60 seconds with… Mirko Senatore, Pfizer

We had the pleasure of chatting to Mirko Senatore, Senior Director Global Supply Chain Lead at Pfizer, about how his role has changed in the last 12 months, adapting to new ways of working under increased demand while still meeting patient and customer needs, and what he’s looking forward to at LogiPharma 2021.

How has COVID-19 changed your role and the demands on your team?

We had to suddenly relook at our priorities and re-organise ourselves to make sure we could fulfil patients’ needs and avoid any supply shortages driven by the sudden demand spikes.

At the same time, we had to learn new ways of working and do that fast!

While we were already used to working remotely, for several colleagues this meant re-adapting to a whole new work-life balance, and for us collectively as a team meant getting acquainted to run our activities, even the most strategic in nature, in a virtual setting that was replacing our traditional face to face and flipchart-based workshops, just to give an example.

I’m proud to say that, despite the incredible stretch, we managed to maintain very high customer service levels while at the same time advancing our strategic agenda, without at the same time compromising the focus on colleagues’ development.

Do you think it's possible that this crisis has indirectly sparked any positive change in the industry?

The pandemic has, undoubtedly, been a very tragic event, especially if we think about the amount of lives lost and the impact on several of the world’s economies, much of which we are yet to see, I’m afraid.

With that said, I believe that the crisis forced the industry to look at innovative ways of collaborating amongst key players and with the regulators, which were somehow unprecedented and might hopefully stay beyond COVID-19.

The “we are in this together” was a refreshing, collective sentiment that could be felt already since March 2020.

The crisis has also led the industry as a whole to relook at the very notion of resilience, and potentially accelerated the development of new operational tools, as well as the adoption of digital technologies which, while already available, had not had a similar level of uptake up until last year.

Tell us about your involvement with LogiPharma this year

As usual, I’m very much looking forward to one of the top events within the Pharma Supply Chain domain!

And while I will greatly miss the in-person interaction with old and new faces alike, I’m excited for what’s going to be another edition to remember, with the hope of being able to contribute some of my knowledge to further advance our fields through direct involvement in one of the live panels – really with the expectation to also take some live questions!

Register to attend LogiPharma Virtual Event, 20 - 22 April, 2021