Visionary change-agents who are ensuring that the industry continues to move forward with new technologies, methods and strategies.

THE ULTIMATE NETWORKER: Peter Kirk


CEO WorldOne

Back in 2000, Peter Kirk recognized a tremendous opportunity in healthcare market research. Pharma companies around the world craved data straight from HCPs, but there was no true one-stop shop that provided access and data collection services at global scale. That is when Peter co-founded WorldOne, but the story does not simply end there. After 12 years of success, and growing the company into one of the global leaders in healthcare data collection, insights and intelligence, Peter let the industry know that his company is just getting started. In November 2011, Kirk created WorldOne Interactive—to deliver differentiating ways to digitally engage with HCPs. The strategic acquisition of Sermo in July 2012 spring boarded the Group’s evolution and cemented their position on the heavy hitters list. Adding Sermo’s network of more than 130,000 physicians has given WorldOne access to nearly two million engaged HCPs—enabling instant access to valuable insights and data. And yet, Peter is not nearly done. In 2013, he intends to push the envelope even further. He can be reached at peter.kirk@worldone.com.

DIGITAL SALES GROUNDBREAKER: Jennifer Lucas

Product Director for Wake Franchise Teva Pharmaceuticals CNS Business Unit

Jennifer Lucas helped Teva Pharmaceuticals leap into the digital age, and by doing so, she forever changed how the company conducts business with its customers. Jennifer was charged with leading a cross-functional team to create an all-in-one sales tool and to develop sales materials that would live within a new digital sales platform developed for the iPad. She served as the brand lead for the Wake Franchise, and also provided project oversight to other Teva CNS brands within the following categories: Pain, Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. She worked closely with her ad agency (Draftfcb Healthcare) to create compelling digital sales aids for the Wake Franchise and other interactive tools while also collaborating with the other teams to ensure consistency across all CNS brands. Under her leadership, Teva went from having no digital sales tools to having six. Jennifer continues to oversee the next phase of this project to measure the impact of these new tools, a step that will result in research to inform refinements to existing materials and enhance the user experience.

THE RESOURCEFUL INNOVATOR: Joe Meadows

President
Think Patients LLC

Joe Meadows spent years being the “go to guy” in pharma.
He held positions in market research, product management
and product development, and was VP of Marketing in both
a pharma company and a supplier fi rm. Those skills were the
ideal foundation for Think Patients LLC, an innovative company
that represents pharma’s new way of getting things done in
a resource-challenged environment. The company focuses on
market research, marketing strategy and outsourced marketing
services for companies that need flexible but experienced help
and guidance. Think Patients also represents the ingenious way
that some of the industry’s most experienced professionals
have translated their skills into boutique companies that allow
the industry to do more with less, a trend that has no end in
sight. One example of a project the company recently tackled
involved helping a newly launched product course-correct their
marketing strategy and realign their promotional plan. Joe can
be reached at jmeadows@thinkpatients.com or at 484-200-7900.

 

DIGITAL PIONEER: Joan Mikardos

Senior Director, Digital Center of Excellence
Sanofi US

A strong commitment to new media innovations
drives Joan Mikardos forward. With experience
on both the agency and client sides in a variety of
industries, Joan constantly pushes the envelope
toward fresh ideas and futuristic thinking. At
Visa, she played an instrumental role in helping
the company use the web as an advertising
vehicle in the mid-1990s, a first for the credit card
giant. Now at Sanofi US, Mikardos is a driving
force that identifies and propels Sanofi ’s usage
of new digital communication tools. In fact, Joan
was behind the creation of the foundation for
all of Sanofi ’s social media, developing what’s
becoming the gold-standard for processes
and guidelines to make social media safe in
pharma. Recognized for her reliability and
dedication, Joan received Sanofi ’s Marketing
Excellence Award for taking digital innovations
to new heights guided by the best interest of
the consumer. Her efforts have had a profound
impact on patients, which fuels her desire to
keep transforming as new technologies emerge.

 

SOCIAL NETWORK CARTOGRAPHER: Larry Miller, MD

CEO
Activate Networks

Larry Miller, MD, is a serial healthcare innovator. He has served as a founder and leader at several innovative healthcare startups including HPR (acquired by McKesson), Avicenna (now part of WebMD), PharMetrics (acquired by IMS), ImpactRX (acquired by SymphonyIRI), Serenex (acquired by Pfizer) and Tetraphase. His latest venture, Activate Networks, was founded in 2010 with eminent Harvard social scientist Nicholas Christakis, based on groundbreaking network analytics developed by Christakis and colleagues. Activate Networks has demonstrated that this technology can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of promotional targeting for pharma brands and medical education by identifying key influencers in physician social networks. The technology has also proven to be highly effective in leveraging the power of employee social networks at large organizations (including pharmaceuticals) to improve collaboration, change management and sales. Throughout his career, Larry has been at the forefront of the rapidly changing healthcare landscape, and has been able to identify upcoming trends and incorporate these trends into winning business models. He can be reached at lmiller@activatenetworks.net.

