Dr Pipasha Biswas, Managing Director, Symogen

From a clinical research fellow to Managing Director of Symogen, Dr Pipasha Biswas has come a long way to become 'a woman of substance'

She has proved herself not just in India but across the borders as well. Its not just hard work, but sheer determination, honesty with ethical values, and ambition to achieve something big in life, which led Dr Pipasha Biswas to reach this position of success. Meet her and at once you will understand that come what may, she will speak her mind and that this is not a trait developed over years, rather, it is an innate quality. It is this attribute that makes her stand out from the rest. An incident from her MBBS days speaks volumes of her fighting spirit. When Biswas had a heated argument with one of her pharmacology professor over some experiment set up, he told her that she would never pass her exams which were due in a few days time. "I recently met that same professor, after 20 years, at the Indian Pharmacological Society Conference, where I was being felicitated and here he was introducing me to the audience just before my oration lecture," recollects Biswas. This time it was the professor recounting the same incident to the audience. He narrated how Biswas not only passed her pharmacology exams but secured the highest marks in the subject as well after the open challenge.

Understanding cultures

Being the daughter of a civil servant who was a diplomat, Biswas spent her childhood in different states and studying in different schools of the country. "This gave me loads of opportunity to learn various cultures and adjust to different situations. In this journey of changing schools, I made life long friends with whom I am in touch with even now," she says. She moved to United Kingdom to make a start in pharmacovigilance. According to Biswas, as compared to Western countries, women in India are statistically lagging behind, but slowly, the situation is improving and urban women are catching up with their counterparts in various professions. "In Western countries professional women enjoy so many benefits which we cannot think of in India. Discrimination still goes on between men and women in terms of good security, salary, maternity leave (for example, the European Union gives a year of maternity leave), promotions and some very personal questions being asked at the time of medical examination during joining of services," avers Biswas.

However, she maintains that she has never been discriminated against or discouraged in her profession, neither in India nor in the UK. Strength to go right on and faith in oneself is what women need to stand up to the situation and achieve their goals in life and do much better than men.

Hard times

Biswas started her career in pharmacovigilance. After working with Kings College School of Medicine in London in the area of clinical development, she was responsible for clinical trials in vascular medicine and then got interested in serious adverse event monitoring and the intricacies of clinical research. It was not easy for Biswas to make a mark in a foreign land, but she did it with conviction and faith in herself. "I remember those days, when I was not only new in this country but also to the field of clinical research with huge multi-centre phase II and III trials running across the world, sometime under very stringent and strict timelines of reporting adverse drug reactions," recalls Biswas.

It was when Biswas was doing her post graduation in pharmaceutical medicine that she met Professor Ronald Mann, a pioneer in drug safety in the UK, who offered her a job as a clinical research fellow at the renowned Drug Safety Research Unit (DSRU)at Southampton UK. "I had a glorious time at the DSRU where I had all the opportunities and guidance from eminent people working in pharmacovigilance, to publish original research articles, giving lectures and becoming an honorary lecturer for the Hertfordshire Pharmacovigilance Course and an honorary senior lecturer at University of Portsmouth. DSRU in a way actually brought me to prominence," she says.

Establishing self

With time, Biswas moved on in life and joined the pharmaceutical industry at Wyeth Europe, as a Senior Pharmacovigilance Physician looking after Europe. Thereafter, she worked with GlaxoSmithKline as a Director in Global Clinical Safety at the headquarters in the UK and then as Senior Director at Amgen in California, USA. "While I developed an immense passion and love for pharmacovigilance and enjoyed the work, at one point I thought why not give shape to my dreams and passion and start a new company, which would only cater to all aspects of pharmacovigilance," recounts Biswas. That was the beginning of Symogen. Is it tougher for a woman to set up her company? "Women have to be focused, self confident and determined in their professional and social life and never feel insecure or inferior," suggests Biswas. A good interpersonal relationship amongst colleagues whether it is a man or a woman, co-operation from juniors and seniors is important to evade male dominance. Biswas has implemented this rule even as a boss in her company. "As a boss, I am very different from others, as I do not believe in gender bias and treat everyone as an equal. I feel that I am also a part of the team and I led my team that way. I believe it's all about sharing and learning," she concludes.