United Way and Wolfe Laboratories Partner to Inspire Girls to Pursue Science

WATERTOWN, MASS. – In a leading pharmaceutical research organization on the outskirts of Boston, a team of researchers collaborates with the next generation of scientists in a series of chromatography experiments. Except it is not what you may be picturing. These experiments are led by women – scientists at Wolfe Laboratories, Inc. (WLI) – and by 12-year-old girls – students in United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley’s Math, Science and Technology initiative (MSTi.)

In July, seven girls from MSTi, which pairs youths with the region’s scientific companies to inspire them to succeed in the sciences, visited WLI, a female-owned pharmaceutical development company based in Watertown, MA. During the site visit, the students participated in science experiments and discussions about female leadership in the workplace. Janet Wolfe, Ph.D., President and founder of WLI and advocate for leadership development in young women, personally greeted the group and started the site visit with a discussion of her own experience as a woman in the pharmaceutical industry.

“Hosting the United Way MSTi site visit was our privilege,” says Wolfe. “The young women who participated have a keen interest in learning about science, and it is our hope that we were able to make a small but lasting impression that will influence them as they make decisions in the future about college.”

After meeting Janet, the students were led to one of WLI’s laboratory spaces, where scientist Nicole Damour Krilla guided them through two chromatography experiments and marketing professionals Margarita Hunter and Natalie Dell discussed the emerging field of online advertising and how marketing complements scientific operations. The WLI’s female leaders focused not only on job opportunities, but also on how to obtain career placement through education, leadership, personal drive and perseverance. The women also shared personal stories of obstacles they faced while pursuing their careers and related them to challenges teenagers encounter in their daily lives. The experience allowed the young girls to see themselves in the world of a scientist or businesswoman in the life sciences industry.

The National Council for research on women shows that women constitute 45% of the workforce in the U.S. but hold just 12% of science and engineering jobs. Experts attribute this discrepancy in large part to a lack of encouragement and support for young girls interested in the sciences.

“We know that over the next decade the vast majority of new jobs will be in science-related industries,” said Michael K. Durkin, President and CEO of United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley. “The Math, Science and Technology initiative is about getting youth excited about these fields and confident in their abilities to pursue them. I believe this is especially pertinent for young girls.”

WLI’s involvement with MSTi is the latest of several recent developments at the pharmaceutical research company. Wolfe was named Boston’s 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and will be honored at an awards ceremony on Thursday, Oct 16 at Colonnade Hotel in Boston, MA. The company also tripled its lab space to accommodate Good Laboratory Practices services and the expansion of WLI’s in vitro ADME and analytical characterization programs.

About Wolfe Laboratories, Inc.
Wolfe Laboratories, Inc. is a contract research organization that offers a variety of customized pre-clinical services, including pre-formulation and formulation development, analytical method development and characterization, PK and in vitro ADME bioanalytical development, dose formulation stability and uniformity assessment, lyophilization cycle development, and GLP/GMP analytical testing and method validation services. For more information, visit www.wolfelabs.com

To learn more about United Way’s Math, Science and Technology initiative, visit: www.supportunitedway.org/youth/msti