Technology, business and mentoring: being driven by curiosity in new sectors and countries
Hello everyone Welcome back to HEC health experts connected a new appointment with us today we have Andrea Stanisci biomedical engineer at the Polytechnic of Milan and today data Scientist at Johnson & Johnson Hello Andrea Hello to you Thanks for the invitation So thank you thank you let's start immediately with the first question and can you share with us a little about your path in pursuing a career that integrates technology and business, what attracted you to this unique combination of sectors ? Yes, then the path I pursued started following studies of a scientific nature, let's say high school with a degree in particular biomedical engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan as rightly said before and with the intention therefore certainly of expanding knowledge on the mathematical and physical aspect but not only because biomedical engineering, I must say, takes up many of those subjects perhaps even already covered in high school because Biology, chemistry and therefore all those subjects more related to the medical field also largely include. Personally , the choice of this career certainly stems from a passion for the technological aspect in physical blood. Therefore all those problem solving practices must be taken into account. reasoning that are the basis of this type of degree are the Stem degrees but in particular going to apply all this knowledge to what is the area which at the time is still I believe it was I believe it was the most noble and compelling in which to get involved that precisely that of the sphere of the human being of healthcare of medicine because I have always been fascinated by all the technological advances that have characterized this sphere of let's say the sciences and on the other hand I believe it is fundamental because it is what allows us today to live longer to cure diseases that we could not cure before and to always do it with less invasive techniques that range within the field of medicine to glimpse a career like this in business and tech Obviously it is not necessary to choose the course that I chose, you can access a career of this kind and either by remaining more as I did in a technical and scientific technological branch or even simply embark on a career in business and then simply dedicate yourself more to that area From my point therefore this choice taken let's say purely for a question linked to passion No what one wanted to study then allows one to access this world where business certainly comes into play perhaps probably in a more rapid and immediate manner if following the path of Graduation you enter a multinational or a company even a startup I would say that allows you to interface with an objective with a plan with the need to not only ideate why it is right to ideate Because there may be a good idea at the base But because this idea must make a profit, it must bring you forward in the market and allow the multinational to continue to grow at the startup, I will eventually become a large project, therefore, following my three-year degree in biomedical engineering, I continued with a master's degree, again at the Polytechnic of Milan, choosing a career more focused on the study of certainly technologies that at the time I was very passionate about such as the robo medical guard the idea behind these technologies and to this day I still believe it to be inconceivable by many And this makes it even more more compelling and but certainly I also decided to delve deeper into the aspect linked more to data and therefore to data science because I thought it had great potential and we'll see it after today with the explosion of Ciao GBT and AI Generative what is leading us to the impact it is having this type of technology on all fields of technical and business therefore certainly an interesting field Where where we can work today Ok I would say that the answer was very very complex because in any case it feels very complex that must intersect both the personal university experience and the 'actual then output you said very well even the part of the business many start ups fail because excellent ideas excellent execution on a technical level but then precisely where the money is is a bit This is very interesting very important also interesting is the fact that you don't necessarily have to take a path and then always pursue it you can move from the technical to the more managerial and business side or vice versa so very interesting and I'll come back by saying asking you this strong interest in technologies which is also mentioned you go from data Science So everything The Branch of data science machine Learning and artificial intelligence It is mentioned in not unquotable i.e. GPT and then also medical robotics which is rightly a new frontier together with the use of new technologies such as 5G and so on. The question is, could you delve
deeper into how these technologies intersect more in the healthcare sector because without remaining too vague, therefore the ciagpt as you well know who has had a hand in it it is driven on tatset which are very generic on the internet on the World Wide Web instead some models have also recently come out which have been driven for example on PubMed so this to stay on the data science side instead on the more robotic side let's hear your opinion a little general ok right it's an input now Yes absolutely So I'll start by saying these have certainly been topics that have greatly characterized my studies to date for the career I'm currently facing and the focus is purely on data science in particular way applied to the pharmaceutical field And this makes us understand how both pharmaceutical and medical the healthcare applications of these technologies are immense and the contribution they then bring to patients to improve their quality of life is not to be underestimated. medical robotics and artificial intelligence intersect in particular, we see it above all with the latest generation robots that can perform in the operating room supporting what then the activity of the surgeon who must always guide them are technologies always intended for the moment at least not to replace the fundamental figure of the doctor in the room but precisely to ensure that the out cam of these operations can eliminate the component of human error that we know the machines can bring to us. Perhaps in an almost negligible way there is so much so that what could be said that there is that around this world there are robots that have been in the field for years now such as Leonardo da Vinci or lots