Women In Bio is proud to welcome Dr. Joanne Kamens as our new Chief Executive Officer.
Dr. Kamens brings decades of leadership experience across academia, pharma, biotech, and the nonprofit sector, along with a deep commitment to advancing inclusion and opportunity for women in science and life sciences. She received her PhD in genetics from Harvard Medical School and has built a career rooted in scientific excellence, organizational leadership, and meaningful culture change.
More than two decades ago, Dr. Kamens founded the Boston chapter of the Association for Women in Science, known as MASS AWIS, after recognizing firsthand the isolation and inequities women often experience in scientific spaces. That experience helped shape her lifelong commitment to building stronger, more inclusive professional communities.
Dr. Kamens served as Executive Director and CEO of Addgene, an international biotechnology nonprofit, where she implemented practical strategies to create a workplace where every employee could thrive and contribute. Under her leadership, Addgene achieved single-digit employee turnover for a decade and was recognized as a Best Place to Work for six consecutive years, including earning the No. 1 Best Place to Work ranking in 2016.
A nationally recognized leader in mentoring, workplace culture, and inclusive leadership, Dr. Kamens has collaborated with dozens of inclusion-focused organizations and speaks widely on topics such as winning company culture, management excellence, leadership development, mentoring relationships, work-life negotiation, and building relationships for success. She currently serves on the boards of OpenBiome and Cohort Sistas and has been nominated for the Presidential Medal of Honor in STEM Mentoring.
“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime to help lead the Women In Bio community.” Said Dr. Kamens, “It’s a privilege to be able to work on this mission so dear to my heart with a fantastic community of staff and dedicated volunteers.”
As CEO of Women In Bio, Dr. Kamens brings a powerful combination of scientific expertise, nonprofit leadership, operational experience, and personal commitment to advancing women in the life sciences. We are excited to welcome her into this role and look forward to the next chapter of Women In Bio under her leadership!
