Passion and Purpose: Alumna Forges Path of Empowerment

>> Rebecca Vermeulen, you are the head of patient partnership for global medical affairs at Roche Pharmaceuticals. Thank you so much for being here today on the podcast Living the Pharm Life. Your passion for pharmacy and women in leadership is just absolutely incredible, and I’m so excited for our viewers to get to hear it.

Thank you for being here today.

>> Thank you, Isabella, it is a pleasure. I am so excited to be here today. Thank you for this opportunity.

>> Yeah, all right, let’s get started. Tell us a little bit about yourself, what makes you tick, and how did you find a passion for pharmacy?

>> It’s really interesting. When I was growing up, my family is not in the pharmaceutical field. And so for me, I knew I liked science, and I really like helping other people. And so, fortunately for me, I have a brother that’s two years older. He was in mechanical engineering program here at Purdue.

And as a good brother, he invited me to come on campus. And so I spent a day going to classes with him. And he made an appointment for one of the college counselors here. And I was able to meet and have a conversation about what I like and what my interests are.

And that day, the counselor said, I think you should consider a career in pharmacy. Because if you do the pharmacy program here at Purdue, you can do anything you want. And I looked at him, and I was like, okay, that sounds wonderful, but I can’t imagine I would ever get into the Purdue pharmacy program.

And he said, if you work really hard, I’m sure you can, and then you can decide if you want to pivot and move your career in other directions, you know, would be a really great place to start. So that’s what I did. I committed myself, and since that day, I’ve never looked back.

>> Yeah, so what led to you being interested in pharmacy itself?

>> One of the things that really interested me in pharmacy as I got closer to the profession is, as I said, I really like helping people, and I really want to help people make good decisions about their health.

And so when I, came into the pharmacy program here, I realized being able to meet my personal goals in an environment that Purdue pharmacy provides, that’s so supportive and so encouraging. I have a wonderful network, a wonderful community around me, and sincerely, the professors are dedicated to helping you succeed.

It just made such a difference for me when I wasn’t sure that I was good enough to be here. It was exactly the environment that helped me excel. So, Isabella, tell me, what led to your passion for pharmacy?

>> Yeah, well, my grandmother, she had been a nurse, she worked in pediatric diabetes for decades.

And when my parents used to leave me with her so she could babysit, she’d always be talking about her cases and her patients and she just loved it. Even when she retired, she would still talk about it. And it was one of the greatest joys of her life.

So I really got interested in healthcare and helping people. And I took a chemistry class in high school and I was like, this is the coolest thing ever. And so my chemistry teacher, she said to me, have you ever considered being a pharmacist? I was like, well, I don’t really wanna work at CVS.

And she was like, there’s so much more to it than that. And then I did all of this research and I was like, this is really the perfect field for me. And that’s how I got into pharmacy.

>> What a wonderful story, I just love that.

>> Thank you.

So I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people when they go into college, they don’t always graduate and go into the same field they thought they were going to go into. I know I’m experiencing that as a student, just exploring all of these different career paths.

What changed? What did you think you were going to go into when you started in college versus when you graduated?

>> It’s really interesting. Like many people, when I first came to the pharmacy program here, I thought I was going to be in community pharmacy, where I was helping and interacting with patients directly.

And then I tell you, one of the first pivots, from a personal perspective, in identifying career interests and my personal passion and energy was through conversations with my mentor as a part of the pharmacy school here. As I was getting different experiences in community pharmacy or working in different environments and having real conversations with him about what I liked, what I didn’t like, what I wanted, where I wanted to apply myself and my strengths.

He had a conversation with me and he said, hey, you know what? I really think you should consider pharmaceutical industry. I think it’s a good match for you, your personality and your strengths. Again, I had never thought about the pharmaceutical

industry. And through him and his support, I was able to get a National Pharmaceutical Council, NPC, summer internship at Abbott Pharmaceuticals.

So I went to Chicago for a summer and I came back and I knew we had a nice celebration, he and I, together. Just to appreciate that I finally found my fit in pharmacy. And so then I started at Lilly right after that, and that started my career in the industry.

And now I’ve been in the pharmaceutical industry for over 30 years. It’s really amazing to think about.

>> That is amazing, especially, as I said, from a person who’s not 100% sure where I’m going. I know a lot of my peers can relate to that, too. It’s really amazing to hear about, sometimes things just click.

>> Click.

>> Yeah.

