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The EuroVoice
June 2009
Euroleader’s Voice
Interviews with Elkhe Jahn and Yvonne Ulrich
In this issue
Pan-European Annual Business Meeting and Event,
Zürich, 1-2 October 2009. Mark your diaries!!
MEET OUR FIRST
EUROPEAN
RISING STAR
PASCALE AUGE
HBA LAUNCHES IN GERMANY!
Read the full report and reports
from other HBA Europe events
From left to right:
Barbara Gerber, Pascale Auge, Cherie Fella
Join the Ranks
Not a member yet…?
Get Connected - Join today's leaders
committed to professional growth for women.
Get Involved - Gain powerful networking and
leadership opportunities.
Get Ahead - Take advantage of career
enhancement & learn about industry issues and
trends.
For more information visit http://www.hbanet.org
HBA Europe Board of Directors 2009
The new board was elected during the last
Annual Business Meeting on Oct. 15. 2008
A warm welcome and good luck to
the new board members!
President: Barbara Gerber, Director Client
Services Europe, InterbrandHealth
President elect: Friederike Sommer, Founder
Friederike Sommer Training&Consulting
Vice-President: Jolanda Groenhuijzen,
Managing Director, MyLanda GmbH
Immediate Past President Florence
Manger, Founder, INNOTIO
Treasurer: Sonia Torre, Account Manager,
Publicis Werbeagentur AG
Secretary: Bettina Vogel, Vice President,
Account Group Supervisor, CDM Europe
Mentor: Cathy Sohn
Senior VP, Worldwide Business Development,
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare
Directors at large
Membership: Annelie Stapela
Senior Partner, R-Squared Executive Search
and Selection
Programs: Dragana Zivkovic
Account Executive, Health Interactions
Mentoring: Heather Force, Head of
eMarketing Services Manager, Boomerang
Pharma Communications
EuroVoice: Silvia Pellegrini, Account Director,
Sentrix Global Health Communications, Europe
Corporate Relations: Jolanda Groenhuijzen,
Managing Director, MyLanda GmbH
Advocacy: Cherie Faiella, Client Services
Partner EMEIA, , Ernst&Young
Volunteers: Gaia Pieraccini, Managing
Director, Mederis
Women in Science: Isabelle Buckle, Business
Director Strategic Global Account Applied
Biosystems; Gabriele Matthias,
Novartis Research Foundation
2
The EuroVoice
June 2009
The President’s Voice
Far form being a coach myself, I can only provide
you as a healthcare professional (with just a few
seasons of experience) some food for thought
coming from my personal experience and the
stories that some colleagues were kind enough to
share with me. I hope that this might help in the
current rocky times.
Why am I talking about vital energy in difficult
times? Because in situations like the one we are in
now it is very easy to loose the drive and become
passive and that might turn extremely risky for our
personal career progression.
The energy and the enthusiasm that we use to
approach any situation including our career is truly
what makes the difference and adds to the result.
That does not mean that we need to become
foolishly optimistic without a reason. On the
contrary it would only mean that we will be aware
that only by being active and by using our vital
energy we’ll be creative enough and capable of
addressing difficulties as they spring out and find
suitable solutions.
-Continued next page-
Dear HBA Europe members,
When conditions are tough, just
keep your vital energy high!
Trust me, I am not planning to
rant and rave about a new
energy drink or a new
multivitamins pill.
“The President’s Voice”
Let’s talk about self-esteem
It is not a novelty that many women’s professional development may suffer from lower self
esteem compared to men and this may come as a result of their character, or cultural
conditioning, or life/ work balance and environment or a combination of all and more.
To these women I would say: start getting to know yourself, discover what your weaknesses
are, acknowledge them and proceed focusing on your strengths. You might need to rely on
coaching and /or mentoring in the process, do not deny yourself these opportunities inside or
outside your company as they are really effort worthwhile.
Ultimately healthy self- esteem is one of the qualities of a leader.
The secret for success is to have a flexible plan!
Work on your personal career plan and keep working on it.
That is part of being proactive about your personal path. We all have dreams and aspirations
but not all of them unfortunately are realistic: external counseling and a honest self appraisal
can help setting and fine-tuning your plan. But that is not enough as in the current particularly
tough economic climate you need to keep alert and watch out for needed plan adjustments
and changes. Be ready to reassess your plan and if you need to renounce or change it,
proceed objectively without regrets. Regrets could be detrimental to your vital energy!
Finally build your support group!
A network of colleagues -both inside and outside your company- who are appreciative of your
professional and personal value is always a precious resource. In the current rocky times your
fan club will be particularly useful not only as a resource for contacts, endorsements and
recommendations but also as a possible sounding board and honest counterpart to discuss
and evaluate your options and choices.
Look at the future as an opportunity to prove yourself!
Dr. Barbara Gerber
HBA Europe 2009 President
3
The EuroVoiceJune 2009
WOMEN IN SCIENCE (WIS)
WIS is an HBA programme dedicated to fostering the advancement of women working in a scientific function. WIS
operates in sub-groups who discuss and research topics and then share their findings with the group at large during
monthly dinners. The output of the research work can be a publication, training, conference, etc.
Each WIS member is offered to either work with a sub-group on an already identified topic or to select a topic on
which she wishes to initiate sub-group activities. Sub-groups in Basel and Paris are currently working on:
• How do analysts judge an R&D portfolio
• How to transition from academia to industry
• How to transition from one company to another or from a function to another
• Boss/associate relationship and its impact on job satisfaction and career development
• Innovation in Europe
Monthly dinners in 2009 are planned every second Tuesday of the month.
Contacts: Gabriele Mathias (Gabriele.Matthias@fmi.ch) and Isabelle Buckle isabelle.buckle@eur.appliedbiosystems.
com
7
The EuroVoice
June 2009
Novartis Pharma GmbH sponsored the launch of HBA in Germany at the Maritim ProArte Hotel in Berlin on April 24,
2009. Following invitations by Elke Jahn, Roswitha Conrad, and Yvonne Ulrich, twenty-nine female healthcare executives
attended the event which included stimulating interactive presentations, talks revolving around the significance of HBA, and
discussions on the role of the association as the premier catalyst for women’s professional development.
The event started with the welcoming words from our European president, Dr. Barbara Gerber, who outlined why becoming
a member of HBA is one of the best career investments one can make. Why join HBA? This question was raised by Elke
Jahn (Head Clinical Research & Medical Information, Berlin-Chemie Menarini), who named herself “Junior HBA
member”, since she just joined HBA at the 2008 European Event in Zürich. Elke presented in a very lively manner her
pathway within the last 6 months: from being initially very hesitant to join HBA to becoming an active participant and
leader to launch HBA in Germany. Elke addressed many questions most people may ask when getting in contact with HBA
the very first time. She shared with the audience what her take home messages were from Zürich last year:
• Authentic Leadership: Be yourself while leading! Take time to relax!
• Strengths Finder: Do NOT train weaknesses – focus on strengths! Find out your strengths and use them!
• Speed Mentoring: 3 minutes can be very valuable if you have the right mentor
• HBA provides valuable access to senior executive women of the industry!
Dr. Renee Tannenbaum, Global Head Commercial Operations, Novartis, invited the audience to think about what
networking really means and presented the benefits she gained from HBA throughout her career. Women in the room
actively discussed the gender differences in leadership styles and relationship management. Renee asked: “Who of you has
ever written a Business Plan?” and contrasted it with “Who of you has written a Personal Plan”? It became apparent that we
need to invest in building our personal plan and focus on the “how to” rather than only the plan. Renee provided many
inspiring insights, such as: “talk about what you do” and focus on “how to become more relaxed and centered”, “build
your networking plan”, “listen to people who care about you, because they know your strengths”, which inspired the
audience to think through their own personal plans. People got engaged and got a sense for what networking really is about.
Renee concluded that more men are in executive leadership positions because “Women don’t ask”. So, please ASK.
