In this special bonus episode, I talk to Catherine Williams, Managing Director of MSD Denmark & Iceland. 

Catherine’s a warm and thoughtful leader with more than 18 years’ experience in a variety of commercial roles in the pharmaceutical industry and I felt there was so much to learn from her reflections that I wanted to share them with you as soon as possible.   

I’ve talked with previous guests about the need to be super-clear on the aims and desired outcomes of a collaboration, and Catherine builds on that by adding that defining and living your values is every bit as important as goal clarity for building trust between healthcare professionals and industry partners.  

Catherine believes that collaboration is essential for business success. and that it’s very important for commercial organisations to be upfront about what they want from partnerships and how they think they can contribute aside from financial support.  

We cover a lot of topics in this conversation – including the values of equity, honesty and respect that motivate her every day, the role of vulnerability in leadership and the lessons we can learn from the pandemic.  

You’ll hear her views on how unconscious biases and labels can be barriers to success, and why she’s committed to working towards the day when diversity and inclusion are so embedded in business that we no longer have to talk about them.  

When we relate to our colleagues and stakeholders on a human-to-human level and focus on our common goals of serving the population or reducing health inequalities, we can make the seemingly impossible happen. As she says, quoting Nelson Mandela: ‘Everything seems impossible until it’s possible.’ 

Enjoy! 

Email [email protected] or connect with me on LinkedIn with questions or comments about anything you’ve heard in this episode. I’d love to hear from you. 

Catherine’s on Linked In here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-williams-2b119313/  

Here’s the Peter Fuda blog she refers to, to help you reflect on your own values and goals https://legacy.enixa.co/5-powerful-ways-to-reflect-and-refocus-over-the-festive-season/ 

MSD Denmark links:  

https://www.linkedin.com/company/msd-danmark 

https://twitter.com/MSDDanmark 

https://www.facebook.com/msddanmark 

https://www.instagram.com/msddanmark/ 

This week brings the second part of my fascinating conversation with Jeremy Thorpe, the managing director of Tillotts Pharma UK.

Last time, we heard how consciously paying attention to other people’s perspectives has helped Jeremy and his team to build trusting partnerships with their customers that have contributed to nine consecutive years of double-digit growth. 

In this episode, you’ll hear his views on why pharma companies need to listen to patients direct. He believes that patients are the most important stakeholders in the supply chain, and talks candidly about finally realising that “it was time we stopped pretending we knew what it was like to be a patient.”

You’ll also hear how and why the company set themselves the audacious goal of becoming the preferred NHS partner in gastrointestinal medicine, and how that ethos guides every member of the team. It’s also central to hiring and retaining great people,  and the family-oriented culture makes Tillotts a desirable place to work. 

You won’t want to miss his frank reflections on getting things spectacularly wrong in the past, and learning from his mistakes.

I’m so grateful to Jeremy for his openness and generosity. Getting this level of insight from the head of a pharma company is really valuable, and I’m sure you’ll find his commitment to patients and the NHS as inspiring as I do.

Sadly, this is the last episode of the series. But we’ll be back in the autumn with more compelling stories about getting to the heart of health partnerships. Be sure to subscribe so you’re notified when we’re back!

Email [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn to send questions and comments about anything you’ve heard in this episode. I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you for listening and see you next time!

Links 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-thorpe-72541b13

https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-munro-0b59b05

https://www.linkedin.com/company/tillotts-pharma-uk/

This week, I'm absolutely delighted to be joined by Jeremy Thorpe, managing director of Tillotts Pharma UK.

I was really keen to talk to Jeremy because he's publicly committed Tillotts to being the preferred partner in gastrointestinal (GI) health, through consistently delivering quality and value to the NHS, and supporting them to improve outcomes for patients. 

As you’ll hear, that partnership approach has led to strong commercial success.  In our conversation, Jeremy describes how Tillotts became the market leader in part due to the philosophy of “‘walking a mile in another’s shoes”. In other words, consciously considering all their stakeholders’ perspectives in order to solve thorny business problems.

Jeremy’s insights into the challenges he faced when setting up Tillotts in the UK are a compelling listen. And you’ll also hear about his commitments to the NHS and how he and Tillotts built trust with their customers by keeping their promises. 

