Carly Stringer is a marketing executive at Virgo, a healthcare communications agency. She studied pharmacology at the University of Bath and initially worked in drug development at Novartis, but realized she preferred interacting with people. She has worked at Virgo for seven years, taking on roles in medical writing and marketing. The company values putting people at the heart of healthcare communications and helping clients adopt more human-centered approaches. Carly enjoys the creativity and learning opportunities at Virgo.

1. A
ccording to a mystical prediction
I was about meet someone with
an inspirational story and, for
once, my horoscope was accurate. The star
is Carly Stringer, and her sign is Virgo.
JP Were you kept awake at night by
dreams of working in the health arena?
Yes and no! When I was younger I wanted
to be a vet, but the thought of putting down
animals wasn something I couldn’t handle.
I only have to watch Marley and Me and
I’m crying like a mad woman! Biology was
always my favourite subject and I wanted
a career that helped people. When I was
researching universities I came across
pharmacology – it wasn’t something I had
thought about before, but working in a
lab on drug development sounded like a
fascinating job. It was a four-year course,
including a year working in industry.
JP Where did you study? I studied at the
University of Bath. I loved every minute –
from being thrown into a house with twelve
other students, on my first day, to graduating
in Bath Abbey. I also met my husband there
and we now have two beautiful children.
JP Wow! Tell me about your initial
experience of pharma I spent my
placement at Novartis’s Horsham Research
facility and this involved working in the lab.
Although I loved the idea of my research
transforming lives, I realised that spending
the rest of my days in a white coat wasn’t for
me. It was very lonely work sometimes and
I’m a people person!
JP Tell me about your career prior
to joining Virgo Before joining Virgo,
I spent some time at a healthcare market
research agency in Central London.
I worked with pharmaceutical clients,
developing questionnaires, conducting
interviews with healthcare professionals,
analysing results and presenting
recommendations regarding wider
marketing and communication strategies.
JP How did Virgo come into your life?
I’ve worked at Virgo for seven years and seen
the company grow to meet the needs of a
changing industry – it’s been really amazing
to witness. For example, we now do much
more corporate reputation and employee
engagement work, while our offering covers
the entire lifespan of the drug development
process, from clinical trials to market access.
JP What has happened during those
seven glorious years? My career here has
been very varied – which suits me perfectly!
I started out as a Senior Account Executive,
working on ethical PR campaigns. As
the company grew, we opened a Medical
Education Division and I wanted to be
JP downs Americanos with the epitome of a modern marketing maestro
I N T E R V I E W B Y John Pinching
CARLY IN VOGUE
Healthcare
is an industry
with people
at its heart.
16 | PHARMAFIELD.CO.UK

2. The healthcare
industry can easily
become bogged down
in communicating
scientific messages.
involved, because I had missed the hard
science. I started working as an Associate
Medical Writer, and was later promoted to
Medical Writer. I loved travelling extensively,
working with leading experts and getting to
grips with the science behind medicines.
JP When did you make the move into
marketing? After having my little girl,
I wanted more flexibility, so I took on a
marketingrole,whichplaystoallmystrengths.
I have now had a second child and moved a
considerable distance from our office, but
Virgo has beenverysupportive, byallowingme
to work from home. I now have the ultimate
work-life balance and couldn’t be happier!
JP What is the Virgo company ethos?
Healthcare is an industry with people at its
heart and everything Virgo does, through
communication and medical education,
is designed to help people make better
decisions about health. ‘Being Human’ is
the ethos we live by – we strive to recognise
what people really think, believe and do,
and use this information to communicate
in a personalised way.
JP What do you dig most about working
at Virgo? It is definitely the people that make
our agency what it is. Everyone is supremely
talented, passionate and committed – we have
a culture which empowers us to be creative.
We push our clients to be bold, but because
our ideas are grounded in human insight
they trust us to deliver, while navigating
regulatory and industry challenges. Our
team is inherently curious and the company
ensures we’re at the cutting edge of trends and
developments that impact us and the industry.
From healthcare policy debates to digital
health summits, the people at Virgo always
want to learn and I find that very inspiring.
JP What have been the most memorable
projects you have been involved with?
I was recently involved in creating video
content to showcase what my colleagues
love about working at Virgo, as part of the
communications around our Great Places
to Work®
submission. I really enjoy working
on video and digital content and it was great
to see how passionate my team are about
impacting positively on society’s health.
JP What would you say are the biggest
challenges of working with pharma
clients? Hesitance to adopt a ‘human
thinking’ approach. The healthcare
industry can easily become bogged down
in communicating scientific messages
and therefore lose perspective on how
to communicate in a personalised and
compelling way. With increasing scrutiny, in
a highly-regulated industry, pharma clients
understandably tend to be much slower
to use new multi-format communication
channels and advances in technology,
than the consumer industry. We try to help
our clients realise the potential of putting
more of a human touch into healthcare.
JP Is technology playing an increasing
part in what you do? Yes, new technological
advances are happening all the time – be it
a new social media channel or an advance
in the way we can deliver information at a
conference. As a communications agency
it’s critical that we stay on top of the latest
developments and make the appropriate
recommendations to our clients. Through
the ‘Virgo Pharmacy’ – our internal creative
hub – we explore and share new ways of
thinking with our clients, and encourage
them to step out of their comfort zone, push
the boundaries of their communication
programmes and ultimately be more relevant.
JP What ambitions are you harbouring
for the next few years? I thrive on learning
new things, so I will continue to say ‘yes’
to opportunities that take my career in a
direction that interests me and excel in the
job I love doing.
JP How do you escape the madness?
I’m not sure I do! As soon as I switch off my
computer for the day I’m moments away from
toddler tantrums and dirty nappies – at work
I at least get to drink my tea while it’s hot!
JP What one record would you choose
for the soundtrack of your life? Monty
Python’s Always look on the bright side of life.
JP What are you doing this evening?
After getting the kids to bed, I’ll be going for
a run. Ten weeks ago I couldn’t run for one
minute, but I’ve been doing the ‘couch to 10K’
programme, in preparation for a Race for Life
in July. Wish me luck!
JP Good luck and good bye, Carly,
Bye John.
Go to virgohealth.com
MAGAZINE | JULY 2016 | 17
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