Susanne Eble, Head Healthcare Management, Berlin-Chemie Menarini, then presented the actual chances and threats of
German healthcare politics. She was able to clearly demonstrate the consequences resulting from the recently implemented
new healthcare law. Some major trends of German Healthcare politics were addressed, in particular to:
- Establish basic standards of care for all German citizens
- Increase the personal responsibility and payments for health
- Incentivate mergers of insurance companies
- Pay for performance driven by the health insurances
- Decrease overall number of 180 Health Insurance Providers to approximately 50 providers
- Increase infiltration of Information Technology in Healthcare industry
Last but not least she focused on the picture of the German Healthcare system in five years and the implications and new
opportunities for doctors, pharmaceutical companies and all of us working in the healthcare arena.
On the whole, the first HBA meeting in Germany was a resounding success. Participants highly appreciated the variety of
topics, the detailed discussions on the relevance of HBA, and the networking possibilities. Long story short: Great location,
great speaker, engaged audience excellent networking!
April 24th 2009 - HBA Kick-off Event and Networking Dinner in Berlin
HBA Europe successfully launched in Germany!
Reported by Yvonne Ulrich, Development Strategic Sourcing, Novartis Germany, and Elke Jahn, Group Manager Clinical
Research and Medical Information, Berlin-Chemie AG Menarini
Euroleader’s Voice
Angelica is a member of the nominating committee of the HBA board and
will contribute each issue this column dedicated to highlighting the
individuals of leadership in the industry today… welcome to Euroleader’s
Voice!
Angelica Mirza – Partner, ASA
Amrophever Executive Search
What volunteer activities do you do for HBA?
Since January 2009 I am the local coordinator for Germany within the European chapter. With
the help of Yvonne Ulrich and Roswitha Conrad I organized the German kick-of meeting on
24th of April and HBA was launched now in Germany. As the meeting was a great success and
as we get so much positive feedback, I am highly motivated to contribute to future local events.
Our actual planning is to organize additional meetings in different cities with different topics in
order to create a large German network and to push the growth of HBA in general. My mission
is to make HBA available for as much woman as possible in the healthcare arena - as the
benefit for each of us can be enormous.
How did you get involved & what is your motivation to be involved with HBA?
I get involved 6 month ago at the European Meeting in Zurich. I was inspired by the
international networking possibilities HBA offers, the immediate leanings from the workshops
and the speed mentoring which showed how valuable a 3 minutes talk can be. At the end of the
day I became HBA member directly in Zurich. When I was informed that HBA was not yet well
known in Germany, I decided a few month later to change this situation.
Women in leadership, in the Healthcare industry - what do you think are the biggest
obstacles they face?
Despite some European countries like Denmark it is still a big challenge for woman with
children to cover all responsibilities they have. And they have a lot. Most of the women in
leadership have to cover completely different needs (e.g. "Mammy please don't go to work.
Don’t leave me alone!" vs. "Your child is ill? It is up to you to manage this.
We need you here."). To find a balance between family and work is one of the most challenges
for our society these days. There is a need for a change and I think that especially woman in
leading positions who do not have children like me, can support a change in thinking by acting.
Therefore this will be the main topic in one of the next local events in Germany.
What’s your leadership style?
I do not have only one style as I am convinced that different situations and different people
need different action. Some issues can be solved in a democratic way but some cannot. Some
employees need a clear direction and some are happy to be empowered. To summarize: my
aim is to force individualization and diversity, to use the strengths of the whole team in order to
maximize the performance and motivation. While doing this, I am trying to be as authentic as
possible – which is not easy for sure. However my personal guidance is: you can decide
everything as long as t he value for the company and the customer will be maximized.
Elke Jahn, Group Manager Clinical Research
and Medical Information
Berlin-Chemie AG Menarini
Euroleader’s Voice
Angelica is a member of the nominating committee of the HBA board and
will contribute each issue this column dedicated to highlighting the
individuals of leadership in the industry today… welcome to Euroleader’s
Voice!
Angelica Mirza – Partner, ASA
Amrophever Executive Search
I supported the invitation, agenda and speaker set-up for the German launch event. I
volunteered to write article about event in EuroNews and communicated the success of HBA to
my colleagues and friends. HBA helped me to connect to great inspiring leaders and I give back
as much as I can in supporting local events set-up and supporting materials in Basel.
How did you get involved & what is your motivation to be involved with HBA?
I heard the first time about HBA from a friend and got information about HBA at a conference in
Basel in April 2008. Afterwards I joined my first local event and became a member since I saw
great opportunity to meet very interesting women outside work but inside business. Women
who are sitting in the same boat with whom I can share and learn how to manage to be a
mother and manage business career in parallel to finish my study. HBA offers a unique
international platform with many great events to expand own knowledge which inspired me to
join. To learn for instance about becoming an authentic leader, find out about own strengths
and how best to feed new experiences back to my own team, to meet mentors and new friends.
I see HBA as a "treasure box", providing a unique opportunity to get connected to the most
interesting leaders globally who have one common theme: women in leadership in healthcare
industry. Within 6 months I established four very valuable relationships which provided me so
much insights into my own life, development and strengths. I started to go new pathways with
the great support of the new contacts I made via HBA, I had many very important dialogues for
me and in depths conversations with women who shared very openly their own experiences.
This provides me great guidance and coaching during very demanding times of my life, where I
just started a new job some months ago, having two little boys and finishing my MSc degree in
Psychology. HBA provides an open trusted house and creates the family within, where I feel so
comfortable to sit on the table to speak with great business women in such a warm and
inspiring environment. I feel connected and know whom to contact in case I have a business
question or a work-life balance question.
My motivation to be involved is to give back what I got from HBA throughout such a short time.
How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance?
This is the biggest challenge I have since many years. My children provide me the foundation of
energy. Since I have them I know there is nothing more important in my life than my two little
boys. This provides me with great relaxation and enough distance to stressful times at work,
since everything is set into perspective. I am connected to my purpose in life which provides me
the framework to manage work/life balance.
Yvonne Ulrich Head of Operations Development Strategic Sourcing
Novartis
What volunteer activities do you do for HBA?
I actively speak positively about HBA in my network at Novartis and outside
the company and with my friends; actively initiated that HBA becomes
available in Germany, via engaging Elke Jahn to join HBA, who became the
main leader for the first German kick-off event.
Interview with Yvonne Ulrich – continued
However, this does not always work out and in addition to train my inner self to be calm,
relaxed and satisfied I do sports to let the energy flow. I learn to provide "METI" (Me Time) in
my calendar and manage to balance my three projects in life equally: My family, My job and My
friends. This is the theory and in praxis it needs continuous improvement and reminders. How?
I put notes, photos, symbols on my desk/wall which ensures during the week when I see those
that I booked enough "METI" for me at work and at home. Studying is METI as well even there
are very challenging times, overall studying helped me to get balanced as I love what I do. I
need to be satisfied with what I am doing this includes my job as well. I will never do a job
because it is a job. I need to connect to its purpose and to be fully satisfied with the mission.
Then my work becomes my life and I am happy and fully passionate about what I spend my
time with, every day without loss of energy. This results ideally overall in a balanced stage with
no need to think about work/life balance.
What advice would you give to young women entering into the career path?
Take your time to reflect on yourself. Find out what you are best in and follow this pathway. Do
not waste any time with doing things which take energy away from you. Spend your day with
what is meaningful to you and get connected to yourself. In addition, build relationships to other
leaders to learn and to gain insights; build your network to other people who inspire you and
focus on maintenance, as there are always times where you feel who are the ones in life
wanting you "good". Spend enough time to learn more about the rich source of opportunities
every single person brings into life.
The EuroVoice
June 2009
“Straight to Solutions – a WIS-Organised Workshop
with Deborah Brandow, founder and owner of Creating Solutions
Too often we aim to understand our problems, ironing out what went wrong, why, and who to blame for it. But, that
rarely take us further. “Stop trying to solve problems and start creating solutions” was the message we hear loud
and clear at the May Women in Science Basel event.
Deborah Brandow, a long term HBA member with a solid background in the pharmaceutical industry, founded her
company “Creating solutions” in 2007. She is using the “Solution-focused Brief Coaching Method” to coaching
individuals, as well as teams and business professionals. In this mini-workshop Deborah started out by discussing
the difference between solving problems and finding solutions, then introduced solution-focused brief coaching.
