Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw

Dr. Beth Shapiro, Chief Science Officer at Colossal Biosciences, explains how her team brought back the dire wolf, what they've learned since, and how de-extinction tools are already helping endangered species like the red wolf. Hosted by Laurie McGraw on Inspiring Women. Beth Shapiro is a world-leading ancient DNA scientist, MacArthur Fellow, Rhodes Scholar, member of the National Academy of Sciences, and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. She is the author of How to Clone a Mammoth (2015) and Life as We Made It (2021). IN THIS EPISODE - How Colossal de-extincts a species: ancient DNA, genome editing, cloning - Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi: life on a secure ecological preserve - Why the dire wolves will not be released into the wild - Red wolf clones and the Ghost Wolves Project with Bridgett vonHoldt - Bringing back the dodo to Mauritius, and the woolly mammoth and thylacine - New ancient DNA findings on cattle ancestry in North American bison - From broadcast journalism to Oxford and the new field of ancient DNA - Being a public face of science and changing your mind with new data KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED What is de-extinction? Using DNA from fossils and remains to edit the genomes of living relatives so extinct traits return in living animals. Did Colossal bring back the dire wolf? Colossal announced three dire wolves in April 2025: Romulus and Remus (born October 1, 2024) and Khaleesi (born January 30, 2025). Will the dire wolves be released into the wild? No. Beth Shapiro says they will stay on a secure preserve because they would compete with struggling gray wolf populations. How does de-extinction help living species? The same cloning tools produced red wolf clones (Hope, Blaze, Cinder and Ash) to add genetic diversity to the most endangered wolf in North America. Why bring back the dodo? To restore ecosystems in Mauritius, remove invasive species, support ecotourism and protect endangered native species. Can dinosaurs be brought back? No. Ancient DNA does not survive that long. Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton was inspired by early ancient DNA research from Allan Wilson's lab at UC Berkeley. PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS MENTIONED Colossal Biosciences · UC Santa Cruz · University of Oxford · University of Georgia · Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute · Princeton University · Alan Cooper · Allan Wilson · Bridgett vonHoldt · Michael Crichton ABOUT INSPIRING WOMEN Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw features conversations with women leading in science, health, business and technology. #BethShapiro #ColossalBiosciences #DireWolf #DeExtinction #AncientDNA #Dodo #WoollyMammoth #RedWolf #InspiringWomen #LaurieMcGraw #WomenInScience

Susannah Fox spent 14 years at Pew Research mapping how Americans actually behave online, then became the third Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Somewhere between anthropology fieldwork and the federal government, she found the through line that has driven her entire career: wherever there is an imbalance of access to information, there is unnecessary suffering, and closing that gap is where health begins. In this episode of Inspiring Women, host Laurie McGraw talks with Susannah, author of Rebel Health, A Field Guide to the Patient Led Revolution in Medical Care, about what happens when patients stop waiting for permission. She tells the story of John Costik, a father who jailbroke his four year old son's continuous glucose monitor so he could check his son's blood sugar from an Apple Watch instead of stumbling down the hallway every few hours, then shared exactly how he did it online. What started as one dad's hack became a global, patient built movement, and eventually an open source artificial pancreas system the FDA never saw coming. The conversation moves into caregiving, a role nearly 40 percent of Americans quietly carry without ever calling it work, and then into the subject most people avoid entirely: dying. Susannah is a certified death doula, and she and Laurie share deeply personal stories about caring for their own parents at the end of life, what it means to die with dignity, and why so few families ever get the chance to plan for it. Susannah explains why she believes the missing piece isn't more medicine, but better data and better stories about how people actually want to leave this world. Guest: Susannah Fox, health and technology strategist, former U.S. HHS Chief Technology Officer, and author of Rebel Health Host: Laurie McGraw Subscribe to Inspiring Women for more conversations with the women rewriting healthcare's leadership playbook. #InspiringWomen #SusannahFox #Caregiving #Healthcare #DigitalHealth

