In the biotech world, the path from discovery to delivery is rarely straightforward. Scientific insight is only one part of the equation. The ability to lead—across disciplines, stakeholders, and years of uncertainty—often determines whether innovation reaches the patients it’s meant to help. Leen Kawas has walked that path firsthand. As a scientist-entrepreneur who co-founded and scaled Athira Pharma through clinical development and into the public markets, she has lived the challenge of translating science into systems, vision into execution, and research into responsibility.

Her background is rooted in pharmacology. She trained as a scientist, spent years in the lab, and came to entrepreneurship not through finance or consulting, but through an idea: that a small-molecule drug could restore neural function and potentially change the landscape for neurodegenerative diseases. It was a high-risk domain, and one where the track record of success—especially for women founders—was limited. But Kawas leaned in, not as a performer, but as a builder.

Her approach to leadership has always been shaped by her scientific training. She values rigor, repeatability, and evidence. But she also understands that building a company requires more than data. It requires storytelling, team formation, capital strategy, and regulatory navigation. These aren’t separate from the science. They are how the science becomes real.

At Athira, she learned these lessons quickly. Moving from early-stage research to human trials meant making decisions with incomplete information. It meant hiring across functions she had never led before. It meant facing investors, analysts, and regulators—all while protecting the integrity of the core mission. Kawas didn’t posture. She prepared. And she surrounded herself with advisors and collaborators who could help her stretch without snapping.

That mindset continues to shape how she leads today—as CEO of EIT Pharma and managing general partner of Propel Bio Partners. In both roles, she supports not just innovation, but the people behind it. She believes that scientist-founders bring a unique lens to leadership—one rooted in problem-solving, systems thinking, and humility in the face of complexity. But she also knows that technical brilliance alone is not enough. To build a durable company, founders must grow into communicators, managers, and stewards of both capital and culture.

Navigating that shift, she says, starts with mindset. Scientists are trained to look for control, for causation, for measurable outcomes. Startups offer none of that. They operate on momentum, pivots, and pressure. Leen Kawas encourages founders to see leadership as a skill set—not a personality trait or a title, but something that can be learned, refined, and practiced. She doesn’t expect perfection. She expects growth.

One of the challenges she names often is balancing scientific integrity with business imperatives. It’s easy to become defensive of the work. To delay hard choices in pursuit of more data. But leadership, in her experience, means being able to move with what you have, while still honoring the rigor that got you there. She teaches founders to hold both: the discipline of the lab and the demands of the boardroom. She discusses this topic further in her rapid-fire style interview with Principal Post.

Another tension she’s learned to navigate is visibility. As one of the few women to take a biotech company public as founder and CEO, Kawas became a figure in the industry—sometimes willingly, sometimes not. Leadership, especially at scale, brings scrutiny. It brings narrative distortion. Kawas learned to stay grounded not in headlines, but in her purpose: advancing science, building platforms, and enabling new therapies to reach patients.

She also continues to speak openly about the emotional toll of leadership in life sciences. The weight of clinical setbacks. The responsibility to shareholders. The trust placed in your decisions by employees, patients, and partners. It’s not performative. It’s personal. And for many scientist-entrepreneurs, it can feel isolating. Kawas makes it a point to normalize that experience. To build networks of support that go beyond capital and into the human side of company-building.

Through Propel Bio, she now mentors other science-led startups—not just on financing or trial design, but on how to grow into the leader the company needs. That might mean stepping into conflict more directly. It might mean letting go of a role that no longer fits. It might mean taking the time to develop a stronger communication rhythm with the team. For Leen Kawas, leadership is never static. It’s an evolving practice—shaped by feedback, failure, and the constant refinement of purpose.

What sets her apart isn’t just her track record. It’s how she frames the journey. She doesn’t glamorize it. She demystifies it. And in doing so, she helps shift the narrative: that scientist-founders aren’t too technical to lead—they’re uniquely equipped to do so, if given the right tools and the right mindset.

For Leen Kawas, leadership is not a title that follows success. It’s the discipline of showing up with clarity, curiosity, and commitment—even when the path ahead is full of unknowns.

Kawas is also on the board of directors at Inherent Biosciences.