Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Angela Scott of TC BioPharm On The 5 Leadership Lessons She Learned From Her Experience
An Interview with Candice Georgiadis
Believe in yourself. Nobody is saying it’s easy being a woman in STEM, you have to believe in your ability and your visions. These will not always align with others and will often be challenged and that’s fine. Its not about who is right or wrong. Do not be deterred just because your view is different.
As a part of our series about “Lessons From Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Angela Scott.
Angela Scott is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of TC BioPharm, a clinical state biotechnology company recently listed on Nasdaq (TCBP). Born and raised in Edinburgh, Angela has a BSc in Life Sciences, is a GlobalScot with over 40 years’ experience in stem cell research and the application of cutting edge cell therapy.
Originally as part of the ground-breaking team that cloned ‘Dolly the sheep,’ her experience transcends several commercial disciplines including product development, manufacturing, commissioning GMP complaint facilities, distribution logistics, quality, regulatory, and scale-up.
Scott has contributed to the transition of several cell therapy products from the bench to bedside.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
As a child, I loved biology and was fascinated as to how the body worked. ‘Roberts- a fundamental biology’ was a great read from a learning perspective, I loved the illustrations in the book and wanted somehow to turn that into practice. Years later, I actually had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Watson who discovered DNA. I was ok at school but excelled in languages — my passion however lay in biology. We had a student study in our home who went on to become a professor at Anderson Medical Clinic in the US and he inspired me greatly — he studied chemistry, which looked so complicated but he wanted to cure cancer, I wanted to do that too but with biology. Years later, my first job at 18-years-old was with The Imperial Cancer Research Fund in Edinburgh and so started my career and passion to cure cancer. I loved working as a scientist at the bench but recognized that chemical treatments were not going to solve this horrendous disease and that the side effects were awful. Now I have a company that provides an alternative, which has no side effects and uses the body’s own immune defense cells as an alternative.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
Having built the business from scratch, learning about the commercial aspects has been a revelation. I was always comfortable around the science quality and manufacturing; however, speaking to investors was always going to be a challenge. The commercial jargon and acronyms were akin to learning a new language and I needed to be aware of it all. As a founder, I learned that being immersed in a day-to-day commercial environment brought me up to speed surprisingly quickly so that I was then comfortable speaking to investors and financial professionals.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
It wasn’t funny at the time, however, when I stood up to some of my male peers around an idea I had and it was intimidating, I spoke my mind thinking they were going to wipe the floor with me. They told me later my idea was really good and they were secretly scared of me. This only came out at a Christmas party after a few drinks-we laughed so much in the bar and built a strong mutual respect.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
We work closely as a team with passion to deliver potentially lifesaving treatments. During one of our clinical trials, we were treating patients at Stage 4 of their disease progression in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. The patients were so ill that the first patient died within 14 days. We were all devastated and could not even bring ourselves to talk about the event, even though we did not know the patient we felt so bad. The next patient received our treatment, her prognosis was equally dire with only several weeks to live and she was not expecting to see Christmas and share that the special time with her family. She went on to have a complete response and onto standard on care.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I have recently been asked to join the UK government’s taskforce for Women-Led High-Growth Enterprises launched by the Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss. The taskforce will combine expertise and connections to work collaboratively with organisations across the UK to support the government’s overall target of increasing the number of female entrepreneurs. I believe that representing one the few women to take a Scottish company public, listing on Nasdaq, and having a STEM discipline will hopefully be inspirational to other women.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Are you currently satisfied with the status quo regarding women in STEM? What specific changes do you think are needed to change the status quo?
In short No! Women excel in STEM but very few are recognized for their contribution. This in part is due to poor representation at senior levels within companies and specifically at board levels. There remains an imbalance and a lack of pragmatism and empathy in STEM, which I honestly feel are strong attributes that women hold.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women in STEM or Tech that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts? What would you suggest to address this?
We are aware of the issues with regards to a significant lack of women in STEM careers and leadership positions, however what will drive the change? Honestly, whatever way you cut it, women inherently are at a disadvantage. This in part is attributable due to physical challenges that are innate within women as is often perceived as weaknesses. In truth, these challenges and how we cope with them are in fact strengths that are the basis needed in all academic disciplines to allow for innovation, problem-solving, and critical thinking. Some places have not yet embraced the change of women at home transitioning into the workforce, or indeed even being seen to be as an equal to male counterparts. This, in turn, is detrimental to more women embracing the academic disciplines of STEM.
