12 Questions with Matt D’Auria

Matt D’Auria is a talent-centric leader who has been building and leading medical communications teams for over 20 years. As CEO of Healthcare Consultancy Group (HCG), Matt is responsible for driving the fusion of strategy, scientific rigour, creativity, and innovation that make the HCG agencies industry-leading medical communications firms. Matt started his career in the lab, and his love of science has carried him to the forefront of global medical innovation.

What are the main responsibilities of your current role? My main responsibility as CEO of HCG is to drive change and transformation within the company to ensure our agencies are adequately pointed towards the future. To transform medical communications, we need to be built for transformation. That is why HCG continues to reinvest in our people and new talent to best serve our clients now and in the future.

What is your background prior to this role and how did it prepare you for the work you do now? First and foremost, I consider myself a scientist. I started my career working in a lab, before expanding into the pharmaceutical and, ultimately, the medical education industries. I really couldn’t imagine a better career than having the opportunity to talk about science, which is quite juxtaposed to working siloed in a lab. I found medical communications about 22 years ago now, which is when I found my home.

What motivates you about working in pharma? The impact we can make on the lives of patients. There is so much good and new science that it is critical to get into the hands of healthcare professionals (HCPs), and to have it optimised for the right treatment, for the right patient, at the right time, in the right way. Over the course of my career, I have seen first-hand how much science has changed since I first started. How we measure success in the disease areas we work is completely different, and it’s been amazing to be a part of that transformation.

What are your biggest short-term goals for this year and next year? One of the key goals for HCG is to see the pull through of omnichannel for more complex forms of promotional medical education and medical affairs content. We see omnichannel as a standardised practice in other industries, such as consumer packaged goods (CPG) and in the AOR creative space. Although our industry has made incremental gains with omnichannel, HCG is motivated to help make it a standardised practice in medical communications.

What are your biggest long-term goals for five years or 10 years from now? With medical communications being in such an era of transformation, I think we will see another wave of change related to artificial intelligence (AI). HCG’s goal is to ensure our clients benefit from the tremendous power that AI can bring to our industry. We are excited about the possibilities AI presents and see the potential for how it can benefit our clients and patients. By defining our strategies and investments today, we will be prepared for the advent of AI across the industry. It is interesting to think about our goals for 10 years from now - as the world is changing so quickly, much of the science and technology will look very different.

What excites you most about current industry trends? The rightful increased focus on health equity. The fact that HCG is prioritising equitable care in our work, I believe, is both long overdue and exciting, as well as encouraging to see.

How do you foster diversity in your workplace? I believe fostering diversity at HCG starts with belonging. Our employees come from different backgrounds and our company culture reflects just that. We strive to not only make our employees feel welcome, but to feel the ability to contribute to and seamlessly fit into a culture of belonging.

How do you promote patient-centricity in your workplace? HCG’s vision is simple: to bring our clients’ medicines closer to the patients who need them. Though I aim to consistently remind our teams of this, they remind me every day. We hold a programme called ‘work with a purpose’ at our all-company meetings on a quarterly basis, which brings the real-world voice of patients affected by the therapy areas we work in and celebrates the impact of our work on their lives. The stories these individuals share inspire and remind us of what we are working towards.

Do you have any pets? What are their names and what are they like? I have a Scottish terrier named Angus. Just like fine wine, he seems to get better as he gets older. He’s 10 years old and admittedly cooler than I’ll ever be.

What’s the best film or TV show you’ve watched in the last year? Succession. I was absolutely riveted to Succession. I thought it had had an incredible and appropriate ending – I’ll leave it at that; no spoilers!

If you could have any job other than the one you have now, what would you choose? In another life, I would have loved to have been a musician. I love music, but what I love more is the way it brings people together and how it can fit any phase of life.

How do you manage health, fitness, and wellness in your life? I try to incorporate some type of exercise into my daily routine. For me, it’s such an important mechanism for managing stress and I really try to set and promote boundaries for a healthy work/life balance. I believe this allows me to sustain such a high level of passion for what I do long-term.

Connect with Matt D’Auria on LinkedIn.