Friday, 29 March 2024


A balanced professional and personal life reaps success in career#Women's Day 2020

08 March 2020 | Opinion

In conversation with Nicky Xu, General Manager of Diagnostics, PerkinElmer to applaud her inspiring journey through the healthcare industry

Nicky Xu, General Manager of Diagnostics, PerkinElmer, Greater China

Nicky Xu, General Manager of Diagnostics, PerkinElmer, Greater China

International Women’s Day 2020 embraced the world with its new campaign #EachForEqual, aiming to draw attention to the difference each woman can bring out. Gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive. The campaign is expected to bring about change by raising awareness of bias and calling out inequality and to cheer women’s achievement. Asian Women have always pioneered in the healthcare sector with venturesome women heading the most influential positions in the different domains of health and medicine. Biospectrum Asia has always been mesmerized by our courageous women leaders in the healthcare industry and is celebrating this women’s day with one such spectacular achiever Ms Nicky Xu, General Manager of Diagnostics, PerkinElmer, Greater China.

An expert in the area of maternal-fetal testing and analysis and bringing both business and clinical acumen, Ye (Nicky) Xu has been General Manager of Diagnostics for PerkinElmer Greater China since 2019. In this leadership role, she is responsible for planning and executing PerkinElmer’s diagnostics portfolio strategy in G. China within the company’s global mission of innovating for a healthier world.

With PerkinElmer since 2012, Nicky has served in a number of roles such as General Manager, Women & Children Health Care; General Manager, China Independent Clinical lab services; and Marketing Mangers for both APAC and G. China Maternal-Fetal Health & MDx.

Prior to joining PerkinElmer, she held positions at BD China, Medtronic China, and Xi-An Janssen Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. She began with a residency at Beijing Tong Ren Hospital.

In addition to her passion for advancing family health, Nicky is also an avid mentor for those looking to develop their careers in life sciences.

On this special occasion of Women’s Day, Ms Nicky Xu, gracefully shared her views and journey with BioSpectrum Asia to inspire millions of women in healthcare and Biotech Industry.  

What is your opinion on the lower percentage of women leaders in the Life sciences industry?

Statistics show that the percentage of women with senior leadership roles in China is higher than that in many other Asian countries. The proportion of women leaders also continues to grow in industries including life sciences.  At PerkinElmer, women hold director positions and many management roles. It is a similar situation in other companies headquartered outside of China and in local companies in our industry based here in China.

Are industries designating women to certain presumed gender-based positions in the companies?

In our industry (diagnostics and discovery & analytical solutions,) many women take leadership sales and commercial positions as well as key scientific roles. We also, of course, have a woman working across a wide variety of other careers within the company as well. One’s position is mainly driven by a person’s previous experience and educational background, personality and their preference of job type and scope.

Share your experience as an achiever in the Life Science industry and how you excelled to reach your goals. 

In the past 20+ years since I graduated from China Capital Medical University, I have taken on different roles including clinician, sales, marketing, general manager of independent labs and my current position as General Manager of Diagnostics, PerkinElmer Greater China. From all these different roles, I have accumulated rich knowledge and experience which have helped me grow. My career aspirations have also undergone some changes and refinements during that process. For example, when shifting from a function leader to the GM, I was met with new challenges. The GM position requires strong coordination with different departments, so I’ve learned to think from many different angles and from a higher vision and strategy perspective. This has greatly helped me enrich my management skills while fulfilling the growth targets of the company.

What would be your suggestion to encourage women towards leadership roles and how a prolonged change can be achieved?

First of all, know your career aspirations and have a clear plan. At the same time, you need to consider how to balance work and family and it is important to gain family support for your career development goals. Then all you need to do is to work hard. As you grow and develop also make yourself a trustworthy colleague and leader who is fair, open-minded, kind and has a strong vision. This will help you reap success both in your career and in life.  

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