Page 39 - DePuy End of Year Magazine 2020

Interview with
Catherine
Healy
Vice President of Product Management DePuy Synthes
36
How long have you been with the company and what is your role?
12 years, my current role is Vice President of Product Management. As a PM team, our main responsibilities are to design supply chains for new products that result in less complexity and improved agility that can reliably deliver quality products at lower costs. Orchestrating end-to- end Supply Chain core teams is key for us in collaboration with R&D and Commercial organizations.
Were you always in this line of work or did you start in something else first?
My experience can be divided into three main buckets, Sales & Marketing, R&D and Supply Chain. I started out in sales and marketing which might be a surprise to many folks! I spent seven years in Sales and Marketing in the telecommunications industry. It was at the time when telecommunications was moving from being product focused to a service focused industry. My role in the team was to design a portfolio of services and lead the change management with our sales team to market this new offering.
I then moved to Supply Chain (PMO, S&OP, In country with the Commercial team and now in the Product management team). I also spent a few years in R&D managing the end-to-end launch of Attune Revision to its commercialisation in 2018. Change Management and Transformation roles are what I enjoy most working across many functions whilst leading both direct and indirect teams. I love bringing teams together working towards common goals whilst always focusing on customers and patients and always having an end-to-end mindset. I’ve spent a lot of time visiting hospitals, working with surgeons, sales reps and OR staff working with them to implement efficient supply chains and reducing their cost to serve.
So, it has been very change management focused but also very patient focused?
Yes, what I love the most about our industry is when you get to see
all your hard work pay off. Seeing a patient being wheeled into an OR and knowing it’s one of our products they will be receiving is just so rewarding. It’s a pretty spectacular feeling! I am extremely focused
on the patient – the day I sat in on my first surgery, it was a turning moment for me. A moment to say “OK, you know what? Every role I’m going to do, I’m going to bring the patient into it”.
What is your greatest achievement both inside and outside of work?
Professionally, it has to be meeting the first Attune Revision patient when I attended surgery after the long hard years of developing and getting this great system to market. That was an incredibly amazing experience.
Personally, without any doubt, it’s being part of a great family with my husband Christophe and our 3 whirlwind children. Especially in times like this year, you appreciate your loved ones every day, despite the cabin fever.
How have you found COVID-19 with working from home and your family?
Like everyone else, it was quite tough, it’s difficult to get any kind of
rhythm. I started my new job the first day we all started working from home! Many of my team I have never seen face-to-face. I found every two weeks our rhythm as a family was changing. After the first two weeks of Zoom calls I said, “okay this isn’t working, I can’t be on Zoom calls morning, noon and night”. My brain was fried so I had to organise myself differently whilst helping my lads with homework questions and getting some kind of family balance. My mother in law came from France to live with us also during COVID-19 so it was important also to ensure she was safe. I guess there were a lot of demands and I had to divide my time constantly.
Have you found anything in particular that helps when working from home?
I do try and break up the day: outdoor walk and talk for some calls (some also on the treadmill using a DIY shelf !!) and I’ve also invested
in a stand-up desk - I always had one in the office, so that makes a big difference. For me, the most important thing was accepting change. I think we just have to be open to the fact that there is no new norm – we are all just working through this together. These are tough times and people need to be kind to themselves; we’ve all got a lot going on and people need to be able to step away. For me, learning how to shut off is key. I have practiced sophrology for 20 years now, this is a kind of mindfulness technique that helps me to shut off and I use it every day! Recovery is a key part of resilience so I would encourage everyone to find out what works for them to recover.
Who would you invite to your ideal dinner party?
Can I say my daughter? Sinead I haven’t seen her in six weeks due to lockdown as she is in college in Dublin! I would just love to be able to sit down face to face and chat with her, we all miss her.
Where is the most interesting place you’ve been to?
Bosnia. I have friends there and we visit them often. I love sitting with their parents, talking through their history and how they lived through it. The people are just amazing and their history is so interesting, it’s all so recent. Our children are always fascinated going through the No Man’s Land ... it’s always a novelty for them.
What is your favourite life motto?
It’s probably what I always tell our lads: “Be grateful, be respectful
and have fun!”. I am very conscious of being grateful of what we have, particularly now. And then just being respectful, that’s always been one of my biggest values. We also need to laugh - it does the soul good!
Word association – a few words from the Credo were used to see what were the first words or phrases that sprung to mind! Patient: at the Heart of what we do
Environment: Be good to it
Responsibility: don’t be afraid of it!
Customer: Patients, Hospitals, Doctors and Hospital staff Equal: We are all equal
Future: Bright, exciting with lots of opportunities
Health: So important. Need to focus on it every day.