Alicia Sanders

"The personality types are a good match for me, I enjoy helping others to do their best – the coach. I am good at seeing the path of how to get things done but also the people you need to engage and help you achieve the goal, so I can co-ordinate work, get it organised and communicate it to others. I definitely enjoy starting projects (developing) – I’m not so good at finishing so I need people and mechanisms in place to help me with that and I definitely have certain standards that I expect not only in what we do but how we go about things as human beings in the workplace – so the quality controller! "

"Collaboration, listening and working with others to bring about improvements to healthcare is important to me. In my day-to-day job I lead teams who are responsible for communicating science and innovation to healthcare professionals so that the healthcare professionals understand and implement best medical practice for their patients. Delivering these medical communications requires a lot of teamwork and collaboration so the process of doing my job gives me satisfaction and enjoyment as well as the final outcome of what we achieve as a team. I work with many different teams within the company, such as experts in the medicines, health data, regulatory, communications and digital – many of these people are working in different countries so having the opportunity to collaborate and learn from others is immensely satisfying. Over the last 10 years I have led teams, having the opportunity to recruit new team members and support others in their career development brings me a sense of purpose and also achievement when people progress their careers – I did miss all of the individual interactions with patients when I left medical practice and I think this aspect of my job now fills that gap.I have become active in the specialty of pharmaceutical medicine, I am an educational supervisor for medical doctors who are undertaking specialty training in pharmaceutical medicine and I appraise doctors as a part of their revalidation requirements with the regulator – the General Medical Council. Both of these roles enable me to meet people across the profession and understand their work and how I can help them develop and grow in their roles. "

"As a junior doctor working in hospitals I felt quite lost, I enjoyed communicating and working with patients and their families to solve their health issues but I didn’t have a passion for a particular specialty and the path to completing speciality training is long and hard. After 4 years I moved from Australia to the UK with my partner with the aim of working as a locum in the NHS and travelling in Europe. Experiencing a different healthcare system helped me realise that specialty training wasn’t for me and I decided to step off the medical conveyor belt and found healthcare communications as a field, my first role was as a junior account manager for a company that provided communications services to marketing teams in pharmaceutical companies. After three years I was then able to secure a role at Pfizer in the communications team (not the medical team) and my career has progressed at Pfizer over 20 years across a range of roles in the medical affairs department. I really enjoy understanding what is needed in clinical practice and how Pfizer’s medicines can contribute to improving patients’ lives, I lead teams across the globe who are responsible for communicating important science to healthcare professionals.In retrospect I have realised that collaborative, matrix working inspires and engages me and medical practice doesn’t really work like that, I also recognise now that I found the constant decision making in direct patient care very stressful and something that I couldn’t switch off from at the end of the day and so my change in career direction was the right one for me. My career has given me fulfilment and job satisfaction, I’ve had flexibility in working hours and leave when my children were young and continue to have the opportunity to progress my career at different speeds depending on what else is important or a priority in my life. "

"Being outdoors is important to me, I live close to our office which is located in a relatively green location so I am able to run or ride my mountain bike to the office – living close to my place of work means it is easy to collaborate and meet with colleagues face to face which is important to me but also means I can finish work and leave the office at the end of the day and enjoy time with my family and my three springer spaniels who love to come trail running with me through the Surrey Hills. Our family holidays usually involve beaches and waves – living in the UK makes it so easy to travel to many amazing places and I enjoy being able to be outside and not be sunburnt like would happen if I lived in Australia!!"

"A typical day for me involves a lot of time at the computer, usually having meetings either one to ones with my team or collaborating with peers and colleagues across the organisation then replying to emails and Teams messages. Occasionally I will need to give more formal presentations to larger groups and need to take time to prepare these however most of my work involves commenting and actively contributing to discussions so we can decide on programmes of work and how to progress with projects.Working in a large company means there is a focus on our corporate culture and ensuring that our teams are connected across the organisation in the right way – sometimes people describe this as politics at work however I view this more positively, it’s making sure we understand what is going on across the organisation and ensuring we all work together to achieve our best – without people working together nothing happens!I’m lucky, I have the flexibility to work from home if I need to, whether that is for personal needs of the family or if I have a very focussed piece of work to get done. Personally I find working in the office more inspiring than being at home on my own, seeing and meeting people in the office helps to keep me motivated and I also find that my extensive network, after being at the company for 20 years, means that there are unexpected people who can help with work related challenges and these interactions happen when you see people in the office not working from home. "

"Victorian Certificate of Education (Australia) – similar to A levels. Studied 6 subjects: English, Maths A, Maths B, Physics, Chemistry, Music A (performance)Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB BS) – University of Melbourne (Australia)Medical Board of Australia registration (non-practising)General Medical Council – licence to practicePost Graduate Certificate in Patient Safety and Quality Improvement (University of Nottingham)"