The aim of the technique is to ask the right questions in order to take the focus away from the problem, and help
the client to see possibilities and solutions. Instead of continuing a struggle to do something else, the client is
helped in identifying what works and do more of it, acknowledge skills and strengths, celebrate moments of
excellence and small steps of improvement.
The first practical exercise of the evening was to give and receive acknowledgement of skills and strengths through
“appreciative hypothesizing”. Merely based on sensorial input, we were to “gossip” about each other using positive
phrases like:" I think she is really good at... - Continued on next page -
“Straight to Solutions – a WIS-organised Workshop
She looks like somebody who is a great... She must have a talent for…” This exercise made us realize that there
are different viewpoint to use when meeting a new person, and how much can be perceived if looking closely and
with a genuine interest.
Feeling very appreciated after all these positive statements, we were ready for the second half of the workshop.
The air was full of anticipation and a somewhat nervous excitement as the group of about twenty ladies got ready
for a session of “speed-coaching”. During half an hour each participant got the opportunity to use four simple
questions to coach four different coachees, as well as to be coached by four different coaches. Surprisingly, it did
not matter that the coach continuously changed and did not even know the original dilemma, the coaching still
worked. But then again, it was not about giving advice or solving problems. The coachee is the expert in her own
life. When asked the right questions, the solution may become obvious.
- Linn Hjortsberg
The EuroVoice
June 2009
A WIS – organised dinner
A Career in Medical and Scientific Communications –
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”
By Rikke Egelund Olsen, co-organizer of HBA Women in Science – Basel
On Tuesday evening April 21st around 30 women and a couple of men were gathered at restaurant Safran
Zunft in Basel for the monthly HBA Women in Science event and networking dinner. The anticipation was
high, the atmosphere great, and the chatting and networking was almost non-stop at the largest Women in
Science event in Basel to date. The draw of the night was Dr Diana Barkley, president of PHOCUS, a
company providing medical and scientific communications to the pharmaceutical industry. She was there
to give her very insightful presentation: “A career in medical and scientific communications – the good,
the bad and the ugly”.
Diana began the evening by telling us the importance of a good personality fit when one considers a
career in medical and scientific communications since this type of work is not for everyone. She herself
started her career as a physician and also worked in the pharmaceutical industry for a number of years
before quitting her job to found her own company PHOCUS in 1995. According to Diana, her decision to
found her own company was based on all the wrong reasons – she disliked her old job, she had to stay in
Basel, and it seemed like something she could do. Luckily for her she loved the business, had a flair for it
and after a rough start – sitting by the phone in her then home office waiting for it to ring - PHOCUS is
today a successful international company with offices in both Basel and New Jersey.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - continued
So what is medical and scientific communications? According to Diana it’s a lot of things
ranging from the very technical stuff such as writing NDAs for regulators to the more “fluffy”
stuff such as making educational information directed at patients. And whereas the technical
stuff is very standardized, one has the potential to really let one’s creative site unfold with the
more “fluffy” stuff. In between those two extremes there is a lot of other jobs varying in
technicality/”fluffiness” such as writing publications, organizing symposia and making sales
aids.
True to the title of her talk, Diana then moved on to tell us about “The Good” in this line of
business. The best is according to Diana the large variety in the job so that one is never bored.
It is very exciting, fast paced and intellectually challenging, involving cutting edge
science. And unlike many things in science that can be very diffuse, medical and scientific
communications have clear and tangible deliverables. Moreover, each person can make a
difference, is very close to business as there is not much hierarchy.
Diana then moved on to “The Bad and The Ugly”. Because of the large variety of the jobs and
the deadlines one does not have the time to go deep into one specific area so the job often
entails “breadth rather than depth”. There are also some rather menial elements in the job
such as stuffing pens in bags and reformatting word documents. The job is service oriented
with a commercial focus and the priorities are driven by the client. Last but not least the job is
very exposed and one has to be prepared for a lot of criticism – which unfortunately won’t
always be very constructive.
Who can get a career in medical and scientific communications? Almost everyone
according to Diana as long as you genuinely want it and have a good track record of writing
output. With a first degree the entry level position is as an associate medical writer or trainee
and with a PhD one can enter as a medical writer. The career prospects are then to advance to
first senior- and then principal medical writer followed by scientific manager and finally scientific
director. Though there is no definite timeline on the career prospects it takes on average 10
years to advance from associate medical writer to director.
By the end of her presentation Diana handed out a checklist to everyone to take home to see if
a career in medical and scientific communications would be for us. The list touched base on all
the things that Diana had already mentioned in her presentation but it was a lot of fun and very
inventive to receive a final checklist to see if this career would be for you. One point that
especially received attention and lots of laughter was a check in “no ego” versus “likes status”.
But as Diana explained this is actually a very valid point. The client won’t care if you have a
PhD or an MD as long as you do the job and do it well. She then went on to explain how she
herself originally had difficulties with being reduced from “Dr. Barkley” to the “oh, so you are the
one who is going to write my stuff?”, and having to earn her status each time with each new
client. And she jokingly added “this career is not for medical doctors (as herself!) - they have
too big an ego....”
The EuroVoice
June 2009
CREATE YOUR OWN OPPORTUNITY – VOLUNTEERING FOR HBA EUROPE
Opportunities in professional, and in private life, are “the fuel”. They may be hidden, distressing,
challenging, desired, highly wanted, unknown.....but they exist.
Sometimes the matter with opportunities is that they do not come by themselves.
Sometimes they do and you must have eyes and brain wide open to grab them, sometimes you
have to create your own!
Among a billion of choices there is one here for you! HBA, the global association for the
leadership development of women in healthcare, opens volunteering positions within the
organization to the mutual benefit of the HBA member and the organization.
Members of HBA Europe who desire to be more involved in the activities of our
businesswomen’s association are invited to explore our volunteer opportunities. Working
together with one of our board directors, you will gain additional professional leadership,
increase personal and occupational visibility or skills, broaden their professional network, just to
cite some of the benefits which our volunteers experience.
HBA Europe Chapter is expanding and a wide variety of positions are currently available
for your evaluation. In particular, positions for volunteer roles aiming at professional
development are open in the following areas:
* Marketing
* Finance
* Strategic Alliances
* Business Development
* Advertising
* Public Relations
We will be very glad to contact you and present the volunteer opportunities especially selected
to meet your expectations and enthusiasm. Positions as volunteers will be adapted around your
personal time availability...we are all volunteers and understand the time issue!
The recruitment of volunteers is a continuous activity and with the aim of providing a useful tool,
we are glad to announce that soon after summer a brand new page with posted volunteering
opportunities will be available to all members who want to catch the opportunity to become a
volunteer at HBA Europe Chapter.
We are confident that this tool will help create your own volunteer opportunity!!!!
CONTACT: gaia.piraccini@mederis.com, Director of Volunteers, HBA Europe
The EuroVoice
June 2009
“Learning to turbo-charge your personal competitive advantage in difficult
times”
Reported by Hande Erpamir, Account Manager, Sudler & Hennessey International
Milan, 27 May 2009.  This local HBA event took place at Studio Evershed Piergrossi Bianchini, the local 
HBA sponsor. The speaker, Dr Marella Caramazza, Dean and Managing Director of Fondazione ISTUD, 
talked about the need to work on our professional competencies in this difficult environment in order 
to differentiate ourselves. 
According to Marella, in this changing economic climate, while Companies need to design new business 
and organizational models to compete in a new world, and Managers need to develop new values and 
competencies to increase their competitiveness in the professional market, Women have all the 
cultural and psychological advantages as they are traditionally used to managing more complex and 
uncertain situations than men. 
No doubt that in today’s business we need to apply new emerging values like integrity, long‐term 
sustainable development, listening, respect, strictness, sobriety, fairness, freedom, multiculturalism, 
and finding the right balance between work and life. We also learned that one skill that we should try 
to acquire is “sense‐making”, which means to give sense to all the things we do in both our professional 
and personal lives. 