Katherine Stueland is President and CEO of GeneDx (Nasdaq: WGS), a $3 billion public company that diagnoses more children with genetic disease than any lab in the world. Since taking over in 2021, she has brought the company to profitability and launched new tests that are changing how rare disease is diagnosed. On the day of this recording, she was named a 2026 Fierce 50 honoree for Health Equity. In this episode of Inspiring Women, Katherine talks with host Laurie McGraw about: - Why it takes an average of 5 years to diagnose a child with a genetic disease, and how GeneDx now delivers a fully interpreted genome in 48 hours - GeneDx's origin story at the NIH under founder Dr. Sherri Bale, whose Gaithersburg, Maryland lab took the hardest-to-diagnose cases - How the 2013 Supreme Court ruling on gene patents opened the genomics industry - Making exome and genome testing easier for non-geneticists to order and understand, including pediatricians, cardiologists, and parents - Why "rare disease" is a misnomer when it affects 1 in 10 Americans, half of them children - Why 95% of genetic diagnoses have no FDA-approved therapy, and how more data can change that - Careful listening as a CEO skill, and balancing quick decisions with contemplation - Using gut and lived experience alongside data and AI to make big decisions Katherine previously served as Chief Commercial Officer at Invitae before joining GeneDx. Inspiring Women is hosted by Laurie McGraw. #InspiringWomen #KatherineStueland #GeneDx #RareDisease #GenomicMedicine #WomenInLeadership #HealthEquity #Fierce50

In this episode of Inspiring Women, host Laurie McGraw (EVP, Transcarent) sits down with Paige Hendrix Buckner, CEO of All Raise, the nonprofit working to grow the power and influence of women and non-binary venture capitalists. Paige breaks down why having the title of "partner" no longer guarantees real decision-making power inside VC firms, and why that gap is quietly blocking capital from reaching women and non-binary founders. She shares the data behind All Raise's mission, the current headwinds facing women raising their own funds, and where she sees the biggest opportunities for change over the next five years. In this conversation: - Why titles don't equal power in venture capital - The data on returns from firms with more women partners - Only 1.6% of U.S. AUM is managed by women and people of color - Why deal attribution and board seat quality matter as much as headcount - The three groups of women founding their own VC firms - How the wealth transfer to women is creating new investing opportunities - All Raise's next five years: community, data, and storytelling About the guest: Paige Hendrix Buckner is CEO of All Raise, a nonprofit accelerating the success of women and non-binary venture capitalists. She previously served as All Raise's Chief of Staff and Interim CEO, and was COO of Founder Gym before that. About the host: Laurie McGraw is EVP at Transcarent and host of Inspiring Women, a podcast featuring conversations with women shaping the future of business and leadership.

Dr. Rebecca Mitchell is a physician, product leader, and venture investor — and co-founder of Scrub Capital, a venture firm that's only three years old but has already made close to 20 investments. Her thesis is different from most of Silicon Valley: put clinicians at the center of the investment process, because they're the ones who actually know how care gets bought, used, and ignored. In this episode of Inspiring Women, host Laurie McGraw talks with Dr. Mitchell about her winding path — from doing home care visits with her mother as a kid, to global health work before medical school, to a career-defining project bringing a NASA-designed garment to treat obstetric hemorrhage in low-resource settings, to roles at the American Medical Association and Livongo, and finally to building Scrub Capital's clinician-led venture model from scratch. They dig into why most VCs lack real insight into how healthcare actually works, what the Livongo story reveals about proving ROI in a skeptical market, and what she looks for in founders navigating a market where capital, technology, and buyer behavior are all shifting at different speeds. Topics covered: - Why Scrub Capital built a model letting clinicians invest and advise without leaving clinical work - How Livongo trained the market to measure and pay for healthcare outcomes - Portfolio examples: Phil (digital prescriptions) and Conceivable Life Sciences (IVF automation) - The founder traits Dr. Mitchell looks for: grit, humility, and mission alignment - Why "unsexy" problems — pricing, distribution, workflow — often matter more than new tech - Her reflections on Dolly Parton and what real authenticity looks like in leadership Dr. Mitchell closes with advice for women building careers that don't fit inside one box: do the work to figure out who you are, and don't be shy about sharing it with the world. Guest: Dr. Rebecca Mitchell, Co-founder, Scrub Capital Host: Laurie McGraw #InspiringWomen #HealthcareVC #WomenInMedicine #VentureCapital #Healthcare #FemaleFounders