Pauline Oakes is currently Vice President, Operations, EMEA/APAC region for Integer. In this role, she oversees all operations in the region spanning four manufacturing plants and responsibility for approximately 2,000 associates. She joined Integer in 2019 and brings more than 27 years of medical device industry experience to the company.
Prior to joining Integer, Pauline held various roles of increasing responsibility in areas spanning site leadership, operations, supply chain and IT with companies including Becton Dickinson, Bard, Clearstream Technologies and AngioDynamics. Throughout her career, she has honed her change management, cross-functional leadership, strategy development and continuous improvement skills through involvement in a varied range of corporate development phases, from start-ups, buy-outs, launches, and acquisitions, each requiring different leadership skills and approaches.
Pauline holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics from University College Cork in Ireland. She is also a member of the governing board of South East Technological University and a Greentech HQ board member.
What initially attracted you to the medtech industry? How has your perspective on the industry evolved over the course of your career?
As a young professional, I initially joined the medical device industry in an IT role with a startup after working as an IT programmer for a number of years. My job was to set up IT systems to support the business. In working with various functions across the business to achieve this objective, over time I learned about the complexity of designing and manufacturing medical device products and the impact they can have on people’s lives. It became very apparent how critical it is to have excellent safety, quality, and of course top talent on your team to be successful in the medtech industry.
As a seasoned professional in the industry, how do you envision the future of medtech? What emerging technologies or trends do you believe will have the most significant impact?
Over the years, it has been amazing to see the progression of products and advances in procedures that have enabled more patients to get treated successfully. It truly reinforces the importance of innovation. When you are on the ground working in the industry day in and day out, you have the opportunity to witness ways everyone can contribute to genuine progress in the treatment of complex healthcare challenges.
In the future, I think we will see more collaboration between medical device, technology and robotics companies as they leverage new and emerging areas like AI and robotics to treat patients and maximize cost efficiencies in their manufacturing processes.
From your experience, what are some of the key challenges that medtech engineers are likely to face in the coming years? How can professionals in the industry prepare for and navigate these challenges effectively?
Perhaps the biggest challenge I see in the coming years is the ability to keep up with the pace of change in the medtech industry, from both a procedural and regulatory perspective. Additionally, offsetting significant inflationary pressures with automation, achieving efficiency improvements and building robust supply chains to ensure continuity of supply will remain a challenge.
Engineers can prepare for these challenges by keeping abreast of advancements in the industry by attending trade shows, watching clinical procedures, working with the appropriate partners to assess automation opportunities, and partnering with supply chain teams in the early design phase to ensure security of supply with dual sourcing strategies.
In your opinion, what areas or applications within medtech have the greatest potential for growth and innovation? Why do you consider them promising?
In my opinion, AI and robotics have significant potential to drive innovation in new product development within medtech. They offer the opportunities for significant advancements that will drive cost efficiencies and safety improvements for clinicians, which will make procedures safer, more accessible and ultimately allow more patients to be treated.
As technology continues to advance rapidly, how do you think medtech engineers can stay ahead of the curve and ensure they are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge?
Staying ahead of the curve can be difficult but is necessary to remain successful in the industry. One way to remain sharp is to never stop learning. Work with the right companies and people. Keep up to date by reading articles. Attend trade shows. Talk to key opinion leaders, customers and partners. And, perhaps most importantly, find a mentor to help push you out of your comfort zone.
From a broader perspective, how do you see the role of medtech engineering in shaping the future of healthcare? What impact do you anticipate it will have on patient care and outcomes?
I believe medtech engineering is the future of healthcare. Innovative engineers collaborating with healthcare professionals are the primary reason behind the advancements made in the last 20 years and will be the reason for further advancement in the next 20.
I expect to see increased interaction with the medical professions, medtech engineers and the technology industry, combining disciplines to create the next best thing in healthcare. I can envision a future where custom medical devices that are tailored for individual patients to ensure better procedural outcomes become the norm. To achieve these advancements, the medtech industry will need to leverage automation and adapt new technology that improves manufacturing and inspection efficiencies and ensures ongoing excellent quality.
Considering the increasing importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, how do you think medtech engineers can effectively collaborate with professionals from other fields, such as medicine and computer science, to drive innovation in the industry?
As mentioned above, I believe this kind of collaboration is critical. Additionally, as time progresses, medtech companies may look to acquire companies in the technology space to complement their product design capabilities. The opposite could also occur as more tech companies realize the opportunity to leverage their technology to become a significant player in the medtech industry. This convergence of businesses and industries would lead to a cross-pollination of talent.
How do you think diversity and inclusion can contribute to the advancement of medtech engineering? How do you foster a culture of innovation within your team or organization?
Diversity helps to ensure the advancement of any team, not just in medtech engineering. Different genders, nationalities and generations see things differently, bringing unique perspectives and offering different ideas for how to get things accomplished. As we create a culture of listening to others’ opinions and ideas, we are collectively more productive, open and creative.
Throughout my career, I have become increasingly more aware of how much you can learn from truly listening and not assuming your opinion is always best. In fact, in most cases I would say I have learned that from my mistakes.
At Integer, I am a member of the steering committee of the Athena Alliance Employee Resource Group that promotes gender diversity at all levels within Integer. It is my hope that the initiatives brought forth by the ERG will continue to help to ensure that all genders feel supported, connected and motivated, so everyone can achieve their career aspirations within Integer.