Christine Carberry

Christine Carberry is the Vice President of Program Alliance and Management at Biogen Idec. But it took a lot of work for Christine to get to where she is today. She grew up in Hampton, New Hampshire with her mother and father. Her mother was a nurse and her father was an engineer. Her parents always believed in her and supported her decisions, no matter what path she chose to take. As a child growing up, Christine always liked science (especially living systems), teaching, and music. When she entered high school she had a great teacher for biology and chemistry. She believed that this teacher was another one of her role models and encouraged her to do her undergraduate studies in biochemistry.

After college she did some work but wasn't having fun. Then she eventually learned how to manufacture drugs and decided that that was something that she was interested in. She began to look for a job and found an opening at Biogen in the (Boston Globe) and she has been working with Biogen for twenty plus years. One of the reasons that she stayed with the company so long-besides the fact that they have great opportunities is that she met another one of her mentors, James C. Mullen, the CEO of Biogen. She started out with a very entry-level job because she had found the ad for Biogen only two years after she graduated and soon she became the first woman in the production department. Her job is to help other employees understand what the company is all about and to help them express that through their work. She meets with people within the company and sometimes even outside of Biogen Idec to help them develop drugs. She spends about 25% of her time traveling.

Christine said that believing in yourself is the best advice that she can give to teenage girls because there is so much pressure to be like someone else or to try and change who you are. But as Christine says, "you can't help who you are." Another piece of great advice that she has is that you should be more open and free during the day. People get so stressed out about sticking to a certain schedule or finishing a checklist but she believes that if you just allow time for change, your day will be much better. Christine likes to take time out of her day to do one of the things that she enjoys, which is singing and playing guitar with her children.

One of the reasons why she thinks that biotechnology is such a good field to get into is because of the lack of women that are in the field. Although most people would think otherwise, Christine said that being a woman was never a problem for her because there were so few women in the biotechnology field when she entered and she felt like people were very accepting.

Another thing that Christine loves to do is help out in the community. She was a GED tutor helping adults who wanted to get their diplomas. In the early 1990's she would also work with community colleges and technical high schools to help students learn about the biotechnology field. She also did a lot of work to find a cure for multiple sclerosis.