ImBlackInPharma | Fafa Addo Boateng

Fafa Addo Boateng - Head, Medical Affairs, Sub-Saharan Africa

Can you describe your role in simple terms for someone unfamiliar with the industry?

I am currently Head of Medical Affairs for Novartis in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), also known as the Chief Scientific Officer. In this position, I am accountable for developing the vision and providing strategic medical affairs and patient safety leadership and direction for our SSA business. 

My background is clinical medicine, and prior to joining Novartis, I was with Johnson & Johnson for an incredible 10 years (approximately) in diverse roles of increasing complexity and responsibility. 

Medical Affairs is a critical function in pharma, serving as a bridge between clinical development and commercial. My scope of responsibilities in SSA includes all phases of global development and patient access before and after a medicinal product is commercialized. 

As medical affairs, we are therapy area and product experts, engaging in peer-to-peer interactions with healthcare professionals, key opinion leaders, and other stakeholders, to share important information about our products in a balanced, objective, and accurate way. This is particularly important for innovative products in development and products prior to commercialization. It provides healthcare professionals with the totality of evidence they need to make well-informed decisions for their patients and to use our medicines in a safe and appropriate way. 

Equally important are the valuable insights we generate in these scientific engagements with our stakeholders. Those insights help us to better understand and define priority unmet medical needs and shape our work from the lab to the last mile (access), to ensure that our innovations are aligned with the expectations of our patients, healthcare professionals, and other stakeholders. 

Over the years, I have particularly been inspired by several pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis and Johnson & Johnson, and their leadership in research and development, and commitment to improving access to medicines globally. 

I am passionate about healthcare and blessed to be part of talented teams over the last two decades, working tirelessly every day to improve the health and well-being of patients everywhere.  

If you had to pitch pharma as a career path to someone on the fence, what would you say?

I’d say ‘Go For It’!! 

I was on the fence once upon a time, not sure if I should remain in clinical practice at the teaching hospital or move to the industry. I continue to be grateful to my cousin (who works at Johnson & Johnson in the United States) for being the first person to pitch pharma to me and for being confident that I’d be an excellent fit for Johnson and Johnson at the time.  

It was a scary decision for me because not only did I not personally know a single medical doctor in Ghana at the time who was working in pharma; I was also pregnant with my first child. I am glad I was curious and bold enough to do it unsure and afraid. That single decision to pivot has turned out to be professionally and personally transformational. 

There is a wide range of interesting and fulfilling roles in pharma from research and development, medical affairs to access/commercialization, with the possibility to transition across different functions, thrive, and build expertise in technical areas irrespective of your educational background. You can do new things daily. Although I lead a team of scientists, you do not have to be a scientist to work in pharma. Other important and essential non-science related functions in pharma include finance, legal, compliance, ethics, market access, supply chain, human resources, engineering, policy and administration to mention a few.

One of my favourite things about my work in pharma is the opportunity to interact daily with people from diverse backgrounds and geographies who have diverse thoughts and experiences. As a people leader over the last decade, I have had the privilege of being responsible for teams sitting in different countries. This continues to shape me as a competent and effective leader. It helps to enhance and unlock innovation, creativity and critical thinking, and to elevate cultural competencies and the ability to work effectively with pretty much anyone across boundaries.

Furthermore, my work in pharma has offered me the platform to advance impactful and strategic partnerships with diverse regional and global stakeholders, including governments, industry, academia, healthcare professionals, global health organizations, patient advocacy groups, private and public sectors. These are relationships I would otherwise not have built.  

Finally, I believe that my intrinsic purpose is to improve the health of people. Daily, I feel a sense of pride and humility knowing that we are reaching hundreds of millions of patients annually with the innovations we develop. 

If you could give your younger self one piece of advice before entering this industry, what would it be?

I practised clinical medicine for about a decade before pivoting to pharma, with zero experience or knowledge about pharma. I was tunnel-visioned about the breadth and depth of opportunities available to me as a medical doctor. 