>> And in a minute, you know, and when that happens, it is a pivot. As I said, I’ve had a number of pivots in my career. That was the first one, when I pivoted and realized that I wanted an opportunity to be in the pharmaceutical industry and I wanted to shape my career.

Because it was a nice match of being able to bring the clinical skills from a medical perspective. And also focus on empowering and engaging patients and all of the people around patients to make good health decisions. Whether that’s a healthcare professional or a caregiver or nurse, it’s really about how can we empower people living with disease and experiences, right?

That they have to live the very best life.

>> Yeah, that’s fantastic.

>> Yeah.

>> So we’ve talked about how it clicked. I know that for me and some of my friends, a lot of my friends are graduating at the end of the semester, so everyone’s nervous. We’re trying to figure out that almost self doubt of, did it really click?

Is this really where I want to go? So what kind of support systems did you have when you were a student that helped you realize, this is the path I want to go down?

>> I think really tapping into the network I had around me, right? As I said, one of the things that I really appreciate about my experience at Purdue was the community that was around me to provide support.

I got involved with Ke, I really leaned into establishing relationships with mentors and advisors. And anytime I was out and about, through summers or different experiences, I really took the opportunity to ask people. And ask questions about what they liked about their jobs and their career. And attending the sessions that they had around campus as well, to help shape what my interests are.

And then, as I said, as I got the internship with the National Pharmaceutical Company and got some exposure to the industry, then I knew that’s where I wanted to be. And so I only interviewed with the industry and was fortunate to get a position at Lilly.

>> Yeah, that’s great, thank you Thank you so much for sharing that.

Can you share a piece of advice that was meaningful to you to have when you were a student? I think advice for me as a student was really getting grounded on my purpose. You know, the question I think is important to consider is, who do you want to be?

Who do you want to be? What do you want to give your time to, and a deeper understanding of your purpose? And you may not know that, right, coming right out of the gate of, you know, just looking for a job and thinking about, you know, where you want to start, your first employment.

But I think some perspective that was shared is once you know, what you want to do and the impact that you want to have of what gives you joy. So, for me, I really like lifting other people, right, helping them to be their very best as a pharmacist, empowering people to make the very best decisions for their health, that’s what gives me joy.

And so for them, from a career perspective, once I understood that I could take that passion and I could go into the pharmaceutical industry. And most of my career, I mean, over 30 years of my career, has been in medical affairs. I’ve been able to grow and develop capabilities for how we engage, how we connect and inform patients to make really good decisions for their health.

And that’s been my motivation. And so if you think about the advice that you get from others, invest some time to just talk to others, tap into that network, connect into what you like, what you don’t like, and really spend some time thinking about what is it you wanna be, not just what you wanna do.

That was fantastic advice that really hit home for me, and I really appreciate you sharing that with us. So, Isabella, you know, we talked about some of the advice that, you know, I’ve been given and appreciate around, having a network around you, tapping into that, getting advice from others, I’m really curious, what advice have you received through your experience as a part of the pharmacy school here that’s really made a difference for you?

It’s a really good question. I think the biggest piece of advice that’s really been the one I’ve used the most is trying different things and just putting yourself out there.

I’m very much like a type A person. I gotta fit everything into a different type of box. So putting myself out there is a little difficult sometimes.

But if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t have met any of the people I’ve met or done any of the incredible things I’ve done during my time here at Purdue. And so it’s just been one of those things I keep thinking back. I’m like, sometimes you gotta take chances.

Yeah, you do, absolutely. I think all of the chances you take, you always learn and are for the better. Exactly. I agree. How do you give back in your day to day life and kind of use that to figure out who it is you are? Yeah, I think for all of us, right?

Once we are able to get grounded on our purpose, it’s important that we apply that in many ways, right? Because we have to continue to grow and learn and expand ourselves as people in the opportunity to have an impact and make a difference for the people around us.

So outside of my day job, I also give a lot of my time. The time you give is a personal choice, and so I do that in a number of ways. First, I give my time to helping other fellowship programs. So I lead our fellowship program for Howard University within the company, giving opportunities for PharmD Fellows to come in and get experience within the industry.

I give my time to local community because I think community understanding what’s happening in the world around us, where we are, is really important. There’s a lot of people who aren’t as fortunate as we are. I think we have to realize we’re in a very privileged position, graduating from the Purdue pharmacy program and being able to have successful lives, productive lives.

So giving back to others that aren’t that fortunate to have those experiences is really important. So I care a lot about health equity and making a difference in my career. Locally, I’m a member of the American Leaders Forum, where we bring individuals from for profit, nonprofit, civic government, all coming together to talk about and tackle issues that are right in the world around that, whether that’s racial discrimination, homelessness, other important topics.