THE HYBRID MARKETER: Cynthia North

Customer Marketing Director
Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals

Cynthia North not only keeps a constant eye on how the evolving landscape impacts brands, but also on how it impacts patients. As Customer Marketing Director for Bayer’s hematology franchise, North leads customer relationship efforts and advocacy development—a unique combination that demonstrates her innovative approach in a world where lines are blurring between PR, marketing and customer service. She has been behind several initiatives that found new ways to digitally reach out to patients. For example, the Virtual Walk for Hemophilia (www.walkforhemophilia.com) is an online fundraiser where people create a customized avatar to represent themselves as they “walk” online for the bleeding disorder organization of their choice. She also led the development of FactorTrack, the first free, customizable smartphone app designed to help patients track and record their hemophilia A Factor VIII infusions. Cynthia finds great joy in fostering relationships with patient groups and creating new opportunities, because she truly believes that “consumers are the brand managers today.”

NEW MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY: Leerom Segal

President & CEO
Klick Health

As a true pioneer for change, Leerom Segal rejects the status quo—whether reinventing the broken agency model or throwing out the handbook when it comes to organizational management. He has taken a revolutionary new approach to management philosophy that is shaping his business, shaping its culture and is likely to shape the industry as a whole. Leerom asks an important question that many business leaders don’t seem to be asking, “What if we understood our talent as well as our clients?”

Data has become one of the most valuable resources in uncovering insights about behavior and motivations. Leerom is leading the way for the next wave of market leaders who shift that analytical focus inward, concentrating on understanding their employees as much as their customers. By focusing algorithms on his people, Leerom is shaping markets by first shaping culture—creating an entirely new way of bringing about change. Through this new approach he aims to break hierarchy, bureaucracy and one-size-fits-all thinking to truly reinvent what’s possible today. He can be reached at pr@klick.com.

SOCIAL DTC VISIONARY:Tyler Steele

Brand Manager for Cetaphil
Galderma

Tyler Steele changed the paradigm for consumer marketing at
Galderma. Drawing on his background in the beauty/aesthetics
market, Tyler recognized the need to focus on unmet consumer
needs. Since Cetaphil is an OTC product, Tyler was determined
to learn more about the brand’s non-patient consumer segments
and customize communications for them. His efforts included a
redesigned brand website (Cetaphil.com) that helps consumers
find appropriate products for their skin types. He also took the
brand social with a Facebook fan page that now has more than
137,500 fans—over 10% (38,000) of which are enthusiastically
engaged with the brand on a monthly basis. These Facebook
fans are also given access to the Cetaphil Care Council, a group of
consumer-focused HCPs who actively answer questions during
“Virtual Office Hours”—a live Facebook chat held roughly
once a month. Additionally, the brand began supporting and
promoting Camp Wonder, which sends critically ill children
suffering from a skin disease to camp for one week every year.

GLOBAL CHANGE-AGENT: Sam Welch

Global Group President
Publicis Healthcare Communications Group (PHCG)

Pharma companies are constantly trying to find new ways to
break into the global marketplace. Last year, Sam Welch gave
insight into the overarching PHCG vision when discussing how
to transform the PHCG offering to match the rapidly changing
client needs: “Our clients will have an all-inclusive ally for the twists and turns that the marketplace will throw at them.” In 2012, he delivered on this promise.
As Global Group President, PHCG agencies under Sam’s
leadership have expanded their global footprint into Bangalore,
Mumbai, Shanghai and Beijing. By encouraging collaboration
across borders and brands, these agencies are experiencing
unprecedented growth. The work is being recognized by the
industry’s top award shows, including the Global Awards, Web
Health Awards, Aspid Awards (Spain) and eContent Awards
(Italy). As part of the PHCG executive leadership team, Sam also
helped integrate Razorfish Health into the PHCG network—
eventually combining the agency with digital powerhouse Publicis
Healthware International to become Razorfish Healthware. He can
be reached at 212-771-5471.

REVOLUTIONIZING RARE DISEASES: Wendy White

Founder and President
Siren Interactive

Wendy White paved a new path within the pharmaceutical industry by leading the creation and development of the rare disease digital relationship marketing niche. She founded Siren Interactive in 1999 as a digital agency but later shifted the focus to orphan drugs—the impetus was Wendy’s personal journey with her daughter who has a rare disorder. Companies are now realizing the significance of this marketing service as patents expire on blockbuster drugs and the potential for revenue growth through orphan drugs has come to light. However, Siren was the first agency to recognize that marketing rare disorder therapies required an approach that’s different from marketing other drugs. Wendy also serves as a board member of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) and led Siren’s efforts to support NORD in launching the first Rare Disease Day in the U.S. by creating the online campaign “Alone We Are Rare, Together We Are Strong.” She can be reached at wwhite@sireninteractive.com.

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