Recently in GSK People Category

We all fill a number of interesting and very important roles here at GSK as we discover and develop life-saving medicines, and make sure these medicines end up in the hands of the people who need them.  I love my job!

That being said, I envy what some of my colleagues do on a day-to-day basis, like my friend Sue who coordinates our product donations. 

Sue never has any two days that look alike. She has the opportunity and challenge of her workday being turned completely upside down by events in the news--in a way international news rarely affects mine.

When a humanitarian disaster occurs, Sue is one of the first people to respond to the call. We are prepared to respond to disasters, along with our five main US partners:  AmeriCares, Direct Relief, InterChurch Medical Assistance, MAP International and Project HOPE, because of the excellent internal management of people like Sue.

Though there are similar programs out there, our product donation program is unique. A few differences set our program apart. For example, we commit to donating products with a shelf-life of a year or more.  We also include our product donations in the same production plan as our for-profit stock. We account for these donations at the production price as opposed to wholesale costs.

Ethical Performance magazine recently highlighted Sue and the Product Donations Program. Click to read more.

Seated from left: Salim Abdulla, Tanzanian PI; Joe Cohen (at microphone); Christian Loucq, PATH MVI; Regina Rabinovitch, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

I learned today that if I was a car, I'd probably be a 7 year-old Toyota Camry that needs some preventative repair work fairly soon.  Not a brand new Corvette.  At least that's the impression I got when I recently took the employee health assessment provided by GSK.

As a pretty "average" 42-year-old guy who doesn't smoke, rarely drinks, and eats tons of veggies, I thought I would literally 'ace' the health exam.  

While my blood sugar was great and my hydration level (who knew this could be measured?) was fine, the nurse on site had some serious warnings for me.  It turns out my cholesterol is out of whack.  My HDL levels are currently so low that I'm at risk for developing heart disease if I don't make some lifestyle changes. 

What??  When the nurse I was talking to suggested I exercise more, my immediate reaction was, "But can't I just eat something to raise my HDLs?"  Turns out I can eat nuts and other things that can help.  But the nurse - grinning because she knew I wouldn't want to hear this - said that for me in particular, I should also work out 30 minutes every day.  

Eager to change the subject as quickly as possible, I asked about my weight.  "Borderline normal, but your percentage of body fat is getting a little high - you had better exercise."  I could see she was going to be tough.

With one last try, I asked about my blood pressure, since it's always been perfect in the past.  Alas, the gods were apparently against me that day.  Her answer was, "Not bad, but it really could be a little better considering your age - so if you would just exercise..."

Like most guys, I often assume that unless I'm feeling sick, I'm perfectly healthy and don't need to worry about preventative maintenance.  And that's really a shame, since I work for a pharmaceutical company that provides a ton of disease education and stresses the importance of people making lifestyle choices to help protect and maintain their health - both in the short term and for the long haul.

So I guess I'm typical in many ways, but sometimes - as I'm learning, when it comes to your health - that's not always such a good thing.

As I mentioned on Friday, I spent the day touring our vaccine filling and packaging plant in Marietta, PA with women who blog, among other topics, on parenting.  These women were quite interesting, and their blogs are well-researched and -written (and a few of them include wording that...well let's just say it would never make it through our review process...so if racy language is not your cup of tea, perhaps you might not want to click on a few of the links...but that's the Internets for you).

I seriously underestimated how far Marietta is from Philadelphia, and I desperately needed some coffee halfway between here and there.  I apparently spotted one of the attending bloggers at the rest stop, but I didn't know that until she walked into the meeting room.

It was a diverse crew of women who accepted our invitation to tour the facility and, for some, it was the first time that they had met in person.  While on the tour, the group heard from a number of GSK experts in research, manufacturing, and public policy--many of whom were women.  A few of the bloggers asked if we strategically brought female leaders to speak just because they were women.  (Big Pharma can never catch a break!)  But it did lead to a discussion about GSK's benefits like flex time--which the group saw in action as one of the women leading the tour had to scram at 2.30PM to pick up her son. (I swear we didn't plan that.)

During the tour, the group suited up and went into the production facility, where we saw a room full of employees manually inspecting vials that had been filled.  What struck me was that while much of the process is, of course, highly automated, at every step there is a human being involved. This was one of those epiphany moments for me--and I work for GSK!  

There was another moment that I honestly thought was going to come across as scripted but there was no way to plan for it.  We were talking about safety, and how if necessary, a lot of vaccines would be pulled if something was discovered to have gone awry.  "Well of course--its your reputation on the line," one of the attendees said.

Almost in unison, every GSK employee answered "No, it's patients lives at stake" or some variation.  Again, I promise that happened spontaneously. How could we have planned for that?

I think it was great day, with meaningful discussion, and some tough questions, from the group (but don't take my word for it, take theirs).  I gained some good insights into social media, I saw an amazing facility, met some new colleagues (both within GSK and from the blogosphere), and got to take my new car on its first road trip!

The traffic, on the other hand, reminded me of why I went so long without a car in the first place.

(Group photo courtesy of Stephanie from CreatureBug. The manufacturing photo is ours.)

Today should be an interesting day.  I am headed to our vaccine packaging and filling facility in Marietta, PA.  (Please don't ask me where that is exactly, because I have no idea.  I've only recently joined the ranks of car owners--after a 5 year hiatus since I am fortunate to be able to walk to work here in Philadelphia--and realized that I don't actually know how to get anywhere anymore if it's not by train, bike, or foot.)

