Ruth Shah

Head of Bayer Co.Lab Berlin at Bayer

Speaker

Ruth Shah is the Head of Bayer Co.Lab Berlin, which is part of a global network of state-of-the-art incubators supporting biopharma startups. With fully equipped labs, shared infrastructure, and access to experts and partners, it helps founders bring their brilliant ideas to life - while reducing operational and financial overhead. A dynamic community, the expertise of pharma, and no strings attached. In July 2025, Ruth was named Top 40 under 40 in Berlin for her leadership driving the innovation economy in the capital region. Prior to her current position, Ruth was Director, Strategic Program Lead Gene Editing, where she drove the strategic pathfinding and operational build-up of gene editing activities as a cross-company endeavour between Bayer and AskBio, an AAV gene therapy company, which is a wholly owned and independent subsidiary of Bayer. Ruth is a champion not only for innovation but also for inclusion. For 2.5years, Ruth served as Global Co-Lead of MERGE, Bayer’s company-wide Business Resource Group advocating for multigenerational workplace practices, and in May 2024 was awarded a Rising Star award from the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association in acknowledgement of her leadership in DE&I. Ruth has a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh.