The Professional Science Master's program allows students to learn from industry experts. We provide our students many opportunities to do so through our alumni-student mentoring program, mixers with our Industrial Advisory board, networking events, and by inviting industry professionals into our classrooms.
In this semester's MBS Fall Life Sciences series, Professor Mark Burgess invites guest speakers to lecture students in his course, Market Assessment and Analysis for Business and Science. Throughout this series, marketing professionals share their experiences.
On November 2nd, 2023, Professor Burgess invited Doug McHugh to speak to his class at the Rutgers Inn and Conference Center. Other MBS students joined via Zoom. McHugh serves as the Digital Client Partner for the Pfizer Global Supply (PGS) division and the Enabling Functions.
McHugh has worked for two large pharmaceutical companies over the course of his career: both Merck and Pfizer. In his current role at Pfizer, he and his team are responsible to provide Digital thought leadership and client partnership, to define the digital strategy, digital transformation, and to manage the digital portfolio.
Starting in 2016, Pfizer took steps to digitally transform its manufacturing operations, a journey that became vital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are key takeaways from McHugh's presentation.
Know the purpose of your organization. McHugh expressed dedication to Pfizer’s purpose: Breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. These are the north stars of the company, said McHugh, and they guide day-to-day operations. McHugh shared some facts and figures: in 2022, Pfizer reached 1 in 6 people on Earth.
Let these values guide your work. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pfizer faced challenges when it came to packaging and shipping the COVID-19 vaccine. Digital worked tirelessly during this time to ensure that vaccines reached customers. The team was driven to innovate to monitor the conditions of packages shipped (including temperature and location) to ensure that each vaccine was in optimal condition when it reached the patient.
Be able to prove value. To accomplish your goals, you need appropriate investment. Be able to reach stakeholders and prove the value of your work. This can include demonstrating how to save money, reduce time, and improve yields. He also advised students to understand the baseline of available data.
Many thanks to Doug McHugh for sharing insight! Check out our events page to stay up to date with all our upcoming events. You can also follow us on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.