Jackie Ameri

Fighting and not giving up is part of my DNA. I am attracted to challenges where others say no, and it is an important motivation for me to know that it is almost impossible.I was born in Tehran just as the Iranian revolution broke out. My parents taught me to stand on my own two feet, to take responsibility and not to rely on law and order. During my childhood, I was thrown around between different schools and had to go without my father, who was on the run, for a long period of time. At the same time, I was told to pretend that everything was fine. Today, as an entrepreneur and CEO, I use my Teflon to face challenges. Fighting and not giving up is part of my DNA. I am attracted to challenges where others say no, and knowing that it’s almost impossible is an important motivation for me. Just as my family managed to escape to a safer country, Sweden, I also possess an optimism – bordering on superstition – that things will work out in the end if you want them enough. In my youth, I lost a close relative to multiple sclerosis (MS), which affected me deeply. It motivated me to become a researcher to find cures for incurable diseases. Although I wasn’t the academic type, I fought my way to a PhD from Lund University. After a total of 10 years of research, I finally succeeded in delivering insulin-producing cells. During the same years, I also became a mother, commuting between Denmark and Sweden, chasing funding for my business, which added to my self-image as a fighter. Cell therapy in type 1 diabetes is now my mission as CEO and founder of Pancryos ApS. Although it is still a number of years before I can celebrate my 10-year anniversary of the company Pancryos, I can already look back and realize that I am an example of how the will can win in the end. I am a firm believer that passion and not taking ‘no’ for an answer are key ingredients to realizing our dreams.