Hamilton Bennett (US)

Senior director of vaccine access and partnerships at Moderna

Last year, the Moderna company became known almost in every country. It is the first company that began the development of the coronavirus vaccine. As a result, the vaccine has been widely used on the territory of the US.

However, it was not an easy decision to launch such a difficult and uncertain program. In case of a failure, the company’s reputation might have been destroyed. The fact is that the development of the vaccine at that time was a huge risk as very little was known about the virus. It was Hamilton Bennett who pushed the company’s chair to take on the challenge as they could save thousands of people’s lives. She knew that the pharmaceutical giant had all the necessary resources to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why she took the responsibility for this project. That is leadership.

Nemonte Nenquimo (Ecuador)

President of the Waorani community

Nemonte Nenquimo was named one of TIME magazine’s most influential people in 2020. She was courageous enough to lead her nation in a combat initiated by the Waorani in the province of Pastaza, Ecuador. The people are doing their best to protect their rainforests, which is the unique heritage of Amazon, from selling. The fact is that the government wants to use the land for oil exploration. In 2020, Nenquimo was awarded the 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize for protecting the Amazon rainforest. Nemonte Nenquimo has donated her $200,000 prize to launch a campaign aimed to save forests and people.

Mayra Guzman-Kaslow (Puerto Rico)

President and CEO of GK Pharmaceuticals

GK Pharmaceuticals is a women-led biopharmaceutical company. It became the only company in Puerto Rico to manufacture a molecular COVID-19 test approved by the FDA. Mayra Guzman-Kaslow has spent almost 30 years helping people. Her contribution to chemical engineering is really great. She managed to defy the traditional biases against women in STEM, not only in Puerto Rico but also around the world. The first day she came to Puerto Rico, she went to the government office and showed her business plan for a pharmaceutical company in Puerto Rico. Thanks to her talent of a manager and organizer, Mayra proved that not only men could build pharma companies. Moreover, she has inspired hundreds of Puerto Rican women to do the same.

Cori Bush (US)

First Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress

Prior to winning her run for Congress, Cori Bush began leading Black Lives Matter protests in 2014. The protest was caused by the shooting and death of 18-year-old Ferguson, MO resident, Michael Brown. After the incident, Cori Bush made an announcement urging people to change their attitude to African Americans for the better.

Kathrin Jansen (US)

Senior vice president and head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer

Several months ago, Pfizer in partnership with BioNTech developed the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine. Kathrin Jansen, Ph.D. was head of vaccine research and development. She led a group of more than 650 people focused on delivering the product in a short time. The situation was also aggravated by the fact that there was little information about COVID-19. Earlier, Kathrin Jansen’s work with vaccines contributed to the prevention of infectious diseases, such as the human papilloma virus, meningococcal meningitis, and pneumococcal pneumonia.