We live in a world that relies on data. Data is used to inform everything from our hiring practices, to our building and lab designs, our clinical development programs and even the color choices for our medicines. The ability to harness this data in a creative, effective and ethical way is imperative for businesses across nearly every industry.
Today’s business leaders are expected to think algorithmically and make data-driven decisions. They need to be able to combine human and emotional intelligence with technical expertise to inform strategy. Data science and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities aren’t nice-to-haves in health care and biotech anymore — they’re must-have skills.
However, few life sciences or health care leaders today are well-versed in these techniques. At Vertex, we hope to change that by training the next generation of leaders on the use and impact of techniques like machine learning and natural language processing in health care.
Building and training talent is not something any organization can do alone. It requires a collaborative approach across multiple ecosystems. One of the ways we’re doing this is through partnerships with academic institutions like the Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business (CMU). Specifically, we’ve recently partnered with CMU to create a new kind of MBA AI program focused on health care and the life sciences. This program is the first of its kind and is designed to help develop a broad range of business leaders across our industry who are fluent in AI and data sciences.
“Data science spans all facets of our organization, and this new partnership and program gives us the opportunity to develop deeper relationships with the academic community to foster a new pool of top-tier talent to join the Vertex team. With this partnership, we’ll be able to bring in AI-savvy leaders and further data driven decision making across the company.”
-Aman Bhandari, Vice President, Data Strategy and Solutions and Co-chair of the program at Vertex
The new AI-focused track will first bring business leaders to Vertex this summer for an internship program where they will be embedded in teams throughout the company to help solve current organizational challenges using advanced techniques at the intersection of data and technology. The summer, which will include training in not only technical aspects like machine learning but also the essential importance of data ethics, will culminate in an experiential capstone project with our teams in commercial analytics, digital strategy, corporate data science and IT. The partnership will also support academic initiatives to further develop future leaders in this field.
Learn more about our efforts to develop the next generation of AI-savvy leaders here: