Why Leen Kawas Believes the Future of Biotech Will Be Led by Cross-Disciplinary Thinkers

The biotechnology industry stands at a crossroads where scientific brilliance alone no longer guarantees success. As drug development costs escalate and clinical trial timelines stretch across years, a new breed of leader is emerging—one who bridges laboratory expertise with business acumen and human-centered thinking. Leen Kawas, Managing General Partner at Propel Bio Partners, represents this shift toward cross-disciplinary leadership that may define the industry’s next chapter.

Why Biotech Demands Broader Thinking Now

Traditional drug discovery, from target identification through animal testing, consumes three to five years before human trials even begin. Human trials then require another three to five years—or longer. This timeline, combined with astronomical costs, creates pressure for biotech leaders who can think across multiple domains simultaneously.

The integration of artificial intelligence into drug development has accelerated this need. “We see a big surge in the number of companies that are trying to use AI and predictive modeling to accelerate drug development and discovery,” Leen Kawas noted in early 2023. Yet AI implementation requires leaders who understand both computational approaches and biological complexity—a classic cross-disciplinary challenge.

More fundamentally, the industry faces what Kawas describes as widespread inefficiency. “There’s a lot of redundancies in our industry. There are ways of things that people are used to doing, things which most of the time is expensive and capital intensive,” she explained. Solving these problems demands leaders who can question established protocols while maintaining scientific rigor—exactly the kind of thinking that emerges when business pragmatism meets laboratory expertise.

The Pharmacist Who Became an Entrepreneur

Kawas’s own journey illustrates this evolution. After earning a pharmacy degree from the University of Jordan in 2008, she worked briefly as a community pharmacist before recognizing the limitations of that role. “I like to think. I like numbers, finance, and accounting, and I like chemistry,” she noted, describing diverse intellectual interests that eventually led her to pursue graduate studies in the United States.

What began as a plan for an academic career shifted dramatically when Kawas encountered entrepreneurship during her doctoral work. “I thought academia was the thing, that I could have a big impact, but then, I got exposed to entrepreneurship,” she explained. That exposure transformed her trajectory, leading her to co-found Athira Pharma in 2014, where she served as Chief Executive Officer for seven years.

During her tenure at Athira, Kawas demonstrated how cross-disciplinary thinking drives tangible results. She managed multiple drug development programs through complex clinical trials, handled the regulatory intricacies of pharmaceutical development, and ultimately led the company’s initial public offering in September 2020, raising over $400 million. She became the first woman in twenty years in Washington State to take a company public—a milestone that required mastering scientific, financial, and leadership domains simultaneously.

Building Teams That Think Beyond Boundaries

When evaluating candidates for her current work with portfolio companies, Kawas looks beyond traditional credentials. “I think for me, when I look to build a team, especially having hands-on experience and now as I’m working with multiple companies, I look for the mindset,” she explains. Rather than prioritizing years of industry experience, she seeks individuals who embrace continuous growth and approach problems with fresh perspectives.

Kawas values what she calls a “beginner’s mindset”—the ability to examine each challenge individually without defaulting to established patterns. “They approach each problem individually, and [they] don’t use the mindset that led to the problem to solve the problem. I appreciate people who are innovative, and they look to learn from everyone,” she remarked.

This philosophy extends to her willingness to hire newer professionals. “People just starting their career bring a unique, fresh perspective. That’s as valuable as someone who’s doing the same thing or working in the industry for 20 years,” Kawas noted. The insight reflects her belief that cross-disciplinary thinking often flourishes when diverse experiences and career stages intersect within teams.

Importantly, Kawas also looks for “people with a vision and a sense of fun.” This human element—recognizing that congenial workplaces foster better collaboration—represents another dimension of cross-disciplinary leadership that extends beyond technical competence into organizational culture.

