Her Story
About Caitlin
Caitlin Waller is a biotechnology professional specializing in drug development with a focus on patient advocacy. She began her path as an athlete interested in return to sport after injury, which led her to join a lab at the University of Wisconsin conducting exercise and environmental physiology research in children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. She then earned a Master's in exercise physiology at UT before completing a PhD in clinical research at UT Southwestern at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Physiology, where she was the first and only PhD student in 33 years and created an elective teaching medical students about disability advocacy and healthcare. Her postdoc examined exercise effects in neuromuscular diseases. She transitioned to industry after connecting with a mentor and now works in medical affairs at a growing biotech startup, leading patient advocacy and communication efforts to inform clinical design for a Phase II therapy targeting Duchenne muscular dystrophy-associated cardiomyopathy. Waller attributes her success to resilience learned from her parents and values loyalty, caring, kindness, hard work, and teamwork in advancing shared goals.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Caitlin
01What do you attribute your success to?
My parents taught me to be resilient. When something has you down, just keep pushing forward, put one step in front of the other, and it will get better. Just keep going.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Be yourself. Being a woman in science, especially medical research, is difficult because it has been majority male-dominated. Be bubbly, be warm, fuzzy, and embrace who I really am, because trying to be someone you're not is more difficult than just embracing who you are. That gave me more confidence.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Keep your options open, follow things that genuinely interest you. Going down the path of what excites you, what makes you want to get up in the morning. Follow your passion and don't listen to anyone else. Shield out everybody else's opinion and think about what do I want, what makes me happy, and what interests me.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Biggest challenge is breaking into biotech from academia because companies want 3 to 5 years of experience in the sector specifically. I had 8 years clinical research, PhD, postdoc but no biotech experience. Opportunities: Biotech industry is expanding, lots of new exciting research, companies growing from startups to big pharma. In DMD sector, therapies advancing drastically creating more jobs.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Loyalty and caring. Being kind, working hard, being a team player. Remembering that we're all working towards a bigger goal than just our day-to-day life.
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