Thriving in the Data

Imagine a folder filled with hundreds of pages of highly technical biopharmaceutical data. Now imagine taking all that data and synthesizing it to three slides that help a CEO make a decision that influences the future of their company – maybe even the biopharmaceutical industry.

Welcome to Emily Hoffman's world.

Hoffman, who earned her PhD in materials science and engineering from Northwestern in 2016, is a manager at Ambit Consulting Services (ACS), a firm focused on the future of biopharma. She recently spoke about the realities of life as a consultant in the sciences as part of the Biotech Nexus event organized by Northwestern Engineering's Master of Biotechnology Program (MBP).

"Often, we're given a lot of specific data and deep analysis of individual business issues, and we're tasked with leveling it up to be strategically actionable," Hoffman said. "We have to make the most important information pop out. It's a challenge of how to make something really simple yet really impactful."

Hoffman joined the company in February, but she's worked in biopharmaceutical consulting since leaving Northwestern. Data dissemination is only one component of Hoffman's work. At ACS, she oversees a team while also doing day-to-day work helping clients confronted with important strategic questions. Sometimes that means she's making visually appealing graphs to show data in an easily digestible way, other times it means reviewing project budgets and timelines to make sure deadlines are met. 

The tasks change. The clients change. The fun of the challenge? That never changes. 

Hoffman has found the key to being successful within biopharmaceutical consulting is effective communications — a skill routinely emphasized in MBP. Communicating to all team members is important, she said, but being able to communicate with the C-suite and other decision makers can be the difference between success or failure. 

“They’re the really busy people," Hoffman said, "so figuring out what they really need to know and balancing that with technical and detailed, yet simple and digestible information – that tightrope is the challenge." 

It takes a special kind of person to walk that tightrope well, Hoffman said. In building her team, she searches for individuals with strong STEM backgrounds who are interested in business and excited to put science into action. The most effective team members are also the most curious, she said. 

“The people who, if you say a word they don’t know, they immediately go to Google it, those are the kind of people who do really well in consulting,” Hoffman said. 

Knowing Biotech Nexus participants were curious about entering the job market, Hoffman offered a bit of advice. Rather than thinking solely about selling themselves, Hoffman urged attendees to focus on the companies they align themselves with.

“You may be a good fit technically for a lot of roles out there, but finding a company that values the skills you do have is important,” she said. “Find a company that’s looking for your skills and then you don’t have to do as much work making your skills pop, because what you naturally want to show off, they value.”