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Grace Colón

Biotechnology Executive, Board Member and Entrepreneur

Grace Colon is a biotechnology executive with an extensive background spanning over 25 years in biopharma, genomics, health care, venture capital, management consulting, entrepreneurship, and industrial biotechnology.

She possesses a strong combination of business and technical skills with proven leadership, communication, and organizational capabilities.

Grace is well-versed in various facets of the industry, including strategic planning, portfolio management, operational planning, project and resource management, strategic marketing, alliance management, business development, clinical operations, product development, commercialization, venture capital, fundraising, entrepreneurship, start-up formation, and scale-up.

Her expertise includes therapeutics, medical devices, drug/device combinations, genomics, proteomics, microbiome, diagnostics, synthetic biology, and digital health.

Grace Colon has an extensive educational background with a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a B.S.E. from the University of Pennsylvania, and studies at Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC).

She has held prominent roles in various organizations, such as President, CEO, and Director at InCarda Therapeutics, and has also served on the boards of companies like CareDx, Inc., ProterixBio, Inc., and Paradigm Diagnostics, among others.

Grace has a rich work history that includes positions at Intrexon Corporation, Gilead Sciences, International Genomics Consortium, Affymetrix, McKinsey & Company, and more.

Apart from her professional achievements, Grace Colon is also a mom of three teenagers, an avid runner, SCUBA diver, paddle boarder, science fiction fan, singer, sea glass collector, and aspiring juggler.

She is active on social media platforms like Twitter (@ColonGraceE), Clubhouse (@gracecolon), and Instagram (gracielaelenacolon).

Highlights

Aug 28 · linkedin

https://lnkd.in/gVgbSwDg

HUGE news in women's health basic biology research - a team from Wellcome Sanger Institute and University of Oxford has published the most comprehensive map of the human endometrium, and has uncovered diverse cell types and details dynamic changes these go through during the menstrual cycle. A veritable treasure trove for #womenshealth research, it was published today in Nature Genetics and is available as open access. Incredibly proud of my friend and Emm colleague, Dr. Magda M. who is first co-author, and huge congrats to her, her PhD thesis advisor and co-senior author Dr. Roser Vento Tormo and all of their colleagues for this monumental achievement. As a longtime severe endometriosis patient, I am constantly advocating for ramping up investment and focus to understand the incredible complexities of reproductive biology and its fundamental impact on overall health. Thanks to this group and to Prof Linda Griffith and so many others who are working in this vital area - we need (as Linda says) a #MoonshotForMenstruationScience and this work is a fundamental building block that will reap benefits for decades to come. Fully one third of women suffer from abnormal uterine bleeding from many different causes and we need to develop diagnostics and therapies to address this. #HumanGenomeAtlas #Endometriosis #PCOS #AUB #patientsfirst

EDITED - Please see Magda M.'s post here: https://lnkd.in/gJ_ZeEDC for more about the work.

Jul 17 · linkedin

Kudos to The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for this comprehensive report on unmet needs in chronic conditions in women.

Chronic conditions were among the top five leading causes of death in women in 2021. Compared to men, women experience a higher prevalence of many chronic conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and osteoporosis. Although women on average live longer, chronic diseases may diminish women’s quality of life for years when compared with men. Chronic conditions in women contribute to substantial health care costs and have a significant effect on women’s productivity at work and at home.

Research to improve early and accurate detection and diagnosis of chronic conditions in women should be pursued by NIH. This research should include developing diagnostic tools for chronic conditions such as endometriosis — for which women often face a seven-year delay in diagnosis — or where there are clear differences in how women symptomatically present versus men.

The report also highlighted a number of areas that need much more focus and research; among others:

  • Understanding female-specific factors
  • Understanding the biology of chronic conditions in women
  • Women suffering from multiple chronic conditions, which in some cases may share a root cause; women with multiple chronic conditions are often excluded from studies
  • Inequities in women's health care stemming from bias, discrimination, and stigma

It's great to see the huge increase in attention on women's health recently; we need to see it translated into funding and action on so many fronts.

#womenshealth #patientsfirst #genderbias #opportunity

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Location

Los Gatos, California, United States