Women are making significant contributions across all areas of technology, including healthcare, where innovation has a direct and lasting impact on lives. From developing life-saving vaccines to designing wearable devices that monitor critical health conditions, women in tech jobs are pushing boundaries that matter.
This article highlights five professionals working at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Their work spans biochemistry, engineering, user experience design, and software development. Each of them shows that a career in tech isn’t limited to one path, and that there’s real value in combining technical skills with personal drive and purpose.
Read more: Leading with Impact: The Power of Women in Tech Leadership
Katalin Karikó: The Long Game Behind mRNA Breakthroughs
Biochemist Katalin Karikó spent over 30 years focusing her research on messenger RNA (mRNA)—a molecule that tells cells how to produce proteins. The early promise of mRNA for therapeutic use was hampered by one major issue: it triggered harmful inflammatory responses in the body.
Karikó didn’t walk away. She methodically tested how to modify mRNA to reduce this reaction. Her key discovery involved changing the nucleosides in mRNA so the immune system wouldn’t overreact. It was a critical breakthrough.
That work became the backbone of the first mRNA vaccines, including the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, developed by BioNTech, where she worked. The technology also powered Moderna’s vaccine. These vaccines helped limit the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, Karikó and her colleague Drew Weissman were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The recognition of their scientific achievement was a reminder that women in tech careers often require persistence, especially in male-dominated fields like biotechnology.
Why her story matters:
- Highlights how problem-solving and deep technical focus lead to major outcomes
- Shows that career paths in tech can include long-term research roles
- Encourages women interested in data science, life sciences, or IT careers for women to consider biotech as a viable and rewarding direction
Karikó’s story isn’t about overnight success. It’s about showing up, doing the work, and proving that even the most complex challenges can be solved.
Jennifer Doudna: Precision Tools for the Genetic Era
Jennifer Doudna is a biochemist who co-developed CRISPR-Cas9, a powerful gene-editing tool. In 2012, she and colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier demonstrated that CRISPR could be used to cut DNA at specific points; a process that allows scientists to add, remove, or alter genetic material with high accuracy.
Since that discovery, CRISPR technology has expanded rapidly across biotechnology and medicine.
It’s now being used to:
- Engineer disease-resistant crops
- Develop gene therapies targeting inherited conditions
- Create new treatments for certain cancers
Doudna’s work earned her the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, but her impact goes beyond the award. She brought genetic editing from concept to reality and made it a practical tool for research labs and medical teams worldwide.
What makes this relevant for women in technology careers:
- CRISPR’s success involves computational modeling, biology, and data science
- Doudna’s path shows how tech skills apply in life sciences, not just in software
- Her leadership is a reminder that tech industry roles are not limited to coding; they include research, product development, and ethical oversight
Rosalind Picard: Wearable Tech for Epilepsy Seizure Monitoring
Rosalind Picard, a professor at MIT, blends computer science with human health. Her work in affective computing (technology that can interpret human emotions and physical states) led to the creation of the Embrace smartwatch, developed through her startup Empatica.
Unlike typical fitness trackers, the Embrace watch is designed to detect epileptic seizures. Picard’s team discovered that changes in skin conductance (a signal tied to stress and seizure activity) could be tracked in real time.
This insight led to a wrist-worn device that:
- Monitors motion and electrodermal activity (EDA)
- Uses AI to detect convulsive seizures
- Sends instant alerts to caregivers via smartphone
The Embrace watch became the first FDA-cleared smartwatch for neurology, approved to assist in seizure detection. It helps patients manage risk, which is particularly important in preventing injuries or fatalities related to epilepsy.
Why this stands out in the context of tech jobs for women:
- Combines user experience, hardware, and AI to solve a real problem
- Requires a cross-functional team of software developers, designers, and engineers
- Highlights how UX designers and product managers contribute to life-saving tools
Picard’s work is proof that wearable tech isn’t just about steps and sleep. It’s also a reminder that women in technology jobs are creating solutions that directly support health, safety, and quality of life.
Dana Lewis: The Engineer Who Built Her Own Pancreas
Dana Lewis didn’t wait for the medical industry to solve a problem she was living with every day. As a Type 1 diabetes patient, she found that existing insulin pumps and glucose monitors didn’t meet her needs; they lacked automation and timely alerts.
So in 2014, she began building her own solution: a system that could automatically adjust insulin delivery based on real-time glucose data.
By 2015, she launched OpenAPS (Open Artificial Pancreas System): an open-source project that lets users combine existing diabetes tools with a custom algorithm to create a closed-loop insulin system. The result was a do-it-yourself “artificial pancreas” that helped patients stabilize their blood sugar levels more safely and effectively.
Lewis’s #WeAreNotWaiting movement quickly grew, showing what can happen when patients, engineers, and developers take charge:
- Thousands of users worldwide have built their own OpenAPS systems
- Community-driven improvements have shaped software and hardware
- Major manufacturers accelerated development of commercial insulin automation
What Lewis’s journey proves:
- Shows how software engineers and product managers can lead in healthcare innovation
- Highlights how opportunities for women in tech can start with lived experience and technical skills
- Demonstrates that tech jobs for women include building tools that directly improve quality of life
Lewis built more than a medical device. She built a community and a movement.
Nadine Hachach-Haram: AR-Powered Remote Surgery Platform
Dr. Nadine Hachach-Haram is a reconstructive surgeon who saw a clear gap in global healthcare: too many patients lacked access to skilled surgeons due to geography or crisis situations. Her solution wasn’t to train more doctors. It was to scale surgical expertise with technology.
In 2016, she founded Proximie, a software platform that uses augmented reality (AR) and secure video to let surgeons virtually assist in operations anywhere in the world.
The system allows remote specialists to:
- View surgeries live with ultra-low latency
- Interact on-screen by drawing or highlighting anatomy
- Offer step-by-step guidance as if physically present
Proximie has been used in over 50 countries, helping deliver advanced care in war zones, underserved regions, and hospitals under lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How this connects to tech careers for women:
- Combines user experience, video streaming, and AR in a high-stakes environment
- Creates roles for software developers, UX designers, and data scientists in digital health
- Expands the scope of what a career in tech can involve, including frontline impact in global health
Dr. Hachach-Haram’s work bridges medicine and technology in a way that makes advanced care more inclusive.
Tech Careers that Make a Difference
The women featured in this article didn’t follow a single career path. Some came from research. Others from personal experience. All of them combined technical knowledge with persistence and a clear purpose, and their impact has made real, life-changing differences to people across the globe.
For anyone considering a career in tech, especially in healthcare and life sciences, their work offers a few takeaways:
- Technical skills like software development, user experience, and data science are in demand far beyond traditional tech companies
- Innovation often comes from cross-discipline work: biology meets code, hardware meets AI
- There are more opportunities for women than ever, and you don’t need to follow a conventional path to start
Davenport Group is proud to be a certified women-owned IT services company. We know that diversity drives better outcomes for our clients, for our team, and for the industries we support.
Connect with Davenport Group to learn more about entry points into IT, and how we support women building lasting careers in technology.