This site visit itself will be pretty fascinating I imagine, but even better is the fact that I will be touring it with a few influential bloggers who are also mothers.*  The purpose of the trip is to connect them with GSK staff, discuss the vaccination of children, and tour the facility.  Just so we're clear about this, GSK has offered to pay for travel, accommodations or any additional childcare expenses these folks may incur as a result of this trip, and if they accept the offer, they are required to disclose this when writing about it.

I'm sure I'll have more on Monday about this, but will probably tweet a bit during the day.  I'm also hoping to get some insights about our blog (and social media in general) from the group.  More to come...

*I've heard some people describe women who blog about parenting as "mommy bloggers," but these women write about much more than being mothers.  Kierkegaard wrote "Once you label me, you negate me," so I'll follow his lead.

A weekly post from a busy mom concerned about raising healthy children.

I'm pretty sure no one enjoys getting shots.  Certainly children don't look forward to shots and I'm aware of a few adults who have a serious needle phobia.   So my decision to load up the family and drive to a pharmacy clinic for flu shots was not made lightly.   Historically, I've gotten my flu shot at GSK; the kids get their shots at the doctor.  My husband has been left out--though, not surprisingly, I've not heard one complaint from him.  But with the CDC's estimate that about 36,000 people die of seasonal flu-related causes each year--no one in my family would be left out this year!

Last week, I started looking for a reasonably close CVS Minute Clinic and found one in New Jersey that we drove to this past Saturday.  After signing in the whole family, we made our way to the Halloween aisle to pass the time.   My daughter knew why we were there--and kept asking the same question: 

"We're all getting flu shots?  Even Daddy?"  Interesting observation!

After about forty minutes, we were called into a small room, squished ourselves onto the bench, and began the paperwork with the technician.  I quickly realized this was going to take much longer than a minute.  After all paperwork was completed and our moment of panic passed--they couldn't find the dosage for toddlers--my husband took my son out of the room while my daughter and I got our shot.  She was such a trooper...not one tear!  My husband was pleasantly surprised that he didn't even feel the shot (we've made progress)!  My son, well he is 19 months, and although he did shed a few tears he recovered quickly. 

So, although our visit lasted close to 90 minutes, it was a success.  I've told some family and friends about our adventure and they wanted to know more.  I emphasized how important it was to get their flu shots and think I will be hearing about their visits to the minute clinic--husbands and all!

A weekly post from a busy mom concerned about raising healthy children.

I gave myself a parental pat on the back as I read the CNN article on the benefits of a regular bedtime for children.  I am of the frame of mind that a nighttime routine for kids (and parents!) is good.   Ours is simple, it works (95% of the time) and it ends with a 7.30 bedtime.  This is nice for the whole family; our kids get the sleep they need, and my husband and I are able to finish conversations, exercise, or watch an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and imagine a time when we can go back to Spain for two weeks...but I digress.     

With the lack of sleep linked to obesity, especially in children, we need to recognize and embrace simple solutions--like a regular bedtime--ensuring our kids get the right amount of sleep.    My kids get 10-14 hours of sleep each night--my daughter is on the lower end and could use another hour to make it through the day without a melt-down, but for the most part the regular bedtime ensures well-rested, usually happy kids.

Without question, more research needs to be done to understand the correlation of lack of sleep and childhood obesity but until we have all the answers, we'll stick to our routine.

A weekly post from a busy mom concerned about raising healthy children.

It sounds made up but this is in fact how our bedtime story ended last night as my daughter went to sleep with a cough that makes parents cringe.  As our kids head back to school, we need to encourage that they hear what we are saying, and then of course, do it ourselves.  I must have said 'cough in the crook of your elbow' and at least ten times on the way home--and yet I forgot to do it myself and got reminded--'Mom, crook!'  (Really.)

Cold and flu season are upon us and it is important to remind our kids to wash hands and cover up - no matter how much we might sound like broken record.  Unfortunately, this can be mundane and quite boring for lots of kids--and mine occasionally do not do as they are asked.  I'm trying to make it fun.  I'm following the CDC recommendations  and encouraging my kids to sing Happy Birthday (once slow, twice fast) while we wash our hand hands, to really be effective.  Or make up silly games--Ultimate Germ Stopper--to help my kids remember that even though it might look silly coughing in your crook is really cool, even for me, and then we can all live happily ever after.

If needed--the federal government has enlisted Elmo on the washing hands action so when my kids have heard enough from me I can just have them watch Elmo--somehow he always seems to get through to them.

Recently, the GSK Oncology team volunteered as Guest Chefs at the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia.  The Ronald McDonald House is a home away from home for families and their seriously ill children who are being treated at area hospitals.

What makes the Ronald McDonald House special is its caring environment where families find physical and emotional support from one another and the volunteers. Our GSK Oncology volunteers were Dinner Guest Chefs on two separate evenings, preparing our theme "Comfort Foods" for more than 80 people each night. There was turkey and stuffing, lasagna and garlic bread, ham and mashed potatoes, and even dinosaur chicken nuggets for the kids. Team GSK Oncology served more than 160 family members and volunteers.

It was really special for all of us to meet these families--especially the young patients with so much heart and so much hope.

The experience reminded us how important our health is, and more importantly, how significant our jobs are here at GSK!  It was an amazing experience and it's nice to know that activities such as this are run by GSK employees all over the world.

(Photo courtesy of Ronald McDonald house of Philadelphia.)