In 1978, molecular biologist Lydia Villa-Komaroff authored a paper demonstrating that bacteria could produce insulin. Lydia’s research helped make the production of insulin more efficient.

After a postdoc with Fotis Kafatos at Harvard University and Tom Maniatis at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where most of her experiments failed for the first couple of years, Lydia started working with Walter Gilbert, also at Harvard. For the first and only time in her career, everything worked in her first several months in the Gilbert lab.

The result was a landmark paper showing bacteria could be engineered to make proinsulin. This breakthrough allowed for insulin to be more readily available to diabetic patients, preventing countless deaths. Lydia’s grandmother died of diabetes before this breakthrough. She and the rest of the team also received patent royalties on the technology for a 20-year period.

She’s also led a small biotech company through a billion-plus dollar acquisition, served as chief executive and chief science officer of a start-up company and helped to establish an organization committed to increasing diversity in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Quite a list of accomplishments, by any measure.