You can’t just ignore what’s going on in the world around you. And then finally, as I mentioned, I’m really passionate about health equity. So I’m a member of our Genentech Patient Foundation, which gives free drugs to patients who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford their treatment. And there are so many underserved patients and people who are needing treatments and therapies.

So on our behalf, to make sure that we’re supporting the ability for those people to get treatment is something else that is just important to me and I choose to give my time to that space. Yeah, that’s fantastic. Those are all fantastic outlets and very much needed. You’ve also mentioned that one of your interests is women in leadership what drives you to contribute in this space?

You know, as I said, we choose to give our time to causes and things that we believe in. And I choose to give my time to developing future women leaders because it’s personal to me. When I started in the industry, when I was first starting out, I can tell you it was not a gender balanced environment.

I got a lot of feedback about how I needed to show up as a leader and how I needed to position myself and how I needed to act. And you’re a woman, you have a lot of emotions, you should be this or that. And it got to the point in my career, I just thought, you know, if I’m going to be authentic and genuine and really be my best so that I can help others, I’ve got to do this my way.

And so I just decided to take my own approach and allow myself to be my genuine, authentic person and understanding that pivot for me in my career, and then being able to grow as a leader, giving back my time and energy for other women so they don’t have to go through the same experience that I did, so that they believe in themselves and that the potential that they have within them without always hearing the voices in their head, the self limiting beliefs that impact us all.

So I give a lot of time to the Healthcare Business Women’s Association, to our internal women’s networks. And my issue is, when I started in the industry was a gender, because I’m a woman. But I’ve also come to appreciate by opening up the conversation about gender, it opens up the ability to talk about the voices of all people so we can create more inclusive work environments so that everybody’s heard.

And so it is a passion of mine, and I spend a lot of time mentoring, coaching, and helping to support the future women leaders of our company and hopefully many other organizations. That’s absolutely incredible. So, Isabella, I’m really curious, how are you giving back and how do you think it’s helping to your future in healthcare?

Yeah, well, I’m a part of a bunch of different organizations across campus, both in the College of Pharmacy and otherwise, and I feel like just being part of all of those different groups and meeting all these different people, each one of us has something that we can bring to the table and we can tie in to help other people.

And I’ve also been a teaching assistant at Purdue since my sophomore year. I just absolutely love teaching. Last semester, I was a teaching assistant for Pharm 200, which is kind of like an introduction to pharmacy school and applying to To the PharmD process and everything, and that was just one of the best experiences I’ve had.

I had ten students and I walked them through basics of being a pharmacist and how to apply to the Purdue PharmD program. And it was just so great. Cuz I remembered being a pre-pharmacy student, I was freaking out, am I going to get into the program? Maybe I’m gonna drop out of college.

I’m gonna be homeless in the streets of Indianapolis.

>> And I remember that my ta was so good and like, it’s okay, Isabella, you’re gonna be all right. And it was really just great being able to be that person for this group of students. And that’s been one of my favorite experiences on campus so far.

>> My gosh, that’s wonderful! And what a great example to share, Isabella. I remember that, too. And I have to say, you’re helping to give courage and confidence to people to know they can apply and be successful, right, to get into the pharmacy program here. So, my gosh, that’s a wonderful example to share.

>> Thank you. Could you tell me more about how you give back to Purdue specifically and how your role as a woman in power applies to that?

>> Yeah, I would say I’m smiling, as a woman in power, I’ve really never thought of myself in that way. But what I do appreciate is, I’ve mentioned before the privileged position we hold.

I have a lot of experience and a lot of ups and downs that I’ve had through the years. The more I can share my experience with others so that they can learn and grow, the better. And so giving back and giving back to Purdue and giving back to the pharmacy program here, to pharmacy students.

Helping to engage in conversations about careers, helping them think about what the best path might be for them as they find their purpose, what drives and motivates them. It’s just a part of who I am to lift and raise the generation behind us. I also give financially. So I started an endowment with the school because I felt so fortunate to be here, and it’s not something I ever imagined was possible.

And I wanna give that opportunity to others as well. So it is my commitment to give back to the organization and to continue to advance the profession of pharmacy, pharmacy and industry, or whatever vein that may be.

>> I know you’ve mentioned you care so deeply about patients and all of the just workings of the healthcare system.

