Graduate Perspective: 6 Months After Fuqua

Readhimer, Andrea photoAndrea Readhimer, MBA ’15

HSM ’15

Global Strategic Marketing, Daratumumab

Global Commercial Strategy Organization

Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

I graduated from Fuqua in 2015 and have really enjoyed my first rotation in the Experienced Commercial Leadership Development Program at Janssen. It’s certainly an interesting time to be in oncology, and especially to be working on a launch brand. With pharma and oncology drug pricing garnering more and more media attention (and understandably so), it’s been very interesting to gain greater insight into these intricacies from a pharma/biotech perspective.

The most significant benefit from the HSM program during my first few weeks on the job was a real appreciation of the contextual health care landscape that impacts the day-to-day of my new hematology work-world. At a high level, I understood who the primary stakeholders were, some of the reimbursement and access intricacies within specialty care, and systems of care relevant to oncology. I felt like I knew the general lay of the land before I started getting “into the weeds” of my projects, and that gave me a huge boost from Day 1.

Now just over 6 months into my full-time role in Global Strategic Marketing, I continue to feel that Fuqua and HSM have been most impactful in providing me a broad view of the health care landscape that influences the hematology and launch readiness microcosm-of-a-world that I live and breathe day to day. I’m able to contribute new thoughts and perspectives that are grounded in a broad understanding of the health care and pharma landscape that I gained through the HSM curriculum.

As a career switcher into health care, HSM gave me a very solid foundation for an exciting, dynamic career in health care. The large size and legacy of the program has also afforded me an incredible network of past, current, and future health care leaders with far-reaching experience. The HSM community gave me life-long friendships and also helped me immensely during recruiting. My two years in both the academic and extra-curricular settings of HSM offered dynamic and stimulating discussions and the opportunity to grow and develop as a leader.