Banking executives will mentor rising women in the medical and scientific research sector in an attempt to grow the number of female leaders and see research and products taken to the market.

Dr Emma Burrows of the Florey Institute, Dr Sarah Russell of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Andrew Wright, NAB corporate general manager, and Jess Nithianantharajah of the institute. Josh Robenstone

Author: Lucille Keen

Rising women in the medical and scientific research sector will be mentored by banking executives in an attempt to grow the number of female leaders to reach their potential.

National Australia Bank has launched a cross-sector mentoring program where the bank’s executives are paired with mentees from the Women in Science Parkville Precinct – made up of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute,  Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, The Florey Institute, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Doherty Institute.

The program will run for nine months and is aimed at not only teaching the women new leadership skills but helping them to make money from their research.

NAB corporate general manager Andrew Wright said the bank was committed to innovation.

“We are proud to support the next generation of health researchers as they look to expand their business and commercial acumen,” Mr Wright said.

“Throughout my career I have been lucky enough to have had some inspiring mentors, so I’m looking forward to trying to play that role for someone else. The program aims to provide females within the health and science industry with direct access to senior leaders across our company.”

Looking up and not seeing anyone who looks like you can be intimidating, said Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health’s Dr Emma Burrows.

GREAT MENTORS CRITICAL

“Having great mentors has been critical to my career,” she said. “As an emerging leader, I am building a team and taking on new managerial roles so I’m really looking forward to learning from a NAB executive. Their experience and skill set are likely to be very different to mine and I am keen to work with them  and come up with new ways to navigate a successful career in research.”

But it is gaining mentoring skills from a leader in a completely different sector that  the institute’s Jess Nithianantharajah​ said she was most excited about.

“We naturally focus on scientific research, so scientists often neglect the importance of developing the broader skills required for professional and personal growth,” Ms Nithianantharajah said.

“I am very excited about gaining some insights that will help drive my growth.”

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Cancer Immunology Research group leader​ Dr Sarah Russell said one of the many changes needed to improve career prospects for women is to provide more formal mentoring programs.

“As cash-strapped organisations with a strong desire to divert every resource into our research, we have fewer formal career development opportunities than organisations such as NAB. Despite the differences in our core business, many of the problems and solutions  for gender inequity are the same.”

Dr Russell said the progress NAB had made in formal career mentoring and promoting inclusion and diversity is highly applicable to medical research institutes.

She said she hoped the program would tangibly improve gender inequities in medical research.