I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I enjoyed the conversation. In fact, it was so good that we split the episode into two, so be sure to subscribe to the podcast and check out the next episode in the series to hear more from Jeremy.

You can follow Jeremy on Linkedin here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-thorpe-72541b13

Email [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn to send questions and comments about anything you’ve heard in this episode. I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you for listening and see you next time!

Website: https://dovetailstrategies.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-munro-0b59b05

This week, I'm delighted to be joined by Sue Spencer, an educator, researcher and former university lecturer with a wealth of experience in both nursing and the third sector.

She and I first met when she was a diabetes nurse specialist in the Northeast of England in the early 1990s.

I was keen to invite Sue onto the podcast because she was the first person to introduce me to the idea of treating patients as partners in managing long term conditions, instead of passive recipients of care.

You'll hear how that idea has developed over the years, and how her experience in diabetes has shaped her thinking. 

Her firm belief that it’s a privilege to work with patients has sometimes led to conflict with healthcare professional colleagues who found it hard to change established practice. 

Drawing on her considerable experience of patient care, Sue provides really valuable insights on the small details that matter in the relationship between patients with long term conditions and the healthcare teams that look after them.

I hope that you enjoy the episode as much as I enjoyed talking to Sue.

You can follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/kind_curious

Email [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn to send questions and comments about anything you’ve heard in this episode. I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you for listening and see you next time!

Website: https://dovetailstrategies.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-munro-0b59b05

Partnerships in healthcare can be transformational. 

They can support healthcare professionals, bring insights and value to life science companies and – most importantly of all – they can improve outcomes and experience for patients. 

But it takes a lot of skill to get them right.

In Getting to the Heart of Health Partnerships, we'll explore what it takes to make them work and, crucially, what not to do.  

This week, I'm delighted to be joined by David Badcock. 

David is the chief executive officer of Drug Science, the leading independent scientific body providing information on drugs in the UK.

David has worked extensively in the drug and alcohol sector in organisations supporting people recovering from addiction. He and I worked together for some years in the influential London Joint Working Group on hepatitis C and substance misuse (LJWG). 

I was keen to invite David onto the podcast because the constant thread running through his career has been to create unique partnerships with organisations that share a vision to help the most marginalised and vulnerable members of our communities. 

Today, we'll hear from David about the challenges and lessons of setting up and nurturing partnerships that drive change for some of the people who most need it.

Email [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn to send questions and comments about anything you've heard in this episode. I'd love to hear from you.

Thank you for listening, and see you next time!

Follow David on Twitter https://twitter.com/badcockdavid and LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/david-badcock

Follow Drug Science on Twitter https://twitter.com/Drug_Science

Follow Claire on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-munro-0b59b05

Find out more about Dovetail dovetailstrategies.com

Partnerships in healthcare can be transformational. They can support healthcare professionals, bring insights and value to life science companies and – most importantly of all – they can improve outcomes and experience for patients. But it takes a lot of skill to get them right. In Getting to the Heart of Health Partnerships, we'll explore what it takes to make them work. And crucially, what not to do.  

In this first episode, I'm absolutely delighted to be joined by author and educator, Shelley Harris. Shelley is the author of two brilliant novels, Jubilee, and Vigilante, and is the creative writing programme director at the University of Reading. Her writing focuses on the many ways we humans are connected to each other in spite of everything that seems to separate us.

Shelley’s  experience with Great Ormond Street Hospital illustrates so many great points about patient partnerships.  

You’ll hear about the life-saving surgery her two-month old son needed to repair a fatal heart defect, the 19 years of follow up, and the inevitable ups and downs of the ongoing relationship between the hospital team and Shelley’s family. 

We’ll find out how Great Ormond Street empower their patients and families, and why that matters. We’ll also hear about the times when things didn’t go so well, and the impact on Shelley and her son. 

I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I enjoyed talking to Shelley.

Email [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn to send questions and comments about anything you’ve heard in this episode. I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you for listening and see you next time!

Website: https://dovetailstrategies.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-munro-0b59b05