Nowadays managers must be not only cultured, informed, sensitive, reflective, conscious, aware, open‐
minded, fair and accountable but also expert, prepared, specialist, professional, influential, abreast and 
compliant. Marella referred to this combination of traits as the “T – Model”.
In order to develop this mixture of skills, Dr Caramazza suggested to pursue a multi‐disciplinary and 
specialistic education, to enter one‐to‐one coaching and mentoring relationships (such as those offered 
by HBA), be part of professional communities and to routinely do a self‐reflection activity. 
At the end of her speech she didn’t forget to give us some personal hints from her life to face and solve 
the “Family – career” dilemma: 
1. clarify your wishes and objectives
2. don’t take biased decision
3. share you projects and expectations with your partner
4. organize and delegate the most practical housework activities
5. defend your time for affective and emotional ones
6. let others help you and trust them
7. never stop your willingness to learn and change
8. manage the unavoidable sense of guilty
9. say no!
Thank you, Dr Caramazza for these invaluable suggestions and the great speech!
The EuroVoice
June 2009
MEET PASCALE AUGE, OUR FIRST EUROPEAN RISING STAR
HBA Rising Stars are nominated by the organization’s corporate partners, as examples of professionals who:
• Contribute significantly to their organizations
• Exemplify true leadership and act as role models for others
• Assist those in subordinate or peer positions and act as team players
• Exhibit dedication to the healthcare industry
• Define what it means to be considered “Top Talent”
• Creating success in work and life: Profile of a Rising Star
In her role at Ernst & Young, Dr. Auge is responsible for leading the company’s French life/health sciences
innovation team. She heads the company’s efforts in providing business assessment, strategic analysis, and
business development services—including identifying market assessment and feasibility as well as new business
and growth opportunities throughout Europe and the US. She is also responsible for research and development
project planning, business planning, and innovation.
Dr. Auge began her career as an engineer and research scientist in pharmacochemisty and biochemistry. She has
worked providing project support to small and midsize companies, both in product development and licensing as
well as business development. In 2004, she joined Ernst & Young—a company she applauds for being open-
minded and supportive of bioinnovation within their traditionally more financially focused profile. Dr. Auge lends her
innovation and entrepreneurial spirit to strengthen Ernst & Young’s efforts to find innovative solutions to some of
healthcare’s most important issues—from developing new ways to prevent and treat diseases to providing global
access to these treatments.
Dr. Auge is also a strong advocate of the HBA. “While we’ve come a long way in recent decades, women are often
still not recognized the way we should be,” she explains. “The HBA helps women gain this much needed visibility
while at the same time building very important networks in Life Sciences—where relationships often translate into
key development opportunities.”
When looking at the backgrounds of past Rising Stars, Dr. Auge notes that the award also serves to give a positive
light to the work-life balance that most women strive to achieve. “It’s very demanding to have a challenging,
successful career while also caring for a family, but it’s also very exciting and fulfilling,” explains Dr. Auge, herself a
wife and mother of 2 young children. “Recognizing women who are successfully balancing complex professional
and personal lives goes a long way to helping all of us let go of any guilt and feel comfortable with our success.”
Dr. Auge serves as chairwoman of the Committee for Health Science R&D Project Maturation (Emergence-BIO) of
the French National Research Agency. She earned her PhD in Pharmacochemistry from René Descartes
University, Paris V, and has continued her post-doctorate learning through programs in strategic collaborations and
alliances, pharmaceutical project and portfolio management, licensing, and management.
The EuroVoice
June 2009
The Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) announced the selection of
its first European Rising Star. Pascale Auge, PhD—directrice de mission senior of
innovation, research and development, advisory at Ernst & Young Advisory,
Paris, France—has been chosen as a 2009 Rising Star for her extraordinary work
in strategy, business development, and licensing for the pharmaceutical,
biotechnology, and medical technology industries.
“I am surprised and honored to have the opportunity to represent Ernst & Young as the
first European Rising Star,” says Dr. Auge. “It is a very rewarding recognition of my 12+
years in Life Sciences—a field that I truly enjoy—and a great honor to be part of the
advancement of women in this important field.”
7
The EuroVoice
June 2009
ANNOUNCEMENT
HBA EUROPE EUROEXCELLENCE AWARD
HBA Europe
is proud to announce
the second annual EUROEXCELLENCE AWARD
dedicated to its European members.
The award stems from the R.E.A.L. benefits that HBA offers:
Recognition & support
Expertise from so many
Access to great programs
Leadership experience
It is with the R in mind – recognition – and in sight of our first Annual Business meeting, that HBA
Europe is now collecting nominations from its members.
Our aim, loyal to the HBA mission, is to recognize those European members who have excelled in
showing leadership in one of three key areas:
1. promoting the advancement of women in healthcare
2. contributing to the growth and success of the HBA European chapter
3. spreading the HBA values and messages in Europe
To apply for this award, fill out the form which you will shortly receive by e-mail and send it to
cherie.faiella@ch.ey.com by AUGUST 31st
2009. Your nomination will be strengthened if you
include up to three endorsement(s) from a third party person – a colleague in your workplace/work
environment or another member of HBA – who supports your nomination.
A committee will evaluate and select the nominations. Winners of the EuroExcellence
will be announced at the pan-European Annual Business Meeting & Event
on Oct. 1st and 2nd in Zurich
where they will be honoured in front of the European assembly and receive a prize.
Requirements to apply
• You must be an individual or corporate member of HBA Europe in good standing for the current year
• The activity you refer in points 1,2, and 3 must have taken place between October 2008 and June
2009. Thank you for your nomitations. Recognition is important
The EuroVoice
June 2009
RECOGNISING OUR EUROPEAN SPONSORS!
The HBA is a not for-profit organization and relies heavily on the commitment of Boards of Directors, Advisory
Boards and Committee Chairs, all of whom are run by volunteers, to organize Pan European and local events
across Europe. It therefore also requires the support of Corporate Partners and Sponsors to execute on the
HBA’s mission to be the premier catalyst for the professional development and leadership of women in
healthcare.
There are 4 companies which have extended their Corporate Partnership to provide their European employees
with all the benefits of the HBA membership at a reduced fee. These companies are: J&J, Ernst & Young, Shire
and GSK.
Different local sponsors support evening events in Switzerland, Italy, France, UK, Belgium and Germany. Most of
these companies provide venues for the meeting as well as the catering. The speakers are people committed to
the advancement of women in healthcare and offer their services for free. The sponsors for different events are:
Basel: Phocus, Basler Kantonal Bank
Milan: Piergrossi Bianchini Eversheds
Paris: Pfizer, Ernst & Young
London: Chandler Chicco Companies
Brussels: GSK Biologicals
Berlin: Novartis Pharma GmbH
On the 2nd of October the annual Pan European event will take place in Zurich. We have just started to put a first
draft of the program together and are looking for sponsors for this meeting. Novartis being traditionally one of the
major sponsors for the event have already committed to this years event!
Today, HBA Europe serves its members in a variety of roles and areas, but remains true to its roots to further the
advancement of women in healthcare worldwide. Indeed, the HBA’s tag line — “Required Experience for Healthy
Careers” — clearly articulates the value the association continually delivers to its members. And with the support
of many volunteers and companies we are committed to make a difference for women on the job and in their
personal lives.
For companies interested in becoming a local or PAN European event sponsor, please contact:
Jolanda Groenhuijzen, VP & Director Corporate Relations, Jolanda@mylanda.com
The EuroVoice
June 2009
**UPCOMING HBA EUROPE EVENTS**
Women in Science event. From Novel Compound Discovery to the Marketable Drug -
a Journey through Clinical Development, with Dr. Catherine Cornu-Artis, MD
Global Program Medical Director, Novartis Pharma AG, Basel July 7 2009
Networking event. The Values of Branding: Driving Your Business Impact and
Enhancing Your Personal Career Development, with John Glasspool, Global Head
Pricing & Market Access, Global Head of Commercial Operations, Novartis Pharma
AG, and David Sun, Director of Strategy, Interbrand Health, Basel, July 29, 2009
Pan-European Annual Business Meeting and Event. Advancing your career in
uncertain times, Zürich, 1-2 October 2009.
