Jennifer Alfaro

Chile

Merken biotech

I am a skilled scientific researcher in immunology, cellular biology, and microbiology with more than 9 years of experience in managing research & development, and drug discovery projects for small biotech companies.

I am a biologist with a PhD degree in molecular, cellular biology, and neuroscience from the University of Chile and a diploma in innovation management and development from the Catholic University of Chile.

Currently, I am the Innovation Director at Merken Biotech, a Chilean contract research company that develops projects in drug discovery and other biotech fields. One of the innovative projects I have spearheaded is at Botanical Solutions, a small Chilean/US biotech company where I am a senior scientific advisor. I focus on developing novel and well-established products in a sustainable manner using a tissue plant culture platform. I am also the vice president of ASOCHIN, a Chilean scientific society of immunology, and in 2020 I received the award "100 Women Leaders” in the science category.

Supporting other women is a fundamental goal of my professional and personal life. To accomplish this, I am part of several initiatives including Fundación Inspiring Girls, where I mentor young women to build and improve their leadership and emotional intelligence. I am part of Fundación Ciencia Impacta and support a program called Potencia STEM where we connect girls with role models from different STEM careers, creating experiences to inspire girls to pursue careers in these fields.

I was part of a program called LI+FE, a Chilean program launched by the Ministry of Science to support women in science in growing their leadership skills. As part of the first cohort, we created a network of powerful women who want to contribute to our society through science. It is also a group where we can celebrate and support other women. I was also part of "Voces vitales del Conosur", a mentoring program for women leaders in LATAM, where we were asked to come up with our personal mission statements. I discovered that a big part of mine is to support incredible women to become leaders in their countries and I have worked to make that goal a reality.

As a part of my day to day work as a scientific team leader, I have supported and encouraged women to pursue doctoral studies and further their careers.

Whenever possible, I recommend other women for talks and awards in order to increase the visibility of role models for other women. I share my story with anyone that will listen, hoping that I can inspire other women to pursue their own purposes and goals.

Finally as a mother of two children, I teach my son and daughter to be respectful of themselves and others.

I believe all of these experiences had help me grow as a leader so I can help others to do the same.

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