evolved to include an advisory board of medtech and life science executives, physicians and entrepreneurs. The group conducts regularly scheduled educational programs, webinars and has expanded its capabilities and reach in large part thanks to the merging of the Southeastern Medical Device Association (SEMDA) with SE BIO into Southeast Life Sciences.
In July 2020, Allyson Bower-Willner, Marketing Director for Strategic Accounts with Molynlycke Health Care, assumed the duties of chairperson. She has served on the Women@SLS / Medtech Women @SLS board since its inception in 2016.
“Our goal is to continue our work making the southeast a world-class region for the medical device and [life science] industries,” Willner said. “Women@SLS can play an integral role in that mission by enhancing the opportunities for female inventors, entrepreneurs, and other industry professionals in the southeast.”
We founded Medtech Women @SLS, now Women@SLS, to serve as a strong advisory network for mentoring and professional development for female professionals and innovators across the medical technology industry in the Southeast. There is a meaningful gender gap in the C Suite. We know this. At the same time we are seeing more female technologists — doctors and engineers — with their names on patents, but we are not seeing a corresponding jump in the number of women involved in medtech startups.”
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We encourage all members of the southeast life science ecosystem to engage with Women@SLS. We hope you will stay connected with us via LinkedIn and Twitter so that we might continue to build our community to the advantage of all concerned.