Meet the Speaker — Maria Suciu
Maria Suciu is a Senior Manager in Statistical Genetics at Regeneron Genetics Center. Her session at WITS Northeast is Speeding Discoveries in Women’s Health Through Genetic Research.
Why is speaking at WITS important to you?
There are two main reasons I’m looking forward to speaking at WITS: first, I am excited to share with other women the progress we are making in
understanding women’s health.
And second, I believe this is a great opportunity for me to grow. As a self-
taught coder and data scientist, I still have a critical voice in my head who
wants me to doubt myself. WITS2023 has made me reflect and fight once
more against my impostor syndrome, and apply to share my work.
I hope that my experience can help others silence those skeptical voices
embrace the opportunities coming their way.
What or who inspires you?
In the light of recent years and events I’ve become more and more inspired
with the women in my life — my family, best friends, mentors and colleagues.
As we move through various stages of work, family life or world events, their resilience, creativity and a different kind of leadership, empathic leadership, has left me in awe. I am excited to see this form of different, thoughtful, but nonetheless impactful version of leadership shaped by women of our time, become more prevalent.
Most useful article you’ve read in the last month
An article in Harvard Business Review titled, “Practice Empathy as a Team”
is what drew my attention in the last few weeks.
I find it extremely important to acknowledge that we bring our whole selves to work, and even though we work in technical fields, we are human and have emotions. This article makes suggestions for how to open up the conversations and create space for colleagues to share, and give and receive appreciation.
When you were a kid what was your dream job?
When I was young, I couldn’t decide between being an archaeologist (so I
could explore) or being a doctor (so I could help people).
I believe my current job is not that far away from the mixture of the two — I
am a different kind of doctor who gets to be curious and explore genetic data day to day, while using the insights to support drug discovery and help
patients.
Tell us something about your session
There is a lot of momentum in women’s health and femtech, and as we get
more data, we are gaining valuable insights into genetic and biological drivers of health in women specifically. For example, I was surprised to learn that some of the health issues we experience — such as severe menstrual pain, excessive bleeding or endometriosis are a lot more common than we imagine, even though they are still not “normal” and should be addressed.
By bringing these topics into the spotlight and collecting and analyzing these data, we’ll be able to find new therapies and improve the lives of women everywhere.
What other sessions or speakers are you most excited to see?
I am excited to be exposed to topics outside my comfort zone and be inspired by women in different tech domains, such as Annie Rhodes’ session on tech in the non-profit space, or Isabelle Kent’s talk on building equitable teams.
Hear from Maria and the other amazing women speaking at WITS Northeast. Learn more and register at https://womenintechsummit.net/wits-northeast-2023/
