Katie Rose recently joined Mtech Access as a Market Access Consultant in our Bicester office. Before the Christmas break, we sat down to find out more about her experiences and activities in her first few weeks with us.
What brought you into a career in Market Access?
I’d always wanted to pursue a career which meant I could make a positive difference to patients’ lives. I‘m fascinated by chemistry and the effects drugs have on the body and so I chose to do a Master of Pharmacy at the University of Portsmouth.
After completing my degree, I realised fairly quickly that I found being patient-facing in a hospital environment too upsetting. I was determined to find a way to make a difference to patients but from ‘behind the scenes’, and this was when I discovered market access. Before joining Mtech Access, I gained 4 years experience at a market access and medical education consultancy.
What motivated you to join Mtech Access?
I was looking to move to a slightly bigger agency, but one that still felt like a family. From everything I’d read and all the interactions I’d had with everyone at Mtech Access before joining, I was fairly confident it would feel like a family, and having joined I can now say it definitely does.
There are so many people to learn from, which is incredible. I am the kind of person who wants to know everything about everything so having so many different teams each with different specialties is the perfect place.
For me, being able to follow a product through and be involved in its entire market access journey is really special, and something I wanted to be able to do more of. As Mtech Access have in-house experts at every stage of the market access journey, I will definitely be able to follow more products from early strategy through to value proposition development, and beyond.
Training and development opportunities were also something I was looking for and both of these are really important to Mtech Access.
What have you got involved with in your first few weeks with Mtech Access?
Whilst I’ve spent a lot of time completing the induction and training programme, I’ve also been working on a wide variety of projects and proposals.
To give an example, I’ve completed some market research for a client who required insights into a very specific topic at short notice to inform a key decision. By interviewing and surveying a number of our NHS Associates, we were able to develop a comprehensive report that provided our client with the information they required to support their decision. Bringing insights directly from the NHS enhances the strategic recommendations we are able to provide as logistical and operational considerations can only be gained from those working in the NHS.
What have you learnt from your first interactions with the Mtech Access team?
Where do I start?! I’ve already learnt so much! A particular stand out is understanding more about how the company works together across different specialties and regional offices to deliver projects for our clients.
Mtech Access have a very structured approach to induction, which is incredibly helpful and has reinforced things I already knew but has also taught me a lot.
What has surprised you?
How genuinely friendly everyone is. You can say it on paper and in an interview but the real test is seeing it with your own eyes. There is a real focus on socials and getting to know each other which is brilliant; for instance, we’re having a quiz at lunch time today – it makes such a difference coming together with colleagues especially after not socialising during the pandemic.
It’s quarter 4, which is an incredibly busy time with deadlines approaching left, right and centre, but everyone, and I really mean everyone, has made time to do induction sessions, welcome meetings, getting me up to speed with projects, and answering all of my questions. It has been such a smooth process integrating into the team – I can’t believe I’ve only been here a matter of weeks.
If you could swap your expertise and role with a colleague from another team, who would you swap with?
I’ll probably be the first and last person to say this, but genuinely, all of them! There is something unique and interesting about each team.
When you are not at work, what do you like to do?
I am somebody who just loves to be outdoors. At the weekends and in the evenings you can find me trail running, hiking, cycling, SUPing, kayaking, climbing, and more recently, I’ve been learning to kitesurf! When inside, I enjoy cooking, reading (I’ve always got a few books on the go) and building Lego models!
To find out more about our approach to market access, please email info@mtechaccess.co.uk.
If you are interested in joining our team at Mtech Access, please visit our careers page for details of our current vacancies.
