Leading With Purpose

I have held many roles over the years, but my career has always been in pharmaceutical healthcare where I have been fortunate enough to work on life extending and life enhancing treatments. This has always given me a sense of purpose and motivation to work hard.

I trained as a Pharmacist in Kings College London, completed a PhD in Biochemistry at Imperial College and after a postdoctoral fellowship at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, began my career in the neuroscience division of Novartis, discovering novel targets for the treatment of chronic pain. Moving to a medical affairs role in Bristol Myers Squibb, I was able to put my skills to good use supporting healthcare professionals with medicines used in the treatment of schizophrenia. From there I serendipitously moved to a commercial role with my current company, Eisai, where I picked up more skills rising to a Global marketing role for a breast cancer drug where I was privileged to oversee its use in treating over 200,000 patients worldwide, extending their lives cumulatively by more than 500 centuries, allowing these patients to spend precious more moments with their families and loved ones.

Currently I am doing two jobs, probably doing neither of them justice! The most recent job appointment is VP Alliance Management in the Oncology Division of Eisai’s EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa, Russia and Oceania) region. As with most pharmaceutical companies today, working in a strategic partnership is less disruptive than undergoing a merger. My role helps my region navigate and forge a fruitful collaboration with our strategic partner whilst retaining our cultural ethos. Over the lifetime of the partnership, we hope to bring many more life extending treatments to cancer patients. The other role I simultaneously hold is that of Business Unit Director for the UK and Ireland Oncology Group. This role is more operational with the responsibility of commercialising our oncology portfolio in these countries and helps me keep my finger on the pulse.