and lots of robotics that is taking hold with many companies as well as those in which I find myself or in general all those who dealt with robotics even if only on a collaborative level. Now they see more of an expansion in the field of artificial intelligence. I have always seen it, probably starting to study as a student like the brain a little then that is what it is of this of this robotics which at the end of the day constitutes a little more the body of the of the machine itself therefore the electronic aspect But how it operates trying to replicate human behavior this is possible thanks to artificial intelligence, applications to date allow robots to, for example, in supporting the surgeon's activity, block certain movements which, due to predictions that are made by analyzing images that are actually acquired, may actually turn out to be incorrect movements that are better blocked or avoid at that moment they can in fact be avoided O trivially the so-called trajectory planning is possible for the robot thanks to the acquisition of these images and this field then goes by the name of computer Vision to precisely process extract information from these images and therefore if in the case of the removal of a tumor at minimally invasive speed with a robot in the room, understanding which areas are the most fragile simply from the images alone and therefore also being able to create a path that allows the medical instruments to reach the target point, creating less possible damage and this is all granted possible thanks to these models that absorb absorb this data and from this data allow us to make decisions that are no longer subject to their hands and are more more aware more correct I would also say and this as in robotics as well as in the pharmaceutical field where there is a need to understand if a certain compound is having the desired effect and how it is best to treat and continue a treatment process for a certain class of patients I would say that with this too you opened up Oh well let's say a world of things that are still in progress and development today Let's say that they are in quotation marks The oldest ones One day they will be the oldest and the older ones should have been surpassed more quickly But oh well going back to our interview I'll get back to it a little bit about the presentation I gave Saying that you actually now work Johnson & Johnson you are a Data Scientist what you are doing is a degree and could you tell us more about your role within Johnson & Johnson and what the overall experience is you're having that you've had Of course then if the degree of the program in particular and starting by saying that it was a bit of a dream a desire let's say after finishing university to start using it as a means to start a career in a body Ret setting therefore in the company rather than for example proceeding with a doctorate and because I believe that the program degree which consists of training is of a technical nature and therefore related to the role for which you have studied in most cases it is of a leadership nature therefore allowing you to acquire all that knowledge that normally in a career would be acquired over time, therefore growing up and taking on different roles. Let's say in this case they are provided almost from a theoretical point of view right from the beginning and I think it is important because it allows through rotations in various departments since the beginning also of [Music] leaving more of a choice at the end of the program to the candidate who is aware of what he really wants to do because after finishing university and having acquired different knowledge I must say that there was still a lot of indecision about on what to do on what would have been better for me to focus on which field to concentrate my efforts on and such an experience with a degree the program I believe allows me to make a more informed decision in the end and therefore I am currently in Belgium programm so let's say it is often started by multinationals who have the aim of building a new class of professional experts who in the future will be able to hold various positions even at a managerial level and do so by trying to offer as much international exposure as possible possible So in our case we are sent as a European class from the various countries in which we come to the company headquarters which for this specific case is in Belgium we receive as I was saying training purely obviously relating to the role in which we are assigned which more Match to the one that it was the path taken at the university so in my case there was this passion this intention to deepen the field of data Science the match was with this with this department And from here therefore my team deals with data Science and the opportunity in this period not only to contribute to the projects that have been delivered but obviously to be able to learn from experts who are at my side and at the same time you obtain this training more focused on leadership with training workshops which in parallel precisely train you as as leaders of the future as they define and which allow precisely this European class to also meet with the respective classes positioned in the other continents therefore in this way the global aspect of the multinational is kept high and strong and allows us to absorb all the different points of view that these expert professionals have and the different methods of working which, by country, are also different and therefore also prepare for what is possibly a global career that sees you having to manage, I would also say yes, a team with members who they come from different countries so they have completely different cultures and the experience I'm now at a year and a half from the beginning the duration is two years and the projects that I currently find myself contributing to are related to the pharmaceutical field because this is my main division to which I am assigned and they concern the world of realworld data and try to describe what it is the condition of a patient on a larger scale than, for example, that of clinical trials which are related only to one event and allow us to give us accurate information on how certain treatment processes impact certain classes of patients and this information is the evidence that is extracted data is then used to make decisions at a company level at a business level on how to continue with our products and how we can best manage them I would also say here really very lucid reasoning very lucid and always very complex I was very interested in the part of use of the raised toilet and I wanted to make a focus.