So I wanted to share a story that’s really impacted me and made me realize that patient advocacy is just so important. So last summer, I was shadowing at a hospital where this patient was being seen. She was going to get a scan using this radioactive drug, but she had been given breakfast that day, and since the medication uses the glucose in the body, since she had breakfast, she couldn’t receive the medicine.

And I remember I turned to the physician I was shadowing. I was like, so who’s using this medication instead? It expires at the end of the day, costs thousands of dollars. Do we have someone else in line? What happens to her? Is she going back on the list?

And I had so many questions. I’m a big question asker, if you haven’t gotten that already.

>> But it was one of those things where he was like, you’re asking a lot of questions right now, maybe tone it back a bit. I was like, but these are so necessary.

This patient advocacy is so important. And just with the way that the hospital was so bogged down with everything, it was me. I had no other responsibilities there other than to annoy these people.

>> So it was so easy for me to ask all of these questions. But from your perspective, within the healthcare system, how is that something that you would have tackled?

>> It’s really interesting. I think these are the types of challenges that we have to work together to overcome. And I mean that sincerely. We talk about health equity. And just as you highlighted, so many patients not being able to get access or have the medications that can make a difference for them.

And so in this particular situation, the fact that this patient, right, unfortunately ate food and had breakfast and then wasn’t able to use her treatment, what can we do with that treatment to make sure that somebody else gets to benefit from that? And I think that’s where local partnerships and collaborations are so important to come together.

So very true. The health system itself may not have had time or capacity to deal with the challenge because everything else that’s going on with their center, it’s just one little thing for them. But to a person who needs that treatment, it’s an incredible difference. And so, my perspective would be, where are the patient groups and those in the community that could help partner and connect when these situations become, that they know what to do with the treatment and they can take that and make it available for somebody else?

That’s why I’ve dedicated my career professionally to patient partnership. Because I believe in the importance of patients being actively engaged as a part of their healthcare and us supporting them to be able to have the best possible care and treatment. And so partnering together with local organizations and those around the community that can help ensure that medication gets to those in greatest needs, it’s a huge difference.

And it takes all of us working together to be able to do that.

>> Yeah, how do you recommend, like, that’s fantastic! I love that. How do you recommend that we go about that? Especially, like you said, too, that it’s just so heavy, this healthcare system and all the challenges we face.

I know if a hospital or a health system doesn’t have that implemented already, that has to seem like a huge burden in the moment. And how do we sort of shift that long term view to get that participation?

>> You said a very important word, and that is understanding the long term view.

And what I would add to that is the holistic view of what’s actually happening in the health system and in the community. And what happens all too often is that companies, healthcare systems, companies, providers, we only look within the channel where we are supporting patients. We don’t look holistically.

We don’t understand the system as a whole of what is going on around the patients locally that need treatment. And when we open up our frame and we open up our view to understand what others are doing and how we might partner and collaborate, it helps us in fixing a healthcare system that’s so fragmented and so broken, but yet doesn’t need to be.

It just takes us coming together to truly understand what we’re all trying to accomplish and how we can work together better to achieve that.

>> Thank you so much for sharing that. I know, especially as a student, just trying to think of all of the challenges that our healthcare system is facing, I know I can get overwhelmed trying to figure out like, we need to fix this and this needs to be better.

So it’s really good to hear about some of the things that are already in process being implemented that make things seem a little less bleak.

>> Absolutely, and working as independent as we sometimes do, working together, there’s always so much more that we can achieve. And these kind of partnerships is what’s absolutely necessary to change the system and the environment that we’re all living in.

>> Yeah, thank you. I have one final question for you. This has been such a fun interview for me, so I want to end with a fun question. If they were to name an ice cream flavor after you, what would it be called?

>> Okay, I would name an ice cream sea salt, passion fruit, chocolate chip.

>> Yes.

>> Because I talk about finding purpose, and so for me, the ocean and the beach is my sea salt. It’s what keeps me grounded in the sands to make sure that I’m rooted and staying true to who I am as a person. Passion fruit because my passion and energy has always guided my career, and it’s enabled me to lean in and to be more courageous in the spaces that I really care about in where I want to make a difference.

And chocolate chips, because they’re very sweet and kind, and I really care about people, and I think kindness is really important. Any leader, any team is only as effective as the leader. And as leaders, we need to be selfless, caring, and give love if we want to see people grow.

So, yeah, that’s what it would be.

>> Yeah, that was a fantastic answer. Thank you so much for being here today.

>> Thank you, Isabella. This has been an absolute delight, and I just so appreciate the time that we’ve had together. Thank you.