Limitless Leadership: Bridging
Today, Tomorrow, and
Beyond.
Connect. Learn. Commit.
November 18 - 20, 2009
Westin St. Francis, San
Francisco, CA
********************************************************************************
The HBA Europe Mentoring Program is growing!
********************************************************************************
Nearly 30 people have already signed up, and the matching process
has begun. To participate in the program, please visit
www.hbamentoring.org/participate
where you can fill out the survey and choose to sign up as a mentor, a
mentee, or both!

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HBA Europe June_Newsletter_2009

  • 1. 1 The EuroVoice June 2009 Euroleader’s Voice Interviews with Elkhe Jahn and Yvonne Ulrich In this issue Pan-European Annual Business Meeting and Event, Zürich, 1-2 October 2009. Mark your diaries!! MEET OUR FIRST EUROPEAN RISING STAR PASCALE AUGE HBA LAUNCHES IN GERMANY! Read the full report and reports from other HBA Europe events From left to right: Barbara Gerber, Pascale Auge, Cherie Fella
  • 2. Join the Ranks Not a member yet…? Get Connected - Join today's leaders committed to professional growth for women. Get Involved - Gain powerful networking and leadership opportunities. Get Ahead - Take advantage of career enhancement & learn about industry issues and trends. For more information visit http://www.hbanet.org HBA Europe Board of Directors 2009 The new board was elected during the last Annual Business Meeting on Oct. 15. 2008 A warm welcome and good luck to the new board members! President: Barbara Gerber, Director Client Services Europe, InterbrandHealth President elect: Friederike Sommer, Founder Friederike Sommer Training&Consulting Vice-President: Jolanda Groenhuijzen, Managing Director, MyLanda GmbH Immediate Past President Florence Manger, Founder, INNOTIO Treasurer: Sonia Torre, Account Manager, Publicis Werbeagentur AG Secretary: Bettina Vogel, Vice President, Account Group Supervisor, CDM Europe Mentor: Cathy Sohn Senior VP, Worldwide Business Development, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Directors at large Membership: Annelie Stapela Senior Partner, R-Squared Executive Search and Selection Programs: Dragana Zivkovic Account Executive, Health Interactions Mentoring: Heather Force, Head of eMarketing Services Manager, Boomerang Pharma Communications EuroVoice: Silvia Pellegrini, Account Director, Sentrix Global Health Communications, Europe Corporate Relations: Jolanda Groenhuijzen, Managing Director, MyLanda GmbH Advocacy: Cherie Faiella, Client Services Partner EMEIA, , Ernst&Young Volunteers: Gaia Pieraccini, Managing Director, Mederis Women in Science: Isabelle Buckle, Business Director Strategic Global Account Applied Biosystems; Gabriele Matthias, Novartis Research Foundation 2 The EuroVoice June 2009 The President’s Voice Far form being a coach myself, I can only provide you as a healthcare professional (with just a few seasons of experience) some food for thought coming from my personal experience and the stories that some colleagues were kind enough to share with me. I hope that this might help in the current rocky times. Why am I talking about vital energy in difficult times? Because in situations like the one we are in now it is very easy to loose the drive and become passive and that might turn extremely risky for our personal career progression. The energy and the enthusiasm that we use to approach any situation including our career is truly what makes the difference and adds to the result. That does not mean that we need to become foolishly optimistic without a reason. On the contrary it would only mean that we will be aware that only by being active and by using our vital energy we’ll be creative enough and capable of addressing difficulties as they spring out and find suitable solutions. -Continued next page- Dear HBA Europe members, When conditions are tough, just keep your vital energy high! Trust me, I am not planning to rant and rave about a new energy drink or a new multivitamins pill.
  • 3. “The President’s Voice” Let’s talk about self-esteem It is not a novelty that many women’s professional development may suffer from lower self esteem compared to men and this may come as a result of their character, or cultural conditioning, or life/ work balance and environment or a combination of all and more. To these women I would say: start getting to know yourself, discover what your weaknesses are, acknowledge them and proceed focusing on your strengths. You might need to rely on coaching and /or mentoring in the process, do not deny yourself these opportunities inside or outside your company as they are really effort worthwhile. Ultimately healthy self- esteem is one of the qualities of a leader. The secret for success is to have a flexible plan! Work on your personal career plan and keep working on it. That is part of being proactive about your personal path. We all have dreams and aspirations but not all of them unfortunately are realistic: external counseling and a honest self appraisal can help setting and fine-tuning your plan. But that is not enough as in the current particularly tough economic climate you need to keep alert and watch out for needed plan adjustments and changes. Be ready to reassess your plan and if you need to renounce or change it, proceed objectively without regrets. Regrets could be detrimental to your vital energy! Finally build your support group! A network of colleagues -both inside and outside your company- who are appreciative of your professional and personal value is always a precious resource. In the current rocky times your fan club will be particularly useful not only as a resource for contacts, endorsements and recommendations but also as a possible sounding board and honest counterpart to discuss and evaluate your options and choices. Look at the future as an opportunity to prove yourself! Dr. Barbara Gerber HBA Europe 2009 President 3 The EuroVoiceJune 2009 WOMEN IN SCIENCE (WIS) WIS is an HBA programme dedicated to fostering the advancement of women working in a scientific function. WIS operates in sub-groups who discuss and research topics and then share their findings with the group at large during monthly dinners. The output of the research work can be a publication, training, conference, etc. Each WIS member is offered to either work with a sub-group on an already identified topic or to select a topic on which she wishes to initiate sub-group activities. Sub-groups in Basel and Paris are currently working on: • How do analysts judge an R&D portfolio • How to transition from academia to industry • How to transition from one company to another or from a function to another • Boss/associate relationship and its impact on job satisfaction and career development • Innovation in Europe Monthly dinners in 2009 are planned every second Tuesday of the month. Contacts: Gabriele Mathias (Gabriele.Matthias@fmi.ch) and Isabelle Buckle isabelle.buckle@eur.appliedbiosystems. com
  • 4. 7 The EuroVoice June 2009 Novartis Pharma GmbH sponsored the launch of HBA in Germany at the Maritim ProArte Hotel in Berlin on April 24, 2009. Following invitations by Elke Jahn, Roswitha Conrad, and Yvonne Ulrich, twenty-nine female healthcare executives attended the event which included stimulating interactive presentations, talks revolving around the significance of HBA, and discussions on the role of the association as the premier catalyst for women’s professional development. The event started with the welcoming words from our European president, Dr. Barbara Gerber, who outlined why becoming a member of HBA is one of the best career investments one can make. Why join HBA? This question was raised by Elke Jahn (Head Clinical Research & Medical Information, Berlin-Chemie Menarini), who named herself “Junior HBA member”, since she just joined HBA at the 2008 European Event in Zürich. Elke presented in a very lively manner her pathway within the last 6 months: from being initially very hesitant to join HBA to becoming an active participant and leader to launch HBA in Germany. Elke addressed many questions most people may ask when getting in contact with HBA the very first time. She shared with the audience what her take home messages were from Zürich last year: • Authentic Leadership: Be yourself while leading! Take time to relax! • Strengths Finder: Do NOT train weaknesses – focus on strengths! Find out your strengths and use them! • Speed Mentoring: 3 minutes can be very valuable if you have the right mentor • HBA provides valuable access to senior executive women of the industry! Dr. Renee Tannenbaum, Global Head Commercial Operations, Novartis, invited the audience to think about what networking really means and presented the benefits she gained from HBA throughout her career. Women in the room actively discussed the gender