Bridging Science and Patient Needs

Perhaps nowhere is cross-disciplinary thinking more critical than in clinical trial design, where scientific rigor must align with patient realities. Kawas has consistently advocated for what she calls a “patient-centric” philosophy—putting patients’ needs before pharmaceutical company objectives.

During her work at Athira, Kawas focused on understanding the factors important to clinical trial participants. “If you design clinical trials that have the patient’s voice in them, patient retention will increase (which is a problem in our industry),” she explained. This approach required thinking beyond pure scientific protocols to consider practical barriers facing patients and caregivers.

One example of this cross-disciplinary approach involved arranging onsite meals for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers during clinical trial days. The intervention addressed a basic human need that traditional trial designers might overlook, yet it demonstrated how operational thinking combined with empathy can improve trial outcomes.

Kawas also recognized that trial management teams lacking diversity discouraged participation from underrepresented groups. “If we want our clinical trials to be more successful as companies, to be more successful, to recruit the right patient population, we need diversity in our management team—not only in the people who are on the ground,” she declared. This insight connects social awareness with scientific necessity and business objectives—the essence of cross-disciplinary leadership.

Investing with Multiple Lenses

As Managing General Partner of Propel Bio Partners, Kawas applies cross-disciplinary thinking to investment decisions. The firm evaluates portfolio companies through multiple frameworks simultaneously: scientific innovation, business fundamentals, and potential for broad health impact.

Propel Bio Partners has invested in companies like Persephone Biosciences, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to discover biomarkers in patient datasets for microbiome-based therapeutics. Kawas explained that Persephone “uses AI and machine learning to discover patient datasets’ biomarkers” and employs “advanced multi-omics analyses and machine learning to probe the complex interaction between microbes and the immune system.”

Another portfolio company, Inherent Biosciences, employs machine learning to identify epigenetic biomarkers for diagnostics and potential therapeutic targets. Kawas detailed how the company developed a sperm vitality calculator integrating DNA methylation signatures to predict biological age—work that spans epigenetics, data science, and reproductive health.

These investments reflect Kawas’s ability to evaluate innovations that don’t fit neatly into traditional categories. “AI enables us to bring a number of different data (like omics, metabolomics, proteomics, epigenetics, and clinical presentation) to empower more accurate and comprehensive decision-making,” she noted.

The Business Case for Broader Thinking

Leen Kawas’s commitment to cross-disciplinary leadership extends beyond scientific and technical domains to include financial and operational efficiency. She challenges entrepreneurs to question industry conventions that drive unnecessary costs, encouraging biotech founders to apply innovative thinking not just to their science but to their entire business model. “Use your fresh outlook on things,” Kawas advised emerging entrepreneurs.

The approach balances scientific rigor with entrepreneurial pragmatism. “There are specific steps that need to be taken to ensure that you are bringing a therapy to patients at the highest quality possible in a safe and effective way,” Kawas acknowledged. However, she emphasized finding investors who understand complexity and timelines while also identifying opportunities to remove inefficiencies.

The Path Forward

Ten years from now, Kawas envisions investing in companies “building technologies that can help human health” with global accessibility. She also aims to provide internships for students from diverse backgrounds and to support future entrepreneurs—paying forward the assistance she received.

This vision requires leaders who think across multiple dimensions: scientific innovation, business sustainability, global health equity, and mentorship. “Track the success and satisfaction of your customers (in life sciences, the patients). That’s going to drive value. You are developing therapies. You are changing people’s lives. Once you achieve that, the financial value is going to follow,” Kawas emphasized.

The biotechnology industry’s convergence of AI technology, patient-centric design requirements, and capital efficiency pressures creates an environment where cross-disciplinary thinking transitions from advantage to necessity. Leaders who can navigate scientific complexity while understanding business realities, regulatory requirements, patient needs, and societal impact will be best positioned to translate laboratory breakthroughs into treatments that reach the people who need them most. Leen Kawas’s career demonstrates that this integration of diverse expertise isn’t just beneficial—it’s becoming the defining characteristic of biotech leadership.