In this chapter of Career Stories, we bring you the journey of Dr. Czuee Morey who is a digital consultant in the pharmaceutical industry in Europe and is also a guest lecturer for a post graduate program in Switzerland. In a candid chat, Czuee spoke about some key turning points in her career trajectory in the life sciences industry, which helped her identify a path that aligns perfectly with her personal goals and vision.
When did you realise that your current position was the perfect career option for you?
My first position in the industry was an internship as a Market analyst, Digital health at a mid-sized pharmaceutical company. I analysed the application of digital technologies across the pharmaceutical and healthcare value chain that helped shape the strategic objectives of the company. Through this engagement, I realized that digital health has a huge untapped scope within healthcare, and the field was just beginning to grow.
I wanted to gain more experience working hands-on on projects in the digital area within pharmaceutics and healthcare. So, I moved to the operational side to work as a consultant. This gave me the opportunity to work on diverse projects at various pharmaceutical companies in digitalization, FAIR data and building digital products. However, I do not feel I have reached “the perfect career” option and I am still exploring!
How did you transition from Academia to your current position?
I did not have a straight path to my current position. During my PhD, I missed seeing the real-world impact of my work. Driven by this need, I worked on a startup project in the last year of my PhD, took a 4-month entrepreneurship course. This was an eye-opening experience as I learned a lot about taking a product to market and switched my attitude from a technology-focused to a user-focused perspective. It is more important to solve the users’ problems rather than focus only on excellent technology that I had learned so far.
However, I had no idea what “job” I really wanted to do. I kept an open mind, so I tried out a lot of short projects through voluntary postdoctoral positions, and kept my long-term goals and user-focused perspective as the north star. I entered digital consulting and product management by accident, but then realized that it was a good fit for my skills and interests.
Can you briefly describe the technical and soft skills required for your position?
The technical skills required are a good understanding of big data and IT processes as well as how it can be leveraged in drug discovery and healthcare. The most important soft skill required for my role is communication including cross-domain communication, understanding user and client needs and written technical communication. A lot of other soft skills are also required for prioritization, planning, teamwork and negotiation.
What advice would you give students aspiring a career in the industry?
Start with long-term but specific goals of what you would like to achieve in 10 years and then plan backwards on how you can leverage your current skills and understand what you need to learn. Plans rarely work out exactly but it is important to have a goal aligned with your interests and values.
Operate like you are a ‘business of one’. It will help you to think clearly about what the industry needs, who your competition is and how you can differentiate yourself. This will also help during networking and negotiating for the right salary package.
