Key to improving global health? Cross-industry conversations

Throughout my 22 years at Bristol Myers Squibb, I’ve been continually impressed with the company’s strides to meet unmet patient, caregiver and healthcare professional needs. One thing that’s especially striking is everyone’s commitment to collaboration and understanding the positive impact it has on improving the overarching healthcare experience.

We have a motivational employee campaign: “Who Are You Working For?” It reminds us to always put patients first and do everything we can to achieve our goal to deliver the right treatments to them at the right time. Although we’re always working together as a company to make this happen, in order to truly reach our goal, collaboration and innovation must go beyond our walls. To keep up with the pace of the ever-evolving healthcare environment, cross-industry efforts are critical on both global and local levels.

This year at the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit, I’m joining forces with other thought leaders from very different industries to do just that – share insights and perspectives from our unique backgrounds to form a unified front in determining solutions for advancing global health. We’ll talk about the successes of existing partnerships, try to better understand what patients really need right now, and brainstorm ways to remove financial burdens and gaps. Bristol Myers Squibb is already actively engaged in this dialogue to address healthcare costs and is trying to identify solutions that provide our transformational medicines to patients. Learning from others at the Summit can help achieve this.

As a company that focuses on patient-centric solutions, we’ll always step outside our comfort zones to work with other businesses or industries (government bodies, payers) with different ideas, approaches and ways of working. I see this through initiatives like the Global Expert Centers Initiative, which aims to strengthen collaboration with innovative cancer treatment centers and partnerships across the industries allowing us deeper insights into every patient’s unique cancer.

These integrated efforts bring me hope every time I walk through my office doors that we’re not just talking change – we’re making it. 

I’m excited to have the opportunity to be a part of conversations like the one at the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit on October 23^rd in Washington, D.C. As a member of the Bristol Myers Squibb leadership team, I know we have the support and resources both within our walls and across the world to determine the most innovative solutions for patients and those around them. Everyday, we make an impact on thousands of patients, and I hope to continue to help improve their experience in any possible way.