Lead Risk Management Physician

From Vet to Patient Safety: 7 Questions with Fredrik Gruenenfelder

Fredrik Gruenenfelder, Lead Risk Management Physician, talks about his career journey, from veterinarian to playing a key role in keeping patients safe.

How long have you been at Boehringer Ingelheim?

I started in August 2011. So that’s quite a few years now!

What was your career journey leading to Boehringer Ingelheim?

My journey is a little unique. Before Boehringer Ingelheim, I was trained to be a vet! I did my board certification in neurology and neurosurgery in veterinary medicine. I worked at universities in Switzerland, in the US, and then I went to Glasgow in the UK for my PhD. Then my wife found a job at Boehringer Ingelheim – so I followed her to Germany and got a job there too, working in Medical Affairs.

How did you move to Patient Safety?

Well, I worked on quite a few projects in Medical Affairs, including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms. But after a while, I decided it was time to move on – change is always good. Working in Medical Affairs gave me great exposure to many areas, and Patient Safety was a department that captured my interest, so I was able to move across and start my Patient Safety journey.

What areas of Patient Safety have you worked in?

My primary experience is in phase 3 clinical trials and post marketing. I started out in post marketing actually, making sure drugs that have already been approved continue to stay safe while ‘they are out in the wild’. But the great thing about Patient Safety is that you get to work all across the whole drug development process – so now I’m currently building my experience in phase 1. In the future, I’ll hopefully have end-to-end experience across the whole value chain.

What’s the most exciting part of your role?

I think it’s the fact I’m working in such a new therapeutic area. Currently I’m in Mental Disorders, and it means I get to help build something from scratch and be part of building a completely new team. It’s challenging of course, but there is so much to discover. In a sense, it’s almost like I’m an entrepreneur, and that opportunity is really motivating.

What’s unique about Patient Safety at Boehringer Ingelheim?

Well firstly, I think the culture is really unique here – it’s a very friendly, family-owned business. But something else that’s unique is the flexibility. As you can see in my career, Boehringer Ingelheim allows – even encourages – you to switch between therapeutic areas. So, it’s a really great place to grow your career and satisfy your curiosity.

What’s next for Patient Safety?

For me personally, it’s my work in Mental Disorders which I’m extremely excited to see through. In terms of Patient Safety more generally though, nowadays, we are focusing on risk-benefit assessment a lot more. This is very attractive to me because it takes a broad view of patient experience and weighs the side effects of treatments – some of which can be considerable - against efficacy. We are very patient-centric in Patient Safety, which aligns with both what’s important to Boehringer Ingelheim, and what’s important to me. Afterall, I’m here ultimately because I want to make an impact on people’s lives.