Diversity in biotech: How one scientist’s quest for impact took her beyond the lab

As a PhD candidate, Dr N. Erlyani Abd Hamid was no stranger to 16-hour work days. Life was a whirlwind of running lab experiments, interpreting endless amounts of data, and translating her findings into a book-length thesis.  

It was all “in the pursuit of knowledge” in the life sciences, she said. But as time wore on, she yearned for something beyond the world of beakers and bioreactors.   

“Towards the end (of my time in the lab), I was primarily looking for impact,” she said. “What was (my work) going to mean to people on the street?”  

Erlyani’s bid to create impact has led her down a colourful career path through Singapore’s biotech ecosystem. Today, she is the Assistant Director of Programme Strategy and Business Operations at Hilleman Laboratories, a medical research organisation that aims to make life-saving vaccines more accessible in the developing world.

Dr Erlyani in one of Hilleman’s bioreactor rooms or production suites. 

Her career path was far from linear. She put on various corporate “hats”, such as curating technology portfolios and working on corporate planning and strategy. These took her out of the lab into the heart of the biotech business, enabling her to see the bigger picture.  

While engaging stakeholders and developing strategic initiatives might be a different ball game from lab research, it is one she is willing to play for the prize of making a tangible difference.  

She might spend her time in offices instead of labs now, but Dr Erlyani is well aware of the painstaking work behind every medical breakthrough. She spent eight years as a scientist herself, pursuing postdoctoral research on stem cells after completing her PhD.  

Back then, she was part of a large research organisation in Singapore, one of the few groups working on stem cells in the late 2000s.  

“We were uncovering a lot of new pathways on how stem cells continually renewed themselves, and I was very excited to be part of that movement,” she said.

WATCH: What A Career In Biotech Looks Like 

Combined with her interest in using medicine and technology to combat disease, she found the lab an immensely interesting – and fulfilling – place. But as the years wore on, a question began to surface in her mind.  

“Even if I discover a new pathway or have an incredible breakthrough, what’s that going to mean to people on the street the next day?”  

The answer, it seemed, lay beyond the lab. So, when the opportunity to make an internal transfer to a business-facing role came up, she seized it. Swapping her lab coat for corporate garb came with trepidation – and a great deal of excitement.  

In her new business-facing role, Dr Erlyani curated scientific portfolios to attract investors and drive research and development. In addition to reading data, she had to read people.  

“The key was understanding what motivated each group and what would drive them to work with you,” she said. 

This meant conversations with experts such as physicians, nurses and dieticians. One of the key portfolios she worked on focused on diabetes. In particular, how technology, such as smart watches and mobile apps, could help patients manage the disease.  

“I saw physicians working with scientists to develop tools that could be used in clinics,” she said. “Today, we can safely say that we see these devices and technology in the hands of patients.” It was the impact she was looking for.  

Dr Erlyani and Dr Danny Soon presenting an appreciation plaque for Dr David Klonoff at the Digital Diabetes Congress 2019.  

As it turned out, her rigorous training as a scientist was invaluable in helping her assess the viability of various research portfolios in unfamiliar fields.  

“You have an understanding of the scientific inquiry process. You’ve learnt how to sift through evidence and make deductions from data,” she said. “I used those skills and applied them outside the world of stem cells.”  

After over a decade in various roles in the large research organisation, a new opportunity surfaced for Dr Erlyani in 2021. Vaccine research organisation Hilleman Laboratories was moving its global headquarters to Singapore, and wanted her to join the team.  

In this new role, she would be responsible for bridging Hilleman – a joint venture between two entities based in London and the United States – with the local ecosystem. This meant everything from making relevant links with the local ecosystem to forging partnerships on the regional and global stage.  

Joining the company came with inherent risks. “I would be moving from a big organisation that was very secure and very stable to a new company that was coming to Singapore, a name that still required a lot of confidence-building,” she added.  

She took the plunge, drawn by Hilleman’s humanitarian mission. 

Inside Hilleman’s 30,000 square foot manufacturing facility, ACES, which focuses on early clinical development of vaccines. (Photo credit: Hilleman Laboratories)

One of the biggest challenges was hiring local talent. Many academics, for instance, were not well-versed in industry-specific knowledge such as product development skills and understanding regulatory affairs, she shared.  

Today, academics can tap partnerships such as the Helix Immersion Programme (HIP). The programme, developed by SGInnovate provides them with full-time, on-the-job training with key industry players like Hilleman Laboratories, to develop skillsets relevant to industry.  

“Where was this programme when I was looking to leave academic research?” she joked.  

There are other gaps in biotech that need to be bridged. In 2021, women represented only about 23 per cent of biotech CEOs. “Meaningful representation at leadership levels is important,” noted Dr Erlyani, who ran a career-related sharing session involving Hilleman’s female scientists and its female board members.  

Then there is the issue of age. “I often find myself in engagements where I’m the youngest person in the room,” she said. “In the beginning, I kept quiet and would only speak when spoken to.”  

But she came to recognise her young age as a strength. “If you are young, you see the world differently from older people. Sometimes they have unconscious bias…In the context of Hilleman Laboratories, my value is that I understand the local ecosystem really well.”  

Dr Erlyani has learnt to speak up in a world that had once seemed so foreign to her. Her confidence today is built on a decade of robust industry experience.  

“At first, I thought I might miss the familiarity of being in a lab, but I am (now) in a place I am better suited for,” she said.  

Wondering how to make the leap from academia to industry? Find your foothold in biotech start-ups with the Helix Immersion Programme.