Member Spotlight: Máiréad Goetz

My alma mater is University College Cork Ireland, where I majored in Chemistry.

I have worked in the Pharmaceutical sector and in Quality / Operations for my entire career. I started, as many of us do out of college, in the laboratory which lead to a career that included deeper immersion in operations, quality engineering , quaility culture and operational excellence.

Why did you join ISPE and how has it impacted your career? And what career advice would you share?

ISPE membership brings such great value on many levels – the availability of excellent technical content, both published and through education / conferences , the opportunity to engage, to develop content for members and industry, and, very importantly, the opportunity to network, share experiences and benchmark .

I am many years in the industry and still look to learn daily! My advice is to be a perpetual student with the intellectual curiosity to study life both science and people. Be resourceful, have that thirst for knowledge. Attitude and Aptitude are two of the most important factors that are talent differentiators.

What trends do you see for the industry in the next 5 years?

“Big Data” will be a key influencer of the coming period. We have seen exponential change in the availability of data - with the changing demographics and the access to data, we will see a need for automation and at the same time simplification.

Another key area that will evolve, influenced by access to data, is personalized medicine. To maintain pace and viability , companies need to be able to change much more readily than we have in the past and this will drive change in company structures, IT infrastructures, regulations, and very importantly the approach to learning. Education systems will shift their approach to collaborative, holistic learning to prepare the next generation for a world that is substantially influenced by digitization/AI.