I am going to tell a story about opportunities. My journey at Roche is where opportunities to learn and do multifarious work keep knocking on the door ever so often. They say opportunities do not knock on your door twice, but at Roche GATE, opportunities keep knocking on your door until you let them in.

I am Vignesh Krishnakumar and I currently hold the role of Senior Manager – Analytics. As one of the earliest members of the clinical operations analytics team, I joined Roche’s Global Analytics and Technology Center of Excellence (GATE) in Chennai, India, as an Analytics Consultant. My initial responsibilities included high-impact work in the areas of site and investigator selection, as well as patient enrolment prediction for clinical trials. My work there helped in bringing clinical trials to needy patients in additional geographies. Within a few months, I took up additional responsibility and eventually moved into the commercial space supporting various businesses such as the marketing team, sales team and patient access team for their analytics requests for strategic decision-making. The great thing about each team is that the focus is always on ensuring that patients get access to the right medications at the right time and place.

Through analytics, our teams have been able to identify doctors who specialize in specific diseases, help our sales team reach out to these doctors, and garner support from payers in order to better serve patients. Additionally, we work to assist the doctors and patients with coverage and reimbursement and support those in need through Genentech’s patient foundation. When a new project comes in, we consult with our extended leadership team to form the most effective team possible by combining subject matter experts in domain, data and technology. This guarantees strategic thought partnership and efficient implementation, with “agile” being our way of life at work.

In mid-2022 we merged with a global network called Analytics and Automation focusing on driving business through analytics and technology. I started interacting with teammates around the globe to understand the nuances of business specific to affiliates in different parts of the world and ideating on sharing best practices. Our truly agile way of working ensures this
collaboration and open communication are upheld at all times in all projects to ensure the best possible outcomes for patients.

I also got a chance to work on multiple internal initiatives like recruiting, setting up the GATE academy, promoting GATE to the outside world through initiatives such as website content creation, digital marketing and so on to ensure like-minded people join the team and take our vision of “Doing now what patients need next” forward. Looking at the team growing from 5 to 90
individuals in a period of three years as a result of some of these activities has given me immense satisfaction.