Author: Dr. Shara Cohen

Dr. Shara Cohen

Short Bio

Dr. Shara Cohen is a scientist, entrepreneur, and advocate for equity in science and technology. As the founder of Mums in Science and the Women in STEM Network, she has dedicated her career to empowering others - particularly women and mothers — to thrive in fields where they have historically been underrepresented and unsupported. Recognised with the British Empire Medal for her services to women in STEM, Dr. Cohen combines her deep background in life sciences with an entrepreneur's instinct for building communities that actually work. Her work spans science communication, STEM education, health technology, and patient advocacy, reflecting a career built on the conviction that science serves everyone best when everyone has a seat at the table. Whether mentoring a mother returning to research after maternity leave or advising on health tech innovations that centre patient voices, Dr. Cohen brings compassion, strategic thinking, and an unwavering commitment to systemic change.

Extended Bio

Dr. Shara Cohen is a scientist who realised, early in her career, that the biggest barriers to progress in STEM are not technical — they are structural. She holds a Ph.D. in Life Sciences and has the credentials to have pursued a conventional research trajectory. Instead, she chose to build something different: organisations that address the specific, often invisible reasons why talented people — especially women and mothers — leave science.She founded Mums in Science and the Women in STEM Network not as feel-good affinity groups, but as infrastructure. These are communities designed to solve real problems: the isolation of being the only woman in a lab meeting, the impossible choice between career progression and family responsibilities, the quiet erosion of confidence that comes from working in environments that were never designed for you. Dr. Cohen understands that retention is not just about recruiting more women into STEM; it is about changing the conditions under which they work, so that staying does not require constant sacrifice.Her recognition with the British Empire Medal for services to women in STEM is not an endpoint but an acknowledgement of sustained impact. It reflects years of work that has shifted conversations, influenced policy, and created tangible support systems for thousands of women navigating STEM careers. She has been a voice not just for entry-level inclusion, but for the specific challenges faced by mid-career scientists, returning mothers, and women at the intersection of multiple forms of marginalisation.As an entrepreneur, Dr. Cohen brings a pragmatic lens to advocacy. She knows that good intentions without strategy produce little more than paperwork. The Women in STEM Network operates with the discipline of a startup — measuring outcomes, iterating on programming, and ensuring that the resources it provides actually meet the needs of its members. Her work in health tech and patient advocacy reflects the same principle: that the people most affected by scientific and medical systems must be central to their design.She writes and speaks for the postdoctoral researcher wondering if she can afford to have children and stay in science, the mother who wants to return to the lab but does not see a path back, the entrepreneur building a health tech company who wants to centre patient voices from day one, and the policymaker who knows the system is broken but needs a blueprint for fixing it. Dr. Cohen offers not just inspiration, but strategy — the kind that comes from building, failing, iterating, and building again.

Primary Beats

• Women in STEM & Maternal Inclusion: Structural barriers facing women and mothers in science and technology; building supportive ecosystems for career continuity through maternity leave and return-to-work transitions; intersectional approaches to gender equity in STEM workplaces.
• Science Communication & Community Building: Translating complex scientific concepts for diverse audiences; designing communities that provide both emotional support and professional advancement; leveraging networks for systemic advocacy rather than individual band-aids.
• Entrepreneurship & STEM Advocacy: Building mission-driven organisations with sustainable business models; the intersection of scientific training and entrepreneurial thinking; advocacy as a strategic discipline, not a volunteer hobby.
• Health Tech & Patient Advocacy: Centring patient voices in health technology innovation; bridging the gap between clinical research and lived experience; ensuring that equity is embedded in the design of health systems and digital health tools.