Group Health Affairs in the biomedical technology industry. Part I: The chief health officer and thought leadership

Abstract

Biomedical technology companies believe people should be healthy, live well, and enjoy life. Striving to deliver on this promise as well as undertaking to solve the world's toughest healthcare challenges regularly bumps up against corporate business performance and financial obligations. Managing this tension between social responsibility and business performance requires physician leadership. This article describes physician leadership in a biomedical technology company. Specifically, the tasks of embedding a medical consciousness, championing thought leadership, managing the medical and healthcare function, navigating “the delicate organizational balance” between research & development and strategic marketing, and creating evidence-based value, so the company can achieve its ethical, social and fiscal objectives. This first of a three-part series describes the roles and responsibilities of the Chief Health Officer, the Group Health Affairs function, and the value of thought leadership in a biomedical technology company. The second and third articles will describe the value of clinical research services, the need for integrated health economics, payment and policy functions, and the vital role for health knowledge management in bringing all these biomedical information streams to bear on the company’s commercial performance.