Maria Karatsa-Dodgson

"Maria is the Process Development Manager in a company that is developing a treatment for antibiotic resistant infections. Maria is persistent and fair-minded. She shows the ‘Quality Controller’ type by ensuring that all new or improved products meet safety and regulatory requirements. She is also self-motivated and matches well with the ‘Innovator’ type because she likes to make things happen and drives the introduction and implementation of new procedures, materials and equipment. She is an ideas’ person, initiating and generating ideas for the development and improvement of new products. Maria also dedicates a large amount of her time to training and coaching junior members of the team, which fits in well with the ‘Trainer’ type."

"Maria is the Process Development Manager in a company that is developing a treatment for antibiotic resistant infections. Very ill patients need these drugs urgently and so quality and speed of manufacture are critical. She manages the development of processes and procedures to transfer new products from the research and development stage through to manufacturing. Maria ensures that all new products meet all the safety regulations and quality requirements. She drives the introduction of new processes, materials and equipment; testing and trialing these before she manages their installation and use. She troubleshoots existing processes, collecting and analysing data, and suggests new or improved ways to work. Part of Maria’s role is to initiate and generate ideas for improving efficiency and profitability of new and existing products. She provides technical leadership and regularly reads and writes technical reports to support any new drug submission to the regulators. Maria also trains, coaches and directs junior members of the team. Maria’s work day can vary. She can spend up to 90% of the day in the lab when introducing something new, or during the transfer to manufacturing phase. Some days are just dedicated to training for a new procedure or method. Otherwise, she generally spends mornings in the lab catching up with progress and troubleshooting and then she takes a lot of time to analyse current data and plan the next stages. "

"Maria did a BSc in Biology and then started working as a Research Assistant with a starting salary of £21,000. After that she did a PhD in Biochemistry and postdocs with a focus on the development of a new product and or process.Maria has found that it is important to have a strong will and patience in her line of work. She enjoys the opportunity to overcome challenges that other people may have given up on. She loves the fact that her current job comes with daily challenges and always something new to troubleshoot."

"In her spare time, Maria loves reading lots of books for self-improvement as well as doing creative projects with her daughter. She travels regularly with her job, visiting manufacturing sites both in the UK and abroad. In the future, Maria would like to be responsible for bigger projects, taking on more challenges and seeing her team succeeding in their tasks."