differences in leadership styles and relationship management. Renee asked: “Who of you has ever written a Business Plan?” and contrasted it with “Who of you has written a Personal Plan”? It became apparent that we need to invest in building our personal plan and focus on the “how to” rather than only the plan. Renee provided many inspiring insights, such as: “talk about what you do” and focus on “how to become more relaxed and centered”, “build your networking plan”, “listen to people who care about you, because they know your strengths”, which inspired the audience to think through their own personal plans. People got engaged and got a sense for what networking really is about. Renee concluded that more men are in executive leadership positions because “Women don’t ask”. So, please ASK. Susanne Eble, Head Healthcare Management, Berlin-Chemie Menarini, then presented the actual chances and threats of German healthcare politics. She was able to clearly demonstrate the consequences resulting from the recently implemented new healthcare law. Some major trends of German Healthcare politics were addressed, in particular to: - Establish basic standards of care for all German citizens - Increase the personal responsibility and payments for health - Incentivate mergers of insurance companies - Pay for performance driven by the health insurances - Decrease overall number of 180 Health Insurance Providers to approximately 50 providers - Increase infiltration of Information Technology in Healthcare industry Last but not least she focused on the picture of the German Healthcare system in five years and the implications and new opportunities for doctors, pharmaceutical companies and all of us working in the healthcare arena. On the whole, the first HBA meeting in Germany was a resounding success. Participants highly appreciated the variety of topics, the detailed discussions on the relevance of HBA, and the networking possibilities. Long story short: Great location, great speaker, engaged audience excellent networking! April 24th 2009 - HBA Kick-off Event and Networking Dinner in Berlin HBA Europe successfully launched in Germany! Reported by Yvonne Ulrich, Development Strategic Sourcing, Novartis Germany, and Elke Jahn, Group Manager Clinical Research and Medical Information, Berlin-Chemie AG Menarini
  • 5. Euroleader’s Voice Angelica is a member of the nominating committee of the HBA board and will contribute each issue this column dedicated to highlighting the individuals of leadership in the industry today… welcome to Euroleader’s Voice! Angelica Mirza – Partner, ASA Amrophever Executive Search What volunteer activities do you do for HBA? Since January 2009 I am the local coordinator for Germany within the European chapter. With the help of Yvonne Ulrich and Roswitha Conrad I organized the German kick-of meeting on 24th of April and HBA was launched now in Germany. As the meeting was a great success and as we get so much positive feedback, I am highly motivated to contribute to future local events. Our actual planning is to organize additional meetings in different cities with different topics in order to create a large German network and to push the growth of HBA in general. My mission is to make HBA available for as much woman as possible in the healthcare arena - as the benefit for each of us can be enormous. How did you get involved & what is your motivation to be involved with HBA? I get involved 6 month ago at the European Meeting in Zurich. I was inspired by the international networking possibilities HBA offers, the immediate leanings from the workshops and the speed mentoring which showed how valuable a 3 minutes talk can be. At the end of the day I became HBA member directly in Zurich. When I was informed that HBA was not yet well known in Germany, I decided a few month later to change this situation. Women in leadership, in the Healthcare industry - what do you think are the biggest obstacles they face? Despite some European countries like Denmark it is still a big challenge for woman with children to cover all responsibilities they have. And they have a lot. Most of the women in leadership have to cover completely different needs (e.g. "Mammy please don't go to work. Don’t leave me alone!" vs. "Your child is ill? It is up to you to manage this. We need you here."). To find a balance between family and work is one of the most challenges for our society these days. There is a need for a change and I think that especially woman in leading positions who do not have children like me, can support a change in thinking by acting. Therefore this will be the main topic in one of the next local events in Germany. What’s your leadership style? I do not have only one style as I am convinced that different situations and different people need different action. Some issues can be solved in a democratic way but some cannot. Some employees need a clear direction and some are happy to be empowered. To summarize: my aim is to force individualization and diversity, to use the strengths of the whole team in order to maximize the performance and motivation. While doing this, I am trying to be as authentic as possible – which is not easy for sure. However my personal guidance is: you can decide everything as long as t he value for the company and the customer will be maximized. Elke Jahn, Group Manager Clinical Research and Medical Information Berlin-Chemie AG Menarini
  • 6. Euroleader’s Voice Angelica is a member of the nominating committee of the HBA board and will contribute each issue this column dedicated to highlighting the individuals of leadership in the industry today… welcome to Euroleader’s Voice! Angelica Mirza – Partner, ASA Amrophever Executive Search I supported the invitation, agenda and speaker set-up for the German launch event. I volunteered to write article about event in EuroNews and communicated the success of HBA to my colleagues and friends. HBA helped me to connect to great inspiring leaders and I give back as much as I can in supporting local events set-up and supporting materials in Basel. How did you get involved & what is your motivation to be involved with HBA? I heard the first time about HBA from a friend and got information about HBA at a conference in Basel in April 2008. Afterwards I joined my first local event and became a member since I saw great opportunity to meet very interesting women outside work but inside business. Women who are sitting in the same boat with whom I can share and learn how to manage to be a mother and manage business career in parallel to finish my study. HBA offers a unique international platform with many great events to expand own knowledge which inspired me to join. To learn for instance about becoming an authentic leader, find out about own strengths and how best to feed new experiences back to my own team, to meet mentors and new friends. I see HBA as a "treasure box", providing a unique opportunity to get connected to the most interesting leaders globally who have one common theme: women in leadership in healthcare industry. Within 6 months I established four very valuable relationships which provided me so much insights into my own life, development and strengths. I started to go new pathways with the great support of the new contacts I made via HBA, I had many very important dialogues for me and in depths conversations with women who shared very openly their own experiences. This provides me great guidance and coaching during very demanding times of my life, where I just started a new job some months ago, having two little boys and finishing my MSc degree in Psychology. HBA provides an open trusted house and creates the family within, where I feel so comfortable to sit on the table to speak with great business women in such a warm and inspiring environment. I feel connected and know whom to contact in case I have a business question or a work-life balance question. My motivation to be involved is to give back what I got from HBA throughout such a short time. How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance? This is the biggest challenge I have since many years. My children provide me the foundation of energy. Since I have them I know there is nothing more important in my life than my two little boys. This provides me with great relaxation and enough distance to stressful times at work, since everything is set into perspective. I am connected to my purpose in life which provides me the framework to manage work/life balance. Yvonne Ulrich Head of Operations Development Strategic Sourcing Novartis What volunteer activities do you do for HBA? I actively speak positively about HBA in my network at Novartis and outside the company and with my friends; actively initiated that HBA becomes available in Germany, via engaging Elke Jahn to join HBA, who became the main leader for the first German kick-off event.
