Karen Rodriguez, Ph.D., is a division vice president for corporate engineering at Abbott. She is the first female scientist to lead the corporate engineering group, and has been nominated for the 2020 Career Achievement Award at the Women of Color STEM Conference.

While providing oversight for a corporate capital budget of more than $1 billion, Rodriguez ensures all aspects of Abbot infrastructure comply with regulations and company standards, operate within budget and meet internal client needs.

"Based on her accomplishments, adaptability, and her humanity, I see great things in Karen’s and Abbott’s future as she forges a path all her own and proves the indelible value of pursuing STEM and believing in yourself,” said Corlis Murray, senior vice president for quality assurance in Regulatory and Engineering Services.

Less than a year after rejoining Abbott as the director of design transfer and process engineering, Rodriguez was tapped to lead Corporate Engineering as divisional vice president. She now leads a global team of almost 600 in 29 countries across a wide variety of disciplines.

She advances the Abbott engineering community through her involvement in the Engineering Institute training programs as chair of the Engineering Executive Council, the engineering representative on the Global Operations Council, executive sponsor of the Global Capital Council, and through her commitments to engineering sustainability and global citizenship.