If instead you talked about the experience abroad, precisely two years away from home two years away from Italy But through our travels we know that you have also had other experiences abroad 'abroad, i.e. with the University of Queensland and the Pen State University, how do you think this let's say cultural mix because in the end they have an experience abroad and also a cultural mix before a technical one as Obviously just underlined how do you think this cultural experience can then impact on your career And also on your decisions for the future to then arrive at what is actually in your case because obviously you can answer us from your experience but what is your current state your current role and your perspective Now also for example, having already had experience abroad compared to someone who is not the first time you have done this kind of activity, that is, compared to someone who maybe the very first time is immediately thrown into a Corporate, I don't know if I'm a little confused Yes absolutely, I think that an experience like this can make a difference in my case I would tell you with certainty that it did it is fundamental it is fundamental because it allows you to completely change who you are to discover yourself Also because when we are when we are far from home Everything everything changes and what it teaches you is priceless and what allowed me to develop such an experience is priceless. Beyond that I also think about how far you go from home, the university you attend and the courses you take and it is precisely to give me that understanding of how In the end everything we experience is very relative compared to the place in which we find ourselves as simply by being able to speak English we are connected with the whole world trivially you Everywhere you go you have the possibility of learn something to discover what they have to offer simply because he can understand them come to understand this was fundamental because it made me understand how much potential there is outside outside of our country and looking back now I don't even know maybe how much of an impact it would have been not to carry out such an experience because perhaps at the moment in which opportunities are presented even at a company level to move to a country having never done it before you find yourself perhaps more in difficulty so this sort of continuous intention to maybe it's nice to find yourself in situations of uncertainty in which feeling out of place in the end having to adapt you ended up being in the right place No putting We were you were so it's not going to consider what the place was where you came to be to be inserted you managed to play it and this is fundamental then I believe As an approach to be developed because it helps because it certainly allows you to have a little more not only Independence but confidence awareness of how you can then behave when a company sends you away for example for for a long period therefore they are absolutely experiences that I would recommend that allow you to expand or start building a network of collaborations of relationships that can certainly also make a difference I would say that Excellent Here too We hope that with the start of the new academic year someone will take inspiration from your words and undertake the same path, surely with Davide you are opening an open door on the subject But oh well let's go ahead and say that Andrea is not here not only for his experience in let's say university work But we can say for my part he was the first for the first that is the first person I wanted to contact here in our form also for let's say the fact that has been That is, you have been involved in various organizations and participated in some mentorship programs what could you tell us about and in particular the figure of a mentor during these let's say these paths Yes absolutely as well as the experience abroad which in a certain sense is useful because it launches you in an unknown way in a in a country in a country that you don't know forces you to adapt and it is extremely important that however there is someone who, in any case, sets a trajectory not for you but who shares his experience so that you can set it at best reflecting your interests and passions I would also start by saying that feedback is fundamental wherever it comes from as long as it is obviously honest and real it doesn't matter whether this is negative or positive in a certain sense it helps us change and we need to try to see the feedback clearly So what a mentor can give you I think is one of the most important things and you need to find as many mentors as possible in your life for any field of knowledge that this is what you studied for that this is something new that you really want to find out do you want to explore the opinion the comments someone who has already been in the field and lived there are these are also very very important it has certainly made the difference in my case like as I was saying because having had my son tires that get older over the years have been able to give me a general global vision of how the corporate world, but I must say also the academic one, works, allowing me to then take what could be the right path at the moment and therefore it is so important to find a mentor and also be honest about what, let's say, your vision of the world is. This not being clear about where you want to go and what you want to do, to the question What do you want to do where In fact where do you see yourself in five years I always answer I don't know I would really like to know but I don't know And I know how In the end it is perhaps the most common and most honest answer if this is the reality that can be given because the important thing is not, I think, knowing what to do in five years but never stop to try to understand it, therefore collect the useful information so that you can also make right and informed decisions here and the mentor is certainly one of those resources who can help you in this as in the other answers, I would say very clearly and as mentioned even Ricky That is, he has broken through all the doors open to me, so I completely agree, I also think for him, it's about the figure of foreign countries, whether they are figures who need to open their horizons, whether they are the figure of having even a minimum of a line because it's not enough just to energy even a little exposed on the skin it's not enough just to have a great desire to make a lot of energy but I will always be someone who still gives support as you also said feedback which can also be negative it's obvious that it hurts It's obvious that it burns but in hindsight Damn if I had known this before then I would say that this this particular interview is full of essential information for all those who you can't expose yourself Obviously if you don't expose yourself you won't get hurt right but you're not abroad doing some programs after you have traveled halfway around the world or not So I would say that I completely agree well having said this from My Side It's Riccardo do you want to add something you have already said everything Davide you have really captured the whole concept of the interview I would say to him it will go If you want to add something for our followers some best wishes some pills some Just as long as it's not illegal because otherwise it's a mess anything I can Maybe a tea a tea from the past things I would have done I could have said Yes So first of all I thank you for this interview to also give the opportunity that out there to know more about the choices that can I advise that I feel like giving is a bit like what I was saying about the mentor so don't believe that a certain path or direction is necessarily imposed on us for what we have studied trivially for what we want to do because this this idea could change in the future arc Even of a few months or a few years but what is important is always being able to get involved, collect the information that can take you where you believe at that moment that it is right to go and only by discovering what it is like do you understand if the road right or not So try to enrich yourself as much as possible by trying as much as you can to improve yourself even more just with information and with the help of someone who can tell you about their experience a bit like we did today I would say perfect really they will get there top perfect look From my point of view Thank you very much both for having opened up so much and also for the way in which it was crystal clear I also have to learn never seen even a little in the questions and Really thank you very much I think also thanks to part of who will follow us And that's all from here at EC
2023-09-24 05:51
