Meet Matt Watkins, National Sales Manager, UK & Ireland!
ACADEMIA AND MOTIVATION
My interest in medicine, patients, and business was stimulated by an innate fascination with the natural world from a very early age, combined with growing up as the son of a family general practitioner in South Wales. Following scientific studies at school, I graduated from the University of Wales with a BSc. in Environmental Biology which probably satisfied specific areas of my academic interests more than it prepared me for the world of work!
My post-graduate interest in combining business with medicine led me into my first role in pharma as a medical representative, followed after two years by a move into hospital specialist roles. It was here that I spent ten years developing and applying my commercial knowledge and skills, working with fabulous people and in an environment that promoted strong patient/customer focus, innovation, and collaboration to achieve great results!
The combination of my commercial leadership orientation and experience/interest in Neurology led me to find the opportunity to join BIAL UK as National Sales Manager in September 2016!
WHY BIAL?
The opportunity to join the UK BIAL team so early in its evolution (just over one year!) was a huge attraction to me. I love to be part of a team of like-minded professional people with a clear vision and mission to build a successful growth organisation from the very beginning, that aims to generate real value for patients, particularly those with long-term neurological conditions.
The development of your own affiliate organisation and culture is an exciting journey but also with many challenges as you seek to link the critically important elements of the wider organisation to your own unique business and cultural environment, which can be very different from other countries.
Over the past seven and a half years this process has been an amazing experience for me as we have confronted the challenges of the UK & Ireland's health services, particularly around market access across five different countries, to establish a leading presence and build our business within Epilepsy and Parkinson’s Disease.
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO WORK AT BIAL?
A key differentiating factor in this journey for me has been the BIAL family as a whole. I have always felt so much closer to the history of the organisation and our global headquarters in Porto than in previous jobs, with great active support from our office colleagues and particularly senior leaders where proactive communication and contact have been consistent and very specific. This is a special quality I have found in my time here and one that I value highly.
We have established a wonderful team of many talents in the UK & Ireland - I feel very proud to work alongside them all and especially to have the privilege of leading my fantastic KAM/Sales team as we continue our BIAL journey together.