A Q&A with Bridge’s new Medical Communications Manager
Kashmira Prasade, Medical Communications Manager at Bridge Medical Communications, has been with the company since July 2020.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My journey in the world of healthcare began in Mumbai, where I completed my bachelor’s degree in microbiology and biochemistry, then decided to explore various avenues in the healthcare industry. I worked as a project manager in pharmaceutical production, in pharma business development and completed an internship in healthcare consulting. I also earned a master’s degree in biotechnology from McGill University, Montreal. I landed a research assistant job at the world-renowned Research institute of the McGill University Health Centre, where I gained insights into understanding the entire lifecycle of a pharmaceutical product from bench to bedside. While doing this, I realized that I was passionately intrigued by consumer behaviourism—understanding what makes people tick!
I decided to pursue a career in medical education and further my interest and understanding of the Canadian healthcare system. This means not only looking at what leads a healthcare professional to change their prescribing and treatment behaviour, but also examining how this behaviour change impacts patients in real life. Being a medical communications manager is the perfect next step to find that missing part of the puzzle! At Bridge, I have the opportunity to learn from some of the best minds in the industry and see the strategies implemented to gather data about patient-empowerment first-hand and see in action how this patient-physician-industry feedback loop results in overall improvement of patient outcomes. That’s what excites me!
What are your main responsibilities?
I am currently working on a variety of projects ranging from an educational program, several Ad Boards, some digital projects, some patient-centric assessments. I handle the project management and assist with content management for these projects.
What interests you most about medical communications and the work that you’re doing with Bridge?
There is not a dull moment at Bridge! Every day I am reading new information about various disease areas, expanding my knowledge on various brands and seeing patient outcomes improve one day at a time. It’s great to hear constructive feedback and solutions from the field, such as physician focus groups, and see how the feedback loop works. Medical communications is a key component of the bench to bedside lifecycle—without effective communication and education, there would be a missed opportunity to advance the healthcare industry: What we really do here is “Bridge” that gap!
Workwise, what are you most proud of?
This year was definitely interesting under the unprecedented circumstances, but I have enjoyed and feel proud of how we all have quickly and efficiently pivoted to the new normal. I am looking forward to the new initiatives at Bridge in 2021, as we will be moving into a more improved state of virtual operations and continue to strive for excellence.
What industry matter has your attention right now?
Like many people, COVID-19! With the vaccines just rolling out, there is a lot of data yet to be generated and collected. I am interested in seeing how that will impact patients with pre-existing comorbidities and what conversations will look like between the industry and healthcare professionals.
What’s been the most valuable lesson/skill that you’ve learned working at Bridge so far?
Collaboration. Bridge definitely emphasises the value of collaborating with your colleagues and it was refreshing to see this level of collaboration with the team. I was definitely amazed by the output generated as a result! One team. One dream.
Have you picked up any new hobbies during quarantine?
I have always been interested in cooking, but the quarantine gave a whole new meaning to cooking. I resorted to baking bread as my coping mechanism, especially during the months of March to June when we were in the thick of quarantining. When supplies were low, I would go from grocery store to grocery store in search of baker’s yeast and I even remember randomly walking into an Italian restaurant and asking the owner for some yeast because I could not find it in any store—yep, that’s how bad it got! But I can now proudly say that I have mastered baking bread, enhanced my pasta-making skills and definitely have a cocktail recipe or two up my sleeve!
