Banner Witcoff is pleased to share that Mercedes Meyer received the Inspiring Woman of the Year Award at the Life Sciences Patent Network (LSPN) Awards on May 6, 2025.
Presented by Newton Media, the LSPN Awards recognize “excellence, innovation, and leadership in life sciences intellectual property.”
When selecting Mercedes for this award, the panel of judges commented:
“Mercedes is an ally and a thought leader in the IP legal community focused on improving the mental health and diversity of the community by openly discussing the intersectionality of ethics, mental health, diversity, neurodiversity and innovation. Mercedes helped develop among other things a groundbreaking gender diversity innovation toolkit for corporations and academia to assess and cultivate gender parity in innovation, which had bipartisan support by the U.S. Senate. The Toolkit provides a comprehensive blueprint for organizations to promote gender diversity in innovation. The Toolkit is publicly accessible on the IPO association’s website, to provide broad availability and utility.”
With over 20 years of intellectual property experience, Mercedes represents leading life science and technology companies, maintaining an extensive biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent management, prosecution, opinion, and due diligence practice. A recognized thought leader, she frequently speaks on biotechnology, patent ethics, and strongly advocates for improving diversity and mental health within the legal profession. In 2023, Mercedes received the Intellectual Property Owner Association’s (IPO) Carl B. Horton Distinguished Service Award, recognizing her as an individual who displays extraordinary leadership and dedication to promoting the value of intellectual property.
In addition to building her practice, Mercedes continuously fosters ways to unite women in intellectual property and previously served as vice chair of AIPLA’s Women’s Committee and IPO’s Women’s Committee. In 2019, Mercedes helped develop the groundbreaking Intellectual Property Owners Association’s Women in IP Committee Gender Diversity in Innovation Toolkit, a blueprint for companies to assess and cultivate gender parity in innovation.
A full list of award winners and more information about the LSPN Awards can be found here.
Posted: May 7, 2025