The focus of change therefore needs to start early within relationships, progressing to home parenting, helping to build confidence and problem-solving skills in children. Our male counterparts need to take equal responsibility for children with regards learning and devote the time supporting children to reduce the stigma of STEM and opportunities therein.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a woman in STEM or Tech. Can you explain what you mean?
The myth is that girls are not interested in STEM fields and they don’t possess the necessary skills to succeed in these fields. The reality couldn’t be more different. Girls are just as interested in science, technology, engineering, and math as boys. They just need a chance to understand the opportunities open to them and be allowed to explore, align their interests, and finally to pursue them. At school, I never studied physics as I thought the subject too difficult — I took the subject in my later years as ‘crash course’ because I knew whether I passed or failed it would have no impact on my chosen path and what do you know, I did extremely well!
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned From My Experience as a Woman in STEM or Tech” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
- Make the most of opportunities that cross your path. Women tend to lack confidence, this sometimes means that we shy away from opportunities that are presented to us throughout our career. My advice would be to embrace these opportunities full on. Women sometimes feel more at ease relying on their experience already gained rather than taking the key skills associated with that experience and translating them to new challenges.
- Learn from every opportunity — good or bad. I would love to think that at some point, our level of learning would feel sufficient, however — the truth is that we are learning all the time and this is a prerequisite to life in general. I have found that the failures or mistakes I have made were just as important as the wins.
- Embrace change. So much harder to do in practice! Change is difficult, however looking to the bigger picture, it happens for a reason and usually it benefits everybody, even if at first, it’s not obvious.
- Don’t act on impulse. Because passionate about work is important, but reacting too quickly can be detrimental. You need to allow time to process information on your own terms and often out with the work environment. This ensures that you have an unbiased approach placing the passion into perspective.
- Believe in yourself. Nobody is saying it’s easy being a woman in STEM, you have to believe in your ability and your visions. These will not always align with others and will often be challenged and that’s fine. Its not about who is right or wrong. Do not be deterred just because your view is different.
What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?
Recruiting the right individuals within a team is critical — not only do they need to have the necessary experience, it’s also important that employees are aligned with the company’s visions and values. So be patient! Ensure that each team member within your team has a voice, and if this needs to be encouraged, help them to achieve this.
What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
Communication is essential and can be difficult. During the Covid pandemic, we needed to implement new skills and tools to help maintain constant communication. We have many disciplines within TC BioPharm, which must work together harmoniously, nevertheless, we are essentially a large team and our strength has always been to communicate across disciplines in a very open and supportive manner. Flexibility within teams is vital and it’s important to remember that goal of improving patients’ quality of life.
What advice would you give to other women leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
Communication is essential and can be difficult. During the Covid pandemic, we needed to implement new skills and tools to help maintain constant communication. We have many disciplines within TC BioPharm, which must work together harmoniously, nevertheless, we are essentially a large team and our strength has always been to communicate across disciplines in a very open and supportive manner. Flexibility within teams is vital and it’s important to remember that goal of improving patients’ quality of life.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Yes, my husband. When I met my husband, I had already made a contribution to the world of STEM. I was responsible for the derivation and characterization of primary fetal cells that went on to produce the world’s first cloned mammal from an adult somatic cell and so part of the ground-breaking team that cloned ‘Dolly the sheep.’ My husband helped me to recognize my contributions and be more confident about my past achievements. He became my mentor when setting up TC BioPharm and guided me through the commercial aspects that were new to me at that time. In the home and at work, he has truly supported me and enabled me to grow in my career.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I would love the answer to be yes, but I honestly do not know. I have received great feedback that manufacturing potentially lifesaving treatments from peers, family, and the general public is great. I would like to think that my passion of distributing affordable efficacious treatments to improve patients’ quality of life around the world will be what I give back to society.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I am not sure we need another movement as such. Anything that supports my goal in distributing affordable efficacious treatments to improve patients’ quality of life around the world I would love to be involved in.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Where there is a will there is a way! Used to say that if someone has the desire and determination to do something, he or she can find a method for accomplishing it. The sentiment of this phrase was first published in 1640, in the work Jacula Prudentusm written by George Herbert: “To him that will, ways are not wanting.” By the 1820s, the phrase had been altered to “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” Its exactly how I have achieved growth and success in my life, believing in myself and being motivated.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would love to meet with Heston Blumenthal — he has been creative taking elements from STEM disciplines and applying these to his cooking techniques. He created a kind of magic which is essentially what our bodies do with various mechanism of actions every day.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Inspirational Women in STEM and Tech: Angela Scott of TC BioPharm On The 5 Leadership Lessons She… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.