The Why Behind the Work

There was a time when my love for engineering was the driving force in my career. Solving tough problems, designing solutions that balanced speed with precision: that’s what motivated me. But a day came when something shifted. I became acutely aware of the people on the other side of my work—the patients who benefit from our work in life science. And I found a sense of purpose much bigger than myself.

The distance between an engineer and a patient waiting for a life-saving therapy can feel huge at times. But when you feel the thread that connects you to patients—and hold onto it—it changes how you approach the work. This is the story of why I went all in on life sciences and never looked back. 

A Defining Experience Early in My Career 

Early in my career, I worked as an engineer at NECI, designing automation and digital transformation solutions for the life sciences industry, among others. My team and I had been working on a facility for the biotech company Genzyme (later acquired by Sanofi), and we were invited to attend a Genzyme-hosted event.

Greg Assink stepped up to the stage to speak. He spoke of his two children born with Pompe’s disease. His daughter Kelsey was born before an effective therapy was available, while his daughter Megan benefited from the development of Myozyme . Kelsey survived to the age of 9.  Megan was on the stage while her father told the family’s story.  She was a powerful example of how advances in biotechnology could change the course of a rare disease! Megan, I’ll never forget seeing that little girl come onstage, happy, giggling, grabbing at her dad’s cell phone. All because of the urgency of bringing treatments for rare diseases from research to manufacturing to patient care. There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience.

Henri Termeer, who led Genzyme for nearly three decades, showed me what a patient-centric organization looked like. Patients were the focus at Genzyme: they spoke at events, shared stories in annual reports, and adorned the company’s office walls. While I had always known that life science companies exist to help people, my experience with Megan and Genzyme made the connection crystal clear. From that point forward, I was all in on automating biotech, and it was no longer simply for the love of engineering. 

Running for a Purpose 

A group of us who worked together on this project were also runners. A colleague from Genzyme, Phil Madeira, was passionate about connecting our work to a cause beyond the facility, so he signed us up for the National Organization for Rare Disorders’ Running for Rare program. 

Some folks ran the Boston Marathon; I ran the Providence Half Marathon. Each of us was paired with a patient advocate. We got to meet them, and when we ran, their names adorned our shirts. Reminders of the real people for whom we were running. 

That running group is still going strong. Phil became a lifelong colleague and friend. We did hard things together for a bigger purpose, and that has a way of uniting people!! 

It All Comes Full Circle 

Fast forward more than 20 years from that first Genzyme project. We were planning our first Aspire event at Stellix—an immersive experience at our Foxborough headquarters, built on the belief that technology, science, and human connection must come together to accelerate patient outcomes. 

I wanted to invite a patient to speak at our event, so naturally I called Phil. Phil—the same person I worked with at Genzyme, the same person who got us running for rare diseases—connected me with Shaylee Boger.

Shaylee lives with late-onset Pompe disease. She has advocated for the Pompe community before Congress and in venues across the country. She refuses to let the disease define her. At Aspire, she spoke about what it’s like to live as both a patient and a pioneer for others like her. 

Here’s the part I didn’t know until the day of the event: of the three available Pompe therapies, Shaylee can only take one because of a corn allergy. That therapy is Myozyme. It was a true full-circle moment that hit me hard.  

Keeping Purpose at the Forefront 

I’m grateful for the experiences that wired purpose into my work within the life science community. But I’d be lying if I said it’s always easy to hold onto that deeper meaning. Some days, the work feels heavy. Life sciences is a pressure cooker. Outcomes and timelines are difficult, and “right the first time” has become an industry standard. AI is pushing all of us to rethink what’s possible in terms of speed and efficiency. It takes resilience to work in such a dynamic, demanding environment. 

When I’m feeling especially overwhelmed, I ground myself in my conviction that hard things are worth doing. Learning to tolerate discomfort is part of the work. The most fulfilling experiences in my career weren’t the easy wins; they were the ones that stretched me, challenged me to rise to the occasion. That’s been true again and again. 

I also try to remind myself that whatever difficulty I’m facing, it will pass. When I ask myself if I can endure a few hard days so someone’s child can get a life-saving treatment, the answer is always YES!

But as a leader, it’s not just about me. Part of my responsibility is empowering everyone at Stellix to feel a sense of purpose in their work. Many of our internal conversations focus on business outcomes: producing more, hitting our targets. Many of our client conversations do, too. Those outcomes are essential, but so is connecting them—and the hard work that goes into achieving them—to something even bigger. I’ve seen what life sciences makes possible for real people. I was all in 20 years ago, and I’m all in now.