Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh to inaugurate a conference on Women Leading Change in Health and Science in India tomorrow
Melinda French Gates, Co-chair and
Trustee Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will also share her thoughts on the
subject
The Conference will seek to identify attainable pathways and goals to
strengthen the representation of women in leadership positions in India and
Global health ecosystem
Union Minister
of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State
(Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances,
Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh will inaugurate a
conference titled, “Women Leading Change in Health and Science in
India” in New Delhi tomorrow.
Dr. Bharti Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for
Health and Family Welfare, Ms. Melinda French Gates, Co-chair and Trustee Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ms. Amie Batson, Executive Director, WomenLift
Health will also address the conference.
The conference being
organized by Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and
Technology, Government of India and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance
Council (BIRAC), a PSU of DBT, in collaboration with WomenLift Health and Grand
Challenges India will highlight and promote the importance of women’s
leadership in health and science and seek to identify attainable pathways and
goals to strengthen the representation of women in leadership positions in
India and Global health ecosystem.
This conference honours and celebrates Indian women's
accomplishments in overcoming unprecedented challenges over the past few years
and advancing STEM innovation and healthcare with their indefatigable
resilience and unwavering perseverance.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Dr Rajesh S. Gokhale,
Secretary, Department of Biotechnology& Chairperson, BIRAC said “Women’s
leadership throughout centuries has been transformative. I congratulate all
women, and I believe that this is the time we need to empower more women in
leadership positions so that India becomes the superpower that our Prime
Minister dreams of.”
Dr Alka Sharma, Senior Adviser, DBT & Managing
Director, BIRAC, said, “Women’s leadership is now recognized at the highest
level and is steadily on the rise. Through various schemes and programs of
BIRAC, the researchers and entrepreneurs are being promoted and supported
across the country”. She further added that “this conference is certainly going
to help in building a national focus on women’s leadership”.
The global healthcare workforce is predominantly women
and yet they remain underrepresented in leadership and decision-making
positions, especially at the higher executive or board levels.
Under-representation in STEM is also one of the major concerns. In India, even
though the healthcare workforce participation is somewhat similar between men
and women, there are fewer women in leadership roles.
Recognizing the importance of this issue, BIRAC has been
working to advance scientific and technological research to alleviate India’s
most critical health and development issues.
Initiatives
in agriculture, food, and nutrition are centered on improving health outcomes
for women by mitigating maternal and child health issues. Initiatives like
BIRACTiE Women in Entrepreneurial Research focus on Women in Entrepreneurial
Research- strongly promote and recognize women in science and entrepreneurship.
Co-host WomenLift Health works
to accelerate the advancement of talented women into senior leadership by
investing in mid-career women and influencing the environments in which they
live and work.
The esteemed panel of speakers at this conference
includes Dr Soumya Swaminathan, former Chief Scientist World Health
Organization, Dr Renu Swarup, former Secretary, Department of Biotechnology,
Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr Vinod Kumar Paul, Member, NITI Aayog,
and Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research,
and Secretary, Department of Health Research, Dr. Tessy Thomas, Director
General of Aeronautical Systems, Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) and many other prominent names working in health and science.
DBT
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of
Science and Technology, boosts and augments the development of biotechnology
ecosystem in India, through its expansion and application in agriculture,
healthcare, animal sciences, environment, and industry.
BIRAC
Set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT),
Government of India, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council
(BIRAC), is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise,
which acts as an Interface Agency to improve and encourage the evolving
biotechnology industry to execute strategic research and development activities
in context to Nation’s product development needs
WomenLift
Health
The WomenLift Health conference is an initiative of
Stanford University and is organized since 2017 to provide a forum for
established and emerging leaders across the global health community to meet and
work together to advance gender equity in health leadership, contribute to the
growing momentum to advance diversity and women’s leadership in global health
and expand understanding of the opportunities and challenges across countries,
sectors, and disciplines for women’s leadership.