  • 7. Interview with Yvonne Ulrich – continued However, this does not always work out and in addition to train my inner self to be calm, relaxed and satisfied I do sports to let the energy flow. I learn to provide "METI" (Me Time) in my calendar and manage to balance my three projects in life equally: My family, My job and My friends. This is the theory and in praxis it needs continuous improvement and reminders. How? I put notes, photos, symbols on my desk/wall which ensures during the week when I see those that I booked enough "METI" for me at work and at home. Studying is METI as well even there are very challenging times, overall studying helped me to get balanced as I love what I do. I need to be satisfied with what I am doing this includes my job as well. I will never do a job because it is a job. I need to connect to its purpose and to be fully satisfied with the mission. Then my work becomes my life and I am happy and fully passionate about what I spend my time with, every day without loss of energy. This results ideally overall in a balanced stage with no need to think about work/life balance. What advice would you give to young women entering into the career path? Take your time to reflect on yourself. Find out what you are best in and follow this pathway. Do not waste any time with doing things which take energy away from you. Spend your day with what is meaningful to you and get connected to yourself. In addition, build relationships to other leaders to learn and to gain insights; build your network to other people who inspire you and focus on maintenance, as there are always times where you feel who are the ones in life wanting you "good". Spend enough time to learn more about the rich source of opportunities every single person brings into life. The EuroVoice June 2009 “Straight to Solutions – a WIS-Organised Workshop with Deborah Brandow, founder and owner of Creating Solutions Too often we aim to understand our problems, ironing out what went wrong, why, and who to blame for it. But, that rarely take us further. “Stop trying to solve problems and start creating solutions” was the message we hear loud and clear at the May Women in Science Basel event. Deborah Brandow, a long term HBA member with a solid background in the pharmaceutical industry, founded her company “Creating solutions” in 2007. She is using the “Solution-focused Brief Coaching Method” to coaching individuals, as well as teams and business professionals. In this mini-workshop Deborah started out by discussing the difference between solving problems and finding solutions, then introduced solution-focused brief coaching. The aim of the technique is to ask the right questions in order to take the focus away from the problem, and help the client to see possibilities and solutions. Instead of continuing a struggle to do something else, the client is helped in identifying what works and do more of it, acknowledge skills and strengths, celebrate moments of excellence and small steps of improvement. The first practical exercise of the evening was to give and receive acknowledgement of skills and strengths through “appreciative hypothesizing”. Merely based on sensorial input, we were to “gossip” about each other using positive phrases like:" I think she is really good at... - Continued on next page -
  • 8. “Straight to Solutions – a WIS-organised Workshop She looks like somebody who is a great... She must have a talent for…” This exercise made us realize that there are different viewpoint to use when meeting a new person, and how much can be perceived if looking closely and with a genuine interest. Feeling very appreciated after all these positive statements, we were ready for the second half of the workshop. The air was full of anticipation and a somewhat nervous excitement as the group of about twenty ladies got ready for a session of “speed-coaching”. During half an hour each participant got the opportunity to use four simple questions to coach four different coachees, as well as to be coached by four different coaches. Surprisingly, it did not matter that the coach continuously changed and did not even know the original dilemma, the coaching still worked. But then again, it was not about giving advice or solving problems. The coachee is the expert in her own life. When asked the right questions, the solution may become obvious. - Linn Hjortsberg The EuroVoice June 2009 A WIS – organised dinner A Career in Medical and Scientific Communications – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” By Rikke Egelund Olsen, co-organizer of HBA Women in Science – Basel On Tuesday evening April 21st around 30 women and a couple of men were gathered at restaurant Safran Zunft in Basel for the monthly HBA Women in Science event and networking dinner. The anticipation was high, the atmosphere great, and the chatting and networking was almost non-stop at the largest Women in Science event in Basel to date. The draw of the night was Dr Diana Barkley, president of PHOCUS, a company providing medical and scientific communications to the pharmaceutical industry. She was there to give her very insightful presentation: “A career in medical and scientific communications – the good, the bad and the ugly”. Diana began the evening by telling us the importance of a good personality fit when one considers a career in medical and scientific communications since this type of work is not for everyone. She herself started her career as a physician and also worked in the pharmaceutical industry for a number of years before quitting her job to found her own company PHOCUS in 1995. According to Diana, her decision to found her own company was based on all the wrong reasons – she disliked her old job, she had to stay in Basel, and it seemed like something she could do. Luckily for her she loved the business, had a flair for it and after a rough start – sitting by the phone in her then home office waiting for it to ring - PHOCUS is today a successful international company with offices in both Basel and New Jersey.
  • 9. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - continued So what is medical and scientific communications? According to Diana it’s a lot of things ranging from the very technical stuff such as writing NDAs for regulators to the more “fluffy” stuff such as making educational information directed at patients. And whereas the technical stuff is very standardized, one has the potential to really let one’s creative site unfold with the more “fluffy” stuff. In between those two extremes there is a lot of other jobs varying in technicality/”fluffiness” such as writing publications, organizing symposia and making sales aids. True to the title of her talk, Diana then moved on to tell us about “The Good” in this line of business. The best is according to Diana the large variety in the job so that one is never bored. It is very exciting, fast paced and intellectually challenging, involving cutting edge science. And unlike many things in science that can be very diffuse, medical and scientific communications have clear and tangible deliverables. Moreover, each person can make a difference, is very close to business as there is not much hierarchy. Diana then moved on to “The Bad and The Ugly”. Because of the large variety of the jobs and the deadlines one does not have the time to go deep into one specific area so the job often entails “breadth rather than depth”. There are also some rather menial elements in the job such as stuffing pens in bags and reformatting word documents. The job is service oriented with a commercial focus and the priorities are driven by the client. Last but not least the job is very exposed and one has to be prepared for a lot of criticism – which unfortunately won’t always be very constructive. Who can get a career in medical and scientific communications? Almost everyone according to Diana as long as you genuinely want it and have a good track record of writing output. With a first degree the entry level position is as an associate medical writer or trainee and with a PhD one can enter as a medical writer. The career prospects are then to advance to first senior- and then principal medical writer followed by scientific manager and finally scientific director. Though there is no definite timeline on the career prospects it takes on average 10 years to advance from associate medical writer to director. By the end of her presentation Diana handed out a checklist to everyone to take home to see if a career in medical and scientific communications would be for us. The list touched base on all the things that Diana had already mentioned in her presentation but it was a lot of fun and very inventive to receive a final checklist to see if this career would be for you. One point that especially received attention and lots of laughter was a check in “no ego” versus “likes status”. But as Diana explained this is actually a very valid point. The client won’t care if you have a PhD or an MD as long as you do the job and do it well. She then went on to explain how she herself originally had difficulties with being reduced from “Dr. Barkley” to the “oh, so you are the one who is going to write my stuff?”, and having to earn her status each time with each new client. And she jokingly added “this career is not for medical doctors (as herself!) - they have too big an ego....” The EuroVoice June 2009
  • 10. CREATE YOUR OWN OPPORTUNITY – VOLUNTEERING FOR HBA EUROPE Opportunities in professional, and in private life, are “the fuel”. They may be hidden, distressing, challenging, desired, highly wanted, unknown.....but they exist. Sometimes the matter with opportunities is that they do not come by themselves. Sometimes they do and you must have eyes and brain wide open to grab them, sometimes you have to create your own! Among a billion of choices there is one here for you! HBA, the global association for the leadership development of women in healthcare, opens volunteering positions within the organization to the mutual benefit of the HBA member and the organization. Members of HBA Europe who desire to be more involved in the activities of our businesswomen’s association are invited to explore our volunteer opportunities. Working together with one of our board directors, you will gain additional professional leadership, increase personal and occupational visibility or skills, broaden their professional network, just to cite some of the benefits which our volunteers experience. HBA Europe Chapter is expanding and a wide variety of positions are currently available for your evaluation. In particular, positions for volunteer roles aiming at professional development are open in the following areas: * Marketing * Finance * Strategic Alliances * Business Development * Advertising * Public Relations We will be very glad to contact you and present the volunteer opportunities especially selected to meet your expectations and enthusiasm. Positions as volunteers will be adapted around your personal time availability...we are all volunteers and understand the time issue! The recruitment of volunteers is a continuous activity and with the aim of providing a useful tool, we are glad to announce that soon after summer a brand new page with posted volunteering opportunities will be available to all members who want to catch the opportunity to become a volunteer at HBA Europe Chapter. We are confident that this tool will help create your own volunteer opportunity!!!! CONTACT: gaia.piraccini@mederis.com, Director of Volunteers, HBA Europe The EuroVoice June 2009
