The woman who invented Viagra

In the Telegraph:

History should rate Samuels as one of the most significant female scientists of her generation. She has worked on a number of drugs, and rose through the ranks of Pfizer, one of the world's biggest drug companies, to become executive director for science policy in Europe...

"I have never personally been aware of a glass ceiling," she says. She couldn't come from anywhere but the North of England. She's both erudite and plain speaking and doesn't believe that being a woman need stop career progress.

She does, however, feel that lots of women step off the career ladder voluntarily in their thirties and forties, typically for family reasons. (Though she has no children of her own, she helped raise step-children.)

Something must be done about this "leaky pipeline", she says. She has been personally involved in formulating Pfizer's equality and diversity programmes. She has helped ensure that women can take breaks after having babies, go part time or work from home as they wish, but believes there are more subtle reasons for women's arrested progress in science.

Working in all-male teams means being thick-skinned: "Men josh each other. I've worked mainly with men and it doesn't bother me. Some women don't find it easy to take certain kinds of banter - not necessarily sexist banter.

"In the North, when you meet someone new, you insult them and they insult you back. It's how you get each other's measure. Generally, though, men are more used to this sort of thing. I don't think our brains are that different... we're socialised differently."