For the 6th Find-Your-Role-Model Session in AY 2022 (70th session overall), we hosted Dr. Naotsugu Oyama, Head of the Japan Medical Office at Takeda.

After graduating from Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Dr. Oyama trained in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine and received his PhD from the same university. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Vascular Medicine Research Unit at Harvard Medical School from 2004 to 2006, where he was engaged in research on endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells. In 2006, he started his career in the pharmaceutical industry as a medical director in the Research and Development Division and Medical Affairs Department of AstraZeneca K.K. and obtained his MBA in 2010. In 2013, he joined Novartis Pharma K.K. as Medical Franchise Head, and from 2015 to 2017, he served as Global Medical Affairs Director at the Swiss headquarters. He then returned to Japan as Corporate Officer and Head of Medical Division, followed by Head of Clinical Development and Analytics and Head of Translational Medicine. In July 2020, he was appointed as Head of the Japan Medical Office at Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

First, he talked about how he started his career in the pharmaceutical industry, because he wanted to solve the drug lag problem and make a big impact on society through drug discovery. From his talk, I felt that the pharmaceutical industry is very attractive because of its ability to conduct translational research, which links research results to clinical implication.

Next, he shared his experiences working in Singapore and Basel, Switzerland. I was impressed that he said that although Japan may seem like a small country at first glance, he realized that Japan is quite huge in the Asian market. He also emphasized the importance of communicating with members of the global team who speak English with a variety of accents, and when he has difficulty understanding someone, he never underestimates their accent, but rather asks them to speak more slowly and frequently checks to make sure his understanding is correct. I was reminded of the importance of communicating with people in a detailed and polite manner in the course of my work.

Finally, he explained the work he is currently involved in. He told us that pharmaceutical companies have divisions related to early-stage development, clinical development, medical affairs, and safety. In the medical affairs division, to which he currently belongs, he is responsible for deciding how developed drugs will be applied in clinical practice and connecting unmet medical needs to new clinical trials for new compounds as well as label extension. Dr. Oyama said that the appeal of working for a pharmaceutical company is that you can be involved in various processes related to drug development. In terms of career choices, he also mentioned that the way of working has been changing, focusing on results rather than the process itself and remote work has become mainstream. He advised, "You will enjoy your career most if you can do something you are interested in with pleasure." This made me think that I would like to broaden my perspective from my student days, experience many things, and look for many things I can enjoy.

In the Q&A session, when asked at what stage after graduation is the best time to enter the pharmaceutical industry, he answered that after obtaining a medical specialty such as board certification, one can judge things from the perspective of one's own clinical experience, which is an advantage. In addition, regarding his research experience, he said that the basic research concept of testing a hypothesis, looking back, and repeating the next cycle can be applied to the logical thinking required for constructing clinical trials and developing marketing strategies.
    
As a university student, I have not had many opportunities to hear from doctors working in pharmaceutical companies, so this session was a very stimulating and valuable opportunity to hear from Dr. Oyama, who holds a high position in a global pharmaceutical company, about his work in there and his beliefs about his job.