  • 11. “Learning to turbo-charge your personal competitive advantage in difficult times” Reported by Hande Erpamir, Account Manager, Sudler & Hennessey International Milan, 27 May 2009.  This local HBA event took place at Studio Evershed Piergrossi Bianchini, the local  HBA sponsor. The speaker, Dr Marella Caramazza, Dean and Managing Director of Fondazione ISTUD,  talked about the need to work on our professional competencies in this difficult environment in order  to differentiate ourselves.  According to Marella, in this changing economic climate, while Companies need to design new business  and organizational models to compete in a new world, and Managers need to develop new values and  competencies to increase their competitiveness in the professional market, Women have all the  cultural and psychological advantages as they are traditionally used to managing more complex and  uncertain situations than men.  No doubt that in today’s business we need to apply new emerging values like integrity, long‐term  sustainable development, listening, respect, strictness, sobriety, fairness, freedom, multiculturalism,  and finding the right balance between work and life. We also learned that one skill that we should try  to acquire is “sense‐making”, which means to give sense to all the things we do in both our professional  and personal lives.  Nowadays managers must be not only cultured, informed, sensitive, reflective, conscious, aware, open‐ minded, fair and accountable but also expert, prepared, specialist, professional, influential, abreast and  compliant. Marella referred to this combination of traits as the “T – Model”. In order to develop this mixture of skills, Dr Caramazza suggested to pursue a multi‐disciplinary and  specialistic education, to enter one‐to‐one coaching and mentoring relationships (such as those offered  by HBA), be part of professional communities and to routinely do a self‐reflection activity.  At the end of her speech she didn’t forget to give us some personal hints from her life to face and solve  the “Family – career” dilemma:  1. clarify your wishes and objectives 2. don’t take biased decision 3. share you projects and expectations with your partner 4. organize and delegate the most practical housework activities 5. defend your time for affective and emotional ones 6. let others help you and trust them 7. never stop your willingness to learn and change 8. manage the unavoidable sense of guilty 9. say no! Thank you, Dr Caramazza for these invaluable suggestions and the great speech! The EuroVoice June 2009
  • 12. MEET PASCALE AUGE, OUR FIRST EUROPEAN RISING STAR HBA Rising Stars are nominated by the organization’s corporate partners, as examples of professionals who: • Contribute significantly to their organizations • Exemplify true leadership and act as role models for others • Assist those in subordinate or peer positions and act as team players • Exhibit dedication to the healthcare industry • Define what it means to be considered “Top Talent” • Creating success in work and life: Profile of a Rising Star In her role at Ernst & Young, Dr. Auge is responsible for leading the company’s French life/health sciences innovation team. She heads the company’s efforts in providing business assessment, strategic analysis, and business development services—including identifying market assessment and feasibility as well as new business and growth opportunities throughout Europe and the US. She is also responsible for research and development project planning, business planning, and innovation. Dr. Auge began her career as an engineer and research scientist in pharmacochemisty and biochemistry. She has worked providing project support to small and midsize companies, both in product development and licensing as well as business development. In 2004, she joined Ernst & Young—a company she applauds for being open- minded and supportive of bioinnovation within their traditionally more financially focused profile. Dr. Auge lends her innovation and entrepreneurial spirit to strengthen Ernst & Young’s efforts to find innovative solutions to some of healthcare’s most important issues—from developing new ways to prevent and treat diseases to providing global access to these treatments. Dr. Auge is also a strong advocate of the HBA. “While we’ve come a long way in recent decades, women are often still not recognized the way we should be,” she explains. “The HBA helps women gain this much needed visibility while at the same time building very important networks in Life Sciences—where relationships often translate into key development opportunities.” When looking at the backgrounds of past Rising Stars, Dr. Auge notes that the award also serves to give a positive light to the work-life balance that most women strive to achieve. “It’s very demanding to have a challenging, successful career while also caring for a family, but it’s also very exciting and fulfilling,” explains Dr. Auge, herself a wife and mother of 2 young children. “Recognizing women who are successfully balancing complex professional and personal lives goes a long way to helping all of us let go of any guilt and feel comfortable with our success.” Dr. Auge serves as chairwoman of the Committee for Health Science R&D Project Maturation (Emergence-BIO) of the French National Research Agency. She earned her PhD in Pharmacochemistry from René Descartes University, Paris V, and has continued her post-doctorate learning through programs in strategic collaborations and alliances, pharmaceutical project and portfolio management, licensing, and management. The EuroVoice June 2009 The Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) announced the selection of its first European Rising Star. Pascale Auge, PhD—directrice de mission senior of innovation, research and development, advisory at Ernst & Young Advisory, Paris, France—has been chosen as a 2009 Rising Star for her extraordinary work in strategy, business development, and licensing for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technology industries. “I am surprised and honored to have the opportunity to represent Ernst & Young as the first European Rising Star,” says Dr. Auge. “It is a very rewarding recognition of my 12+ years in Life Sciences—a field that I truly enjoy—and a great honor to be part of the advancement of women in this important field.”
  • 13. 7 The EuroVoice June 2009 ANNOUNCEMENT HBA EUROPE EUROEXCELLENCE AWARD HBA Europe is proud to announce the second annual EUROEXCELLENCE AWARD dedicated to its European members. The award stems from the R.E.A.L. benefits that HBA offers: Recognition & support Expertise from so many Access to great programs Leadership experience It is with the R in mind – recognition – and in sight of our first Annual Business meeting, that HBA Europe is now collecting nominations from its members. Our aim, loyal to the HBA mission, is to recognize those European members who have excelled in showing leadership in one of three key areas: 1. promoting the advancement of women in healthcare 2. contributing to the growth and success of the HBA European chapter 3. spreading the HBA values and messages in Europe To apply for this award, fill out the form which you will shortly receive by e-mail and send it to cherie.faiella@ch.ey.com by AUGUST 31st 2009. Your nomination will be strengthened if you include up to three endorsement(s) from a third party person – a colleague in your workplace/work environment or another member of HBA – who supports your nomination. A committee will evaluate and select the nominations. Winners of the EuroExcellence will be announced at the pan-European Annual Business Meeting & Event on Oct. 1st and 2nd in Zurich where they will be honoured in front of the European assembly and receive a prize. Requirements to apply • You must be an individual or corporate member of HBA Europe in good standing for the current year • The activity you refer in points 1,2, and 3 must have taken place between October 2008 and June 2009. Thank you for your nomitations. Recognition is important
  • 14. The EuroVoice June 2009 RECOGNISING OUR EUROPEAN SPONSORS! The HBA is a not for-profit organization and relies heavily on the commitment of Boards of Directors, Advisory Boards and Committee Chairs, all of whom are run by volunteers, to organize Pan European and local events across Europe. It therefore also requires the support of Corporate Partners and Sponsors to execute on the HBA’s mission to be the premier catalyst for the professional development and leadership of women in healthcare. There are 4 companies which have extended their Corporate Partnership to provide their European employees with all the benefits of the HBA membership at a reduced fee. These companies are: J&J, Ernst & Young, Shire and GSK. Different local sponsors support evening events in Switzerland, Italy, France, UK, Belgium and Germany. Most of these companies provide venues for the meeting as well as the catering. The speakers are people committed to the advancement of women in healthcare and offer their services for free. The sponsors for different events are: Basel: Phocus, Basler Kantonal Bank Milan: Piergrossi Bianchini Eversheds Paris: Pfizer, Ernst & Young London: Chandler Chicco Companies Brussels: GSK Biologicals Berlin: Novartis Pharma GmbH On the 2nd of October the annual Pan European event will take place in Zurich. We have just started to put a first draft of the program together and are looking for sponsors for this meeting. Novartis being traditionally one of the major sponsors for the event have already committed to this years event! Today, HBA Europe serves its members in a variety of roles and areas, but remains true to its roots to further the advancement of women in healthcare worldwide. Indeed, the HBA’s tag line — “Required Experience for Healthy Careers” — clearly articulates the value the association continually delivers to its members. And with the support of many volunteers and companies we are committed to make a difference for women on the job and in their personal lives. For companies interested in becoming a local or PAN European event sponsor, please contact: Jolanda Groenhuijzen, VP & Director Corporate Relations, Jolanda@mylanda.com
  • 15. The EuroVoice June 2009 **UPCOMING HBA EUROPE EVENTS** Women in Science event. From Novel Compound Discovery to the Marketable Drug - a Journey through Clinical Development, with Dr. Catherine Cornu-Artis, MD Global Program Medical Director, Novartis Pharma AG, Basel July 7 2009 Networking event. The Values of Branding: Driving Your Business Impact and Enhancing Your Personal Career Development, with John Glasspool, Global Head Pricing & Market Access, Global Head of Commercial Operations, Novartis Pharma AG, and David Sun, Director of Strategy, Interbrand Health, Basel, July 29, 2009 Pan-European Annual Business Meeting and Event. Advancing your career in uncertain times, Zürich, 1-2 October 2009. Limitless Leadership: Bridging Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond. Connect. Learn. Commit. November 18 - 20, 2009 Westin St. Francis, San Francisco, CA ******************************************************************************** The HBA Europe Mentoring Program is growing! ******************************************************************************** Nearly 30 people have already signed up, and the matching process has begun. To participate in the program, please visit www.hbamentoring.org/participate where you can fill out the survey and choose to sign up as a mentor, a mentee, or both!