Rebecca Hussain
President
RHMM Inc.
Applying Atypical Experience
“My background is atypical,” explains Rebecca Hussain. “I came to healthcare from the advertising and publishing world after learning how people connect with customers and how these customers make decisions. Building on that critical base, my development has been self-guided—by taking initiative, having tenacity, doing my own research, building relationships with physicians, and reaching out to experts in a variety of fields, I’ve been able to establish myself as a strategic thinker and doer.”
Rebecca started RHMM in 2014 to share her unique experience and approach in order to enhance and develop client marketing efforts. Shire knows first-hand the type of insights that Rebecca can bring. During the launch of Xiidra (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution), Shire only had a handful of employees in the ophthalmic division so they brought RHMM on to handle some product manager responsibilities until they could build out the team.
Understanding the close-knit community of eye care professionals and the difficulty of challenging established relationships with legacy eye care companies, Rebecca and her team proposed and implemented a high-touch engagement model with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and publications. Then RHMM worked around the clock to stay on track, meet deadlines, and ensure Shire was everywhere and everyone knew about the company, so when it was time to launch Xiidra the market was ready to embrace the drug.
Between media planning, professional education, KOL relations, data analysis, cross-functionality among the internal teams, and events, Rebecca and the rest of the RHMM team achieved a remarkable launch with $54 million in revenue in less than five months.
Another success for Rebecca and RHMM was spearheading the management of a three-day program that raised money for glaucoma research, highlighted the pharma and device pipelines in glaucoma, and ended with a day of CME. The annual event just celebrated its fourth year of success.
“I believe healthcare is different and among the most important industries that exist,” Rebecca adds. “To me this is about more than a business—we have a big part to play in making people’s lives better and that’s a profound opportunity and responsibility.”
