Cheryl Watkins-Moore, MD, was drawn to St. Louis for the same reason that many “transplants” are – she fell in love with a St. Louisan and married him.
But once the Chicago native arrived 11 years ago, she said she fell in love with the city as well.
“It’s a smaller town than Chicago, and I like that,” said Watkins-Moore, director of bioscience and inclusion at BioStL. “For opportunities, St. Louis is positioned to be one of the top five cities for startups in the country. It’s a great opportunity to live here and work here.”
Throughout her career, Watkins-Moore has always been ready to take on a new challenge. Her experience spans from running a private medical practice to leading a biotech global company.
Now at BioSTL, her focus is completely set on spreading the word about entrepreneurial opportunities for women and minorities in the bioscience ecosystem in the St. Louis region.
Prior to taking on director role, Watkins-Moore was an Entrepreneur in Residence with the BioSTL sponsored BioGenerator, whose labs and offices are located in Cortex. In February, BioSTL received a grant from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, which will enable Watkins-Moore to lead a new pilot program that seeks to strengthen the St. Louis bioscience community. The goal is to identify high-potential women and minority bioscience entrepreneurs and help them create viable high-growth ventures.
“I am beyond excited about this new opportunity,” said Watkins-Moore. “I believe this program will provide avenues for growth for many underrepresented individuals, including women and minorities, in bioscience.”
Growing up in Chicago, her parents placed strong emphasis on quality education and being the best you can be.
“My parents’ two favorite mantras for my sister and me were, ‘If you grow up to be a street sweeper, be the best street sweeper you can be!’ and ‘We do not care where you go to college, but you’re going to college.’”
Her sister, Joycelynn Watkins-Asiyanbi, is now an accomplished attorney with a chemical engineering background and a MBA. And Watkins-Moore has had a lengthy and impressive career in bioscience.
After graduating from high school in Chicago, Watkins-Moore traveled south to attend Fisk University, a historically black university known as the “Harvard of the South,” where she earned her bachelor of arts in biology.
“Attending an HBCU is a great opportunity that provides young African-American adults with an outstanding collegiate education and also builds qualities of confidence, self-assuredness and pride knowing that you can compete successfully on any path you choose,” she said.
After completing her undergraduate degree, Watkins-Moore attended and completed medical school at the Illinois College of Podiatric Medicine, a podiatric surgical residency at St. Bernard Hospital in Chicago, and then opened her private practice.
“I enjoyed my patients and residents, but I saw that medicine was changing,” she said. “I would read the business periodicals in the doctors’ lounge and realize I needed to learn more about the business side of medicine if I were to stay relative and competitive in the industry.”
Watkins-Moore was accepted to the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, one of the top-ranked business schools in the nation, where she focused her coursework on marketing, finance, entrepreneurship and healthcare.
Immediately following her time there, she was welcomed into the prestigious Executive Leadership Development Program at Baxter, a global healthcare company. Baxter laid the groundwork for what would become a successful strategic business career.
“My time at Baxter opened a pivotal door for me at Biora, a Swedish-based biotech startup organization,” Watkins-Moore said.
At Biora, Watkins-Moore led the U.S marketing organization and sat on Biora’s International Marketing Board, which guided the overall marketing strategy and communication for the global organization.
“After Biora, I was able to branch out on my own,” said Watkins-Moore. “I opened a boutique marketing strategy consulting organization. We worked with startup companies in the life science market here in St. Louis and also in Boston and San Diego.”
Following her consulting career, Watkins-Moore was recruited by Sigma Aldrich St. Louis, where she and her team would go on to win a list of marketing awards, including the American Marketing Association’s highest honor, the Award of Excellence. Eventually, she was brought on at Merck, KGaA in New Jersey and led the North American Chemicals Division as vice president, general manager.
“I took on the challenging role of turning around a troubled organization and would not have been successful without my previous experiences, a great team and many prayers to lean on,” said Watkins-Moore.
A few years after joining Merck, Watkins-Moore came to an organic break in her career. The timing was right for her to slow down, she said. She stepped back to fully enjoy a more relaxed pace with her husband, Allan, and their son, Tyler. She also immersed herself deeper into her community service and board appointments, including Jack and Jill of America, Youth Learning Center and YWCA Metro St. Louis.
Then, she read an article about Dr. Eric Gulve, the president of BioGenerator, and found herself interviewing for an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) position.
EIRs are selected to lead and mentor early startup organizations and provide business expertise to founders and/or their management teams in order for them to become successful, viable entities.
Watkins-Moore has now shifted her focus to the Blackstone Charitable Foundation grant.
As part of her new position, Watkins-Moore will collaborate with Cortex’s Center for Emerging Technologies CET Square One (SQ1) program. SQ1 is an “on-ramp” entrepreneurial training aimed at developing technology and bioscience entrepreneurs.
“I’m really looking forward to what’s ahead,” she said. “I’m hoping to empower other women and minorities by helping them lay the groundwork for meaningful and prosperous bioscience careers here in the St. Louis region.”
