Women Leaders Who are Helping Solve the COVID-19 Crisis
Whether it is behind the scenes or working on the frontlines, women leaders across the globe are stepping up to aid COVID-19 support efforts. Here are five remarkable women whose names and work should be known.
Minal Dakhave Bhosale
Research and Development Lead of Mylab Discovery
In a record time of six weeks, Indian Virologist Minal Dakhave Bhosale led the development and approval of a coronavirus testing kit (Patho Detect), and then shortly gave birth to her baby. She and her team of 10 were part of the first Indian firm to get full approval to make and sell testing kits to screen patients. The kit was submitted for evaluation to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) on 18 March, just a day before her Cesarean delivery.
With a population of 1.3 billion, India was simply not testing enough to fight the spread of coronavirus. Now with Patho Detect, India has scaled up testing and extended testing to not only state labs, but private labs as well. This test kit can test 100 samples and costs 1,200 rupees ($16; £13) per sample, which is a quarter of what India pays to import Covid-19 testing kits from overseas.
About the Women Led Team at Mylab Discovery: The R&D team at Mylab is primarily led by women scientists. The most prominent of them is Shefali Desai who is Director of Application Support. She is the most experienced person in team and was an important contributor to the design of the test. Banking upon her 3 decades of experience as an expert in molecular diagnostics, cell biology, protein chemistry and genetics, the team was able to move fast. Also, Mitali Patil, who heads the Quality management was instrumental in ensuring the test met all the criteria for approvals.
Cristina Tardáguila
Associate Director of International Fact-Checking Network
Cristina Tardáguila is the Associate Director of IFCN, an arm of the nonprofit journalism organization the Poynter Institute that combats misinformation by implementing fact-checking practices. In lieu of COVID-19, IFCN is combating a secondary issue that the World Health Organization calls an “infodemic,” defined as an overabundance of real and fake information that make it hard for readers to find dependable sources.
Cristina and her team are aiding Facebook and Whatsapp on its fact-checking project, where they’ve seen rapid sharing of misinformation that has stirred panic and induced fear. She said, “We first saw misinformation about the source of the virus, and then edited and out-of-context videos and photos [of people who purportedly had the virus]. Then the third wave that has stuck around is about false cures and false preventative measures.” Her team continues to analyze and take in hundreds of COVID-19 fact-check requests globally.
Sali Hughes and Jo Jones
Co-Founders of Beauty Banks
Beauty Banks is a non-profit driven to help support those in the UK community who don’t have basic access to hygiene products. As an existing charity, they repositioned their resources and mission to pull together aid for those who do not have the financial means to protect themselves from COVID-19.
Together, co-founders Sali and Jo have already raised £92,897 from the community to help buy soap, bodywash, hand sanitizers, and laundry detergent. On their Gofundme site, it states, “all donations will be shared with Beauty Banks’ UK registered charity partners that include food banks, homeless shelters, domestic abuse refuges, youth centres, NHS trusts and refugee centres across the UK.” They aim to deliver these items as quickly as possible and to protect those who are at high risk and vulnerable to the disease.
Emmanuelle Paillat
CEO of Blue Bees
Leading a direct all-women team, Emmanuelle Paillat is the CEO of Blue Bees. Known as a crowdfunding platform in France, Blue Bees was built to support entrepreneurial projects by raising capital from the online community to drive more projects in food sustainability and organic agriculture.
Most recently, Blue Bees has led crowdfunding for healthy meals that will be prepared for frontline healthcare workers fighting against COVID-19. Many of them are exhausted working 12+ hour shifts, and unable to find a good meal because stores are closed or they lack energy to prepare food. Blue Bees has partnered with Terre de Mars, Eat Cetera, and Mil’Saveurs to prepare and deliver local, hearty meals for hospital staff, especially those in the most affected areas. This creative system helps all parts of the supply chain, from caregiver, supplier, caterer, and deliverer. To donate, you can learn more here.
Ellen Marie Bennett
Founder of Hedley & Bennett
Stemmed from her experiences as a line cook, Ellen found her creative passion in designing and producing elevated, high quality aprons for those in the cooking profession. Since then, her line has extended to chef coats, work shirts, and kitchen linens. In the wake of COVID-19, she repositioned her factory in Vernon, California to mass produce face masks for those on the medical front line and to alleviate the mask shortages happening worldwide.
In partnership with Dr. Robert Cho, Chief of Staff of Shriners for Children Medical Center, Hedley & Bennett have begun manufacturing washable, reusable 100% cotton masks to help stop the spread. These masks are not direct substitutes for surgical or procedural masks, but if used correctly, should help contribute to less person-to-person droplet transmission. For donation requests or to order bulk orders, you can find more information here.
Emily is a US expat currently living in Singapore to learn about the tech communities growing in Asia. She has worked 4+ years in dev relations, community management, and event marketing within the tech and travel industry. Her time at OmniSci, Google and Booking.com gave her cross-functional expertise. In her free time, she runs the volunteer community initiatives for Singapore Women’s Network and CMX Hub Singapore, as well as promote and write on the importance of early investing and financial literacy at Fangfinance.
