Students in Pennington’s Global Studies Program recently had the opportunity to hear from Gina Mastrosimone P ’27, a leader whose career vividly illustrates how curiosity, global experiences, and openness to change can shape an impactful life. Speaking candidly about her journey, Ms. Mastrosimone shared the cross-cultural perspectives she has gained through years of studying, living, and working around the world, and how those experiences continue to inform her work today.

Growing up in Hopewell Valley, Ms. Mastrosimone initially dreamed of becoming a doctor. In high school, her interests were wide-ranging: math, history, and Spanish all captured her attention. Early on, she sought experiences beyond the classroom, including a summer immersion program in Mexico, a family trip to Italy, and time spent as an exchange student living with a German family. These formative moments sparked a lifelong fascination with languages, cultures, and global issues.

That global lens deepened during the Cold War, when she participated in Model United Nations. Her group focused on nuclear disarmament, an experience that taught her the power of dialogue, collaboration, and asking the right questions, skills she emphasized are often more important than having quick answers.

Ms. Mastrosimone went on to attend Haverford College, where she majored in economics and minored in romance languages. Although she began college on a pre-med track, she remained open to new directions. A semester abroad studying marketing and economics in London, two summer language immersion programs in Italy, and travel to India further expanded her worldview. She encouraged students to think strategically about curricular requirements, noting that as much as sixty percent of her coursework could be taken outside her major, an intentional choice that allowed her to explore multiple interests.

Her professional path has been just as interdisciplinary. Ms. Mastrosimone interned at Chemical Bank, working with foreign exchange, and later built a career spanning biopharma and consulting. She has held roles at companies such as GSK, PwC, Merck, and Exequor, before becoming vice president of strategy & business planning at Vaxart, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing oral pill vaccines. At GSK, she worked on new product planning, examining medicines years before they reach the market and designing treatments that will still be relevant five or ten years into the future.

Today at Vaxart, her work focuses on vaccines with the potential for profound global impact. One aims to reduce the risk of cervical cancer, the fourth most common cancer in women worldwide. Vaxart looks to Australia, which is close to eradicating cervical cancer, as a model for what is possible. Another vaccine she works on targets shingles, a condition that affects one in three people in the U.S., and has also shown promise in staving off dementia. Central to Vaxart’s mission is a transformative question: What if vaccines did not require needles at all? Oral pill vaccines could eliminate the need for cold-chain shipping, reduce medical waste, and significantly lower costs, making life-saving medicine more accessible in poorer parts of the world.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Mastrosimone has lived in six countries and visited more than fifty. Her advice to students was grounded and practical. She urged them to explore as many interests as possible, reminding them that seemingly unrelated threads can come together in unexpected and meaningful ways. She emphasized the importance of finding “your tribe,” building connections, and recognizing that tangible skills—communication, analysis, cultural fluency—can travel across careers and continents.

Above all, she encouraged students to stay curious and commit to lifelong learning. As proof, she shared that she participated in a language immersion program in her forties. Global problems, she noted, require interdisciplinary thinkers who are willing to ask good questions, remain open to new opportunities, and keep learning. Her message resonated clearly: you don’t have to choose just one path. Stay open, ask questions, and trust that the skills you build now will carry you wherever the world takes you.