One piece of advice I would give my younger self is to be curious about the exciting career paths a medical doctor (in my case) can explore beyond clinical work. 

Fear and impostor syndrome could have easily held me back. 

My pivot to pharma has opened me up to a world of possibilities in healthcare, which I hardly knew existed. Pharmaceutical companies are transforming the lives of patients in very significant ways by investing heavily in the discovery and development of scientific innovations. It continues to amaze me that I knew little about pharma until shortly before I joined Johnson & Johnson in 2015. 

Looking at the entire continuum of healthcare, pharma is front and centre. Without the cutting-edge solutions being developed, clinicians will likely have little access to the full range of tools and new ways of treating patients with different diseases.

What would you say are the most important skills needed to progress into leadership roles in pharma?

First and foremost, there is a need to understand that great leadership is not about knowing everything, but rather about providing vision and direction, building a team of very smart people and getting out of their way and breaking down barriers when they need you to. Leaders are responsible for the people who are responsible for the results. 

Expertise and performance are critical and will get you through the first door; however, that alone will not determine your growth into leadership roles in pharma. 

Most big pharma companies employ tens of thousands of people, who are subject matter experts. You really must differentiate yourself by consistently demonstrating learning agility, a growth and global mindset, being a critical thinker, mastering value creation, learning fast, and, importantly, building and leveraging strategic relationships with decision-makers that can elevate your career to the next level. 

Approximately 50% of appointments are through recommendations. How effective you are in building and leveraging your relationships will determine how quickly you progress. On many occasions, decisions about your career are made when you are not in the room, and it is not always the hardest worker who gets promoted. You must, therefore, balance hard work with strategic career and development planning. 

To grow into leadership positions, one must be willing to become uncomfortable. Comfortable and easy are short-term friends but long-term enemies. I have been willing to take on challenging roles, even if I did not have a clue what I was to do. I said yes anyway and figured it out thereafter. Most colleagues are genuinely rooting for you and willing to support you when you ask for help. I strongly believe that it is impossible to fail if you give it your very best.

I have been in newly created positions that no one had previously held. To be given the opportunity to lead and shape clinical practice means that I have successfully showcased my talent and demonstrated value and excellent leadership qualities. 

Education, experiences and exposure (visibility) are critical to your advancement.

What has been your most empowering moment as a Black professional in pharma? (#BlackInPharma)

I have had many, and one is certainly having a tree planted in my honour in 2024 at the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC), a Centre of Excellence in Uganda. This is still a ‘pinch me’ moment, reminding me that we must be willing to take bold steps and walk paths that others are not comfortable walking. 

The reason why this is dear to my heart is that one of my main passions is data and evidence generation. The African continent boasts an unparalleled genetic diversity, which pharma/biotech should be leveraging in developing innovations which have the potential to transform the lives of patients living everywhere. Despite having a quarter of the global disease burden, less than 4% of all clinical trials are conducted in Africa. 

During my time at Johnson & Johnson, we collaborated with JCRC on a pivotal Phase 3B clinical trial. This was one of the largest multi-country randomized controlled trials JCRC had led and coordinated as a regulatory sponsor. This and other projects continue to provide positive exposure and elevate the capabilities of the Centre in diverse and impactful ways. 

It is an important reminder that clinical trial capabilities do exist on the continent, and we as big pharma, should continue to show agility and commitment in generating data locally in settings where the highest burden of disease exists. 

The tree was planted as an acknowledgement of the collaboration and as a reminder that clinical trial capabilities do exist in low- and middle-income countries and that trials can be conducted with high scientific rigor through impactful and mutually beneficial partnerships.  

I ‘visited’ my tree a few months ago and was surprised by how tall it’d grown. I cannot wait to take my kids to Kampala one day to water my tree. On a lighter note, the Executive Director of JCRC jokes that she waters the tree personally every morning. That is special!