Class of 2004: Ayat Al-Bassam
MBiotech Class of 2004: Ayat Al-Bassam
Product Manager, Hoffman-La Roche
Branching from her internship placement at Hoffmann La Roche, within the marketing team as part of a product launch, Ayat was extended as a marketing associate after graduation. From there she moved into a unique project manager role for a CRM system (Customer Relationship Management) where she was able to work with many different business teams and brands. One year after graduation, Ayat decided to pursue an exciting opportunity to launch a combination vaccine as a Product Manager for sanofi pasteur. After launching, she made the strategic move into a sales position with Pfizer Canada, and after some time working in different territories and therapeutic areas she decided to return to Hoffmann La Roche as a Strategic Insights Manager in Oncology. Most recently, Ayat has made the move back into marketing as a Product Manager at Hoffmann La Roche within the Rheumatology Business Unit.
Among her biggest accomplishments, Ayat includes all the remarkable products that she's had a chance to work on. All were game changers: very targeted biologic therapies, unique vaccines, and blockbuster drugs. Alongside the products, and the different markets she worked in, she says she was fortunate to work closely with patients, their treaters and caregivers to see first hand the impact these medical solutions provided to patients, and found this a very rewarding experience.
She remembers the most valuable part of the program was the team building skills and the relationships she developed with her classmates who became co-workers throughout her career at different organizations and roles. During school and after graduating, Ayat found the skills she learned and the importance of working effectively in teams, and taking on the different roles within a team as invaluable. She says she learned how to work with different types of personalities and learned a lot about herself in the process as well. Ayat continues to use these skills and learn from her teammates in her day-to-day life at work.