In the Fall of 2015, my Collaborative Innovation Program (CIP) team was tasked by Mack Institute corporate partner Ansell with a unique healthcare innovation challenge: They asked us to reinvent male condom distribution for millennials. (You can read my teammate Aobo’s take on the project here.)
As a team, we were certainly not expecting an assignment in Ansell’s sexual wellness division, and our professors, admittedly, were hesitant to hand students such a potentially sensitive topic. But the challenge ended up being a transformative experience for our team, and the beginning of a great opportunity for me personally.
Collectively, our group possessed a unique and diverse skill set that we effectively leveraged to produce inventive solutions for Ansell’s SKYN brand. Although we were initially a bit hesitant on where to begin, our professors were readily available to offer their expertise and guidance throughout the semester. They gave us the freedom to work independently, but were there as a supportive resource when we needed their feedback.
As a healthcare professional, if I had not taken this course at the Mack Institute, I would not have fully realized the significant disparities in our current contraceptive education and the underutilization of potentially viable distribution channels. By taking this course, our team was able to further develop an impactful healthcare initiative and recommend several innovative channels to Ansell’s CEO and executive teams. Our solutions not only challenge traditional attitudes towards sexual wellness, but also reinvent conventional male condom distribution to specifically adapt to the dynamic purchasing habits of millennials.
After our team presented our final recommendations, Ansell expressed their enthusiasm for our insights, analyses, and ingenuity. We were able to add a fresh perspective to their industry, and our team was very excited to hear that Ansell is currently in the process of implementing our solutions into their SKYN brand. Due to the success of our project, Ansell reached out to our team to offer career opportunities post-graduation, and this summer, I worked in Ansell’s Global Marketing for Medical Solutions division.
The internship at Ansell was a great experience! It gave me a valuable learning opportunity, and I thoroughly enjoyed the highly collaborative and supportive work environment. During the course of my product information management (PIM) project, I conducted a competitor analysis, drafted product descriptions, determined the strategic marketing direction for specific medical products, and developed product positioning statements. At the end of the internship, I presented my final deliverable to the executive teams and later heard from my supervisors that my project was very well received!
Ansell’s Global Marketing for Medical Solutions division was the perfect platform to transition my career into an administrative sector and allowed me to gain a greater understanding of the marketing process. By interning at Ansell, I was given the opportunity to learn how to effectively leverage my clinical background and successfully integrate my skill set into a non-clinical setting.
I am currently exploring further career opportunities at Ansell. In the future, I have no doubt that the unique experiences and skills acquired through the Mack Institute and Ansell will continue to serve as an invaluable resource as I forge ahead in my personal and professional life.
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About the Author
Emily Pell holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Boston College and recently completed a Master of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Health Care Administration. Prior to Penn, Emily worked in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of Columbia New York-Presbyterian, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Children’s National Medical Center, Madigan Army Medical Center, and Sydney Children’s Hospital. Last summer, she completed an internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers in management consulting as a part of the Strategic Transformation group in the Healthcare Advisory line of service. Emily has also acquired international healthcare experience from medical missions in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq; San Salvador, El Salvador; and Guwahati, India.