Life Science Cares Philadelphia has welcomed Gwendolyn Fisher, co-founder and Managing Director of FisherTrent Communications, to its Board of Advisors, as announced October 20, 2026. Fisher brings more than 25 years of in-house communications leadership in biopharma, at companies including Passage Bio, Shire, Pfizer, Wyeth and Merck.
Life Science Cares Philadelphia said it’s grateful to have Fisher’s experience and perspective on the board as it strengthens the connections between the life sciences community and its nonprofit partners.
Fisher said what she loves about Life Science Cares is how it carries the industry’s mission of improving lives directly into the communities where people live and work. “That makes the mission very personal to me,” she said. She added that she’s especially passionate about the organization’s Onramp internship program, which introduces college students to life science careers they may never have considered, and that she knows firsthand the difference that kind of exposure can make.
In a follow-up post, Fisher said she feels privileged to join an organization working to address socioeconomic challenges facing the Greater Philadelphia community. She looks forward to learning more about those challenges, working alongside others who are passionate about making a difference, and putting her experience and relationships to work to create lasting impact.
About Gwen Fisher
Fisher has led FisherTrent Communications since 2018, advising executives, companies and boards on communications during high-stakes moments of growth and change, including mergers, restructurings and product launches. She most recently served as Vice President, Communications, Global Digital and Technology at GSK, where she led enterprise-wide messaging positioning technology as a key driver of R&D innovation. Before that, she was Vice President, Corporate Communications at Passage Bio and Vice President at Amarin Corporation, where she built the corporate communications function.
Fisher spent more than six years at Shire in a series of communications leadership roles. During Shire’s merger with Baxalta, the CEO asked her to serve as interim Head of Communications & Public Affairs, and she led a team of more than 90 people. She later headed Shire’s Global Portfolio Communications. Earlier, at Wyeth and then Pfizer after the acquisition, she led brand public relations and media relations, including building the award-winning “Depression Is Real” public education coalition. She began her career at Merck and also held communications roles at Tyco.
Fisher holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a B.A. in Communications from Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow School of Communication.
About Life Science Cares Philadelphia
Life Science Cares Philadelphia is a collective effort of the life sciences industry to reduce the impact of poverty on neighbors in the greater Philadelphia area. By uniting the human and financial resources of life science companies and industry leaders, it supports the service organizations doing the most effective anti-poverty work in the region. Its programs include Project Onramp, which offers paid life science internships to low-income, first-generation college students. Life Science Cares started in Boston and expanded to Philadelphia in 2019.
