Sara Aswegan | Strategic Advisor | Rare Disease Advocacy, Patient-Centric Solutions, & Global Collaboration

Sarah Aswegan, a seasoned biopharma leader and strategic advisor for global rare disease solutions, shares her journey from sales in pharma to her consulting work today. She discusses her experience in transitioning biopharma companies from clinical to commercial success, the evolution of medtech in diagnosing and managing rare diseases, and the collaborative efforts required to bring innovative treatments to market. She also shares insights on current trends in gene therapy, the dynamics of funding, and the importance of data in advancing care for rare disease patients.

Guest links: www.saraaswegan.com 

Charity supported: 

Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at [e-mail]. 

PRODUCTION CREDITS Host & Editor: Lindsey Dinneen Producer: Velentium Medical

 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Episode 065 - Sara Aswegan

[00:00:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world.

[00:00:09] Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them.

[00:00:15] Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives.

[00:00:28] Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives.

[00:00:38] Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives.

[00:00:42] Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Leading Difference podcast. I'm your host Lindsey, and today I'm delighted to welcome to the show, Sarah Aswegan. Sarah is a seasoned biopharma leader helping organizations transition and grow from clinical to commercial success. She prides herself on the success of leading multiple global cross-functional teams and contributing to the success of the franchise areas she oversaw and served. Until recently, she's applied these experiences while serving in a consultancy capacity for many small to midsize biotechs entering or expanding in rare disease. She has also successfully helped organizations to start and scale adjacent spaces to biopharma, and most recently has been serving as a Global Head of Commercial Assets, Brands, and Care Solutions, and has led transformational change at UCP, having been part of the design and scale of the business unit for rare disease. She maintains a strong network among clinicians, access, bioethicists, and patient advocacy globally.

Well, thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so excited to speak with you.

[00:01:52] Sara Aswegan: Thanks, Lindsey. It's nice to be here.

[00:01:54] Lindsey Dinneen: Wonderful. Well, I'd love, if you wouldn't mind, sharing a little bit about yourself and your background and what led you to medtech.

[00:02:02] Sara Aswegan: Yeah, thanks Lindsey. You know, I, I started my career ages ago in the pharma side of things, and as my career has grown, so has the exposure across pharmaceuticals, into biotech and including aspects of medtech. As we look at some of the areas I've spent the last 18 years in rare disease, the medtech component is coming in largely around if we think about the diagnosis component and then the management of the different conditions over the lifespan of a child or adult affected by a rare condition. You can see things really evolving.

I started my career on the sales side of things. My education is in business and communication, so anyone can learn the science if you have good mentors and people to help you along the way. And I was really, really fortunate to work amongst a team of amazing individuals, both in the US and then now having lived away for about 15 years outside of the US that have helped open my eyes to what can be possible and the differences by markets.

And as I mentioned, I spent the last 18 years in the rare disease space really helping companies of all sizes build out and scale their teams, bringing in new assets and bringing solutions to the field of rare disease. And it's something I'm very passionate about.

[00:03:06] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing a little bit about that. So I'm curious, that's a very specific niche and I would love to understand how you arrived at that and how you realized, "Oh, this is what I'm meant to be doing."

[00:03:19] Sara Aswegan: Yeah. So I made