Women's Health Innovation Summit, USA

Carolee Lee

Carolee Lee is an innovator, entrepreneur and thought leader dedicated to improving women’s health and wellbeing, and their opportunities to succeed. She was founder and CEO of Carolee Designs, one of the world’s leading accessories brands. Carolee launched WHAM (Women’s Health Access Matters), a nonprofit organization working to bring awareness and funding to women’s health research to transform women’s lives. Carolee forged a research partnership with the RAND Corporation to create The WHAM Report, the first study to analyze the economic costs, benefits and social impacts of health research that focuses specifically on women. The WHAM Report is changing the conversation around women’s health research, proving women’s health research is an economic issue we cannot afford to ignore. Through partnerships with leading advocacy groups, business leaders, researchers and economists, WHAM is using this data drive change.

Carolee is also a mentor and leader in business, philanthropic and educational organizations. She is a past Chair and Foundation Board Chair of the Committee of 200, a community of the most successful women in business, and has served as director on the board of DSW, Inc. Carolee is a founding board member of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, where she has served since 1986. She currently sits on the Women’s Leadership Board at The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Elizabeth Garner

Elizabeth Garner, MD, MPH is the US Chief Scientific Officer of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, a leader in reproductive medicine and maternal health, uro-oncology and in specialty areas within orthopedics and gastroenterology including microbiome therapeutics.

 Dr. Garner has nearly 30 years of experience in medicine and industry. Prior to joining Ferring in 2022, she held Chief Medical Officer roles for ObsEva, a women’s health biotechnology company, and Agile Therapeutics, a women’s healthcare company focused on contraception. Earlier, she held leadership roles in medical affairs at Myriad Genetics Laboratories and clinical development at Abbott Laboratories and Merck Research Laboratories. Across her 16-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, she has led or contributed to several US product approvals, including the HPV vaccine-Gardasil®9, Orilissa®-an oral treatment for endometriosis, the novel Twirla® low-dose contraceptive patch, and Rebyota-the first FDA-approved live microbiota product for the prevention of recurrent Clostridium Difficile.

Dr. Garner is on the Board of Directors of Kezar Life Sciences (KZR), which develops novel therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer. She is also on the Board of Directors of Sermonix Pharmaceuticals, which focuses on targeted therapies for breast cancer. Dr. Garner is also the current President of the American Medical Women’s Association, the oldest multispecialty organization dedicated to advancing women in medicine and improving women’s health.

Dr. Garner received joint M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard Medical (HMS) and Public Health Schools. She trained in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women’s (BWH)/Massachusetts General Hospitals and completed a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at BWH/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Prior to transitioning into industry, she was an Assistant Professor at HMS, where she focused on academic clinical practice in gynecologic oncology, basic science ovarian cancer research and teaching and mentorship of residency and fellowship trainees and medical students. Dr. Garner is a frequent panelist and speaker on a range of topics including innovation and investment in women’s health, women’s leadership and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). She is an author of close to 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers. Dr. Garner was also a 2019 awardee of the PharmaVoice 100 Most Inspiring Individuals in the life sciences industry and is the 2022 recipient of the Woman in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association.