WIB-Seattle Leadership Spotlight: Katie Newhall

Katie Newhall
Vice President of Translational Development at Cellectis
WIB-Seattle EWIB Committee Co-Vice Chair

Katie earned her BS in biology from the University of California, San Diego. “I always wanted to be in science. I really liked biology, and at the time, I thought I wanted to be a marine biologist, so I went to San Diego,” she said. Katie then pivoted from her marine biology interests and earned her MS in toxicology from San Diego State University before deciding that she wanted to pursue a career in biotech. She moved to Seattle, where she earned her PhD in pharmacology from the University of Washington and completed postdoctoral work at the Benaroya Research Institute focusing on immunology. From there, Katie began a successful career in biotech, working at a variety of companies in Seattle. “I’ve worked the whole spectrum: big pharmaceutical companies, large and small biotech, as well as nonprofit,” she said. “I started out at Amgen, working in both autoimmune diseases and oncology indications. Then, I went to Celgene to work to establish an immuno-oncology center of excellence. I led the translational effort and grew the group, which started at just four people. It was a very fun experience,” she recalled.

“Through collaborations with Juno, I ended up working on some trials that turned into pivotal trials for BMS. BMS bought Celgene in 2019, and I went to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2020,” Katie said. At the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she had the opportunity to continue working on translational research, but from this time, with a global health lens. “For a year and a half, I worked on a variety of indications—women’s health, hypoxia in infants, nutrition, and even neglected tropical disease vaccines,” she said. Now, Katie works at Cellectis, a clinical-stage cell and gene therapy company. “I’m working on translational development for our allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies. “It is fun to be at a small company,” she said.

With her extensive research experience, Katie found that she craved a way to give back to the life science community, which served as the foundation for her career. “I had been to some WIB events, and in 2018, I got an email to apply for an eMAPS cohort. I thought it sounded great to get some peer support, since I was going through a career transition,” she said. “From a practical perspective, thinking about executive positions felt like the next step in my career. I also went to a women in boards event at the UW Foster School of Business, and that really inspired me to become more connected with the Seattle community, and give back. I really like mentoring, so my Co-Vice Chair, Daphne, and I talked to Jane Gross at the WIB-Seattle holiday party and said we wanted to join the WIB-Seattle Leadership Team.”

Katie’s career has been shaped by women who have strengthened her professional opportunities in Seattle. “I’ve been fortunate to have really strong women bosses and mentors. And my team right now is all women,” she said. However, Katie still sees gender disparities at the highest levels of leadership in biotech. “The boardroom and C-suite is mostly men. We need more women in higher positions,” she said. Part of the solution, Katie thinks, is to make sure that women know about all the different career paths that are available to them. “I was talking to a family member’s daughter, and she’s so passionate about oncology and working in a lab. She just got an internship, and she’s trying to do all the right things and figure out what she wants to do with her life—but at that early age, there's not a lot of exposure to what opportunities you could have,” she said. “That’s why providing more mentorship and more awareness to younger people about what opportunities are out there is so important. It’s about giving people growth opportunities.”

We’re so thankful that at least one of Katie’s opportunities to grow has led her to WIB-Seattle’s board! Her extensive knowledge of the Seattle biotech scene and passion for connecting women are sure to help our EWIB community grow even stronger. We can’t wait to see how Katie helps to shape the network of executive women across Seattle!

Submitted by Mariana Huben