Iona Everson from PMGroup spoke to Doina Ionescu, managing director for the UK and Ireland at Merck, about her professional journey and experiences as a woman in the industry

Iona Everson (IE): What was your professional journey to your current position?
Doina Ionescu (DI): I am a scientist by background. I graduated as a nuclear physicist in my home country of Romania and then continued my professional journey with a PhD in physical chemistry, which took me to the UK. I joined Merck many years ago as a bench scientist working on performance materials, joined the company’s sponsored MBA scheme and completed my MBA in the UK.

After that, I moved from scientist to project manager in the corporate mergers and acquisitions department and then continued as a manager in new business development. My first general management job was in Romania, where I started the subsidiary in life sciences from scratch. From there I advanced to regional head for Southeast Europe, returned to Germany and became head of commercial operations EMEA. I moved on to a global role in global business innovation and then landed my current role, which is my dream job.

IE: Having worked in different countries, what are some of the highlights of your career?
DI: I grew up in communist Romania and there were obviously a lot of frustrations. All I could do was study, so I focused on that, but I definitely missed out on popular culture.  I grew up in the countryside and first heard of the Beatles when I was 18 and had moved to university, so my music knowledge was very limited. I distinctly remember the family dinners we had every day of the week, because there was no TV, there were no clubs or pubs. There was nothing else to do but to really nurture those family relationships. I focused on my education and I did very well in that because all the distractions that exist today were not there for me.

However, when I started to realise after the 1989 revolution that there was a whole different world out there, I was very curious to see what it was about.

As part of my PhD, I went to Moscow for three months and studied at Lomonosov University. That made me appreciate my life in Romania – the safety of my country and the support from my friends and university teachers. It was just a different culture. Being in Russia gave me a wake-up call and showed me that Romania, in those days, was the better country for me.

‘There is a lot of talk about hurdles in the industry and when I look at what’s available to female employees now, I can see the progress that the industry has made in the last 25 years’

A few months later, I landed at Heathrow Terminal 4 and after seeing the greenery around me, the first thought that came to my mind was: “I don’t know how, but I’m going to make it here.” I fell in love with the music and sense of humour – but not the weather! I realised how many opportunities I could have in the UK, how exciting the professional environment was and how many chances people here had to really progress their personal development and their scientific journeys.

Germany was another great experience. The Germans are very direct. They say what they think and they do what they say, so it was very clear what the expectations were.

That was yet another environment in which I thrived, because I learnt so much. I went back to Romania in the 2000s where I was able to implement everything I’d learnt from the mature markets in other countries in an emerging market environment.

IE: As a woman in the industry, what would you say are some of the obstacles you’ve encountered as you progressed in leadership roles?
DI: When I first came to the UK, having come from a communist country, there were some concepts that just didn’t fit in my mind. I came from a country where there was perfect gender equality and no class system. You had the intellectuals, the people who went to university; and you had the working class, the people who were educated but didn’t go to university. Obviously you had other people in leading positions, but it wasn’t a daily issue in my life.

When I came to the UK, I saw a male-dominated world with blue-collar and white-collar roles. I had no understanding of these concepts, so as they didn’t make sense to me, I didn’t perceive them as hurdles. I started to fight for equality because it was the right thing to do, it was fair. I think the men I worked with in those days didn’t quite know what to do with me because I was very outspoken and direct, so they just allowed me to get on with things.

There is a lot of talk about hurdles in the industry and when I look at what’s available to female employees now, I can see the progress that the industry has made in the last 25 years. When I first became a mother, I only had six weeks of maternity leave and my manager did not allow me to take my daughter for her first vaccination because it was during working hours. Now look at what’s available.

View of Merck’s Innovation Center and Puetzer tower in Darmstadt, Germany

There are better maternity policies, paternity policies, fertility policies, menopause policies and work from home/hybrid environments. Irrespective of whether these policies are in place or not, I think women are in control of where they want to take their careers.

I think the pharma industry has come a long way in terms of progress. I see women taking longer maternity leaves or career breaks and then returning to the workplace and progressing. It is no longer held against you as much as it used to be, but there are other industries that haven’t made as much progress. Whatever choice you make, there is always a price to pay, whether that is staying with your family and raising your children or choosing your career.

IE: Despite women making up over 50% of the pharma workforce in England, they only represent just over 30% of board-level roles. What is the importance of female leadership within the industry?
DI: There is evidence that having female board members adds economic value. I think there are some statistics that show that companies with women on the board are far more profitable.

At Merck UK, women represent more than 50% of the leadership team and we also employ a high number of women in the general workforce. My objective, through my various external engagements, is to raise awareness for girls in schools that being in STEM does not mean being stuck working in a lab for the rest of your life. I am an example of that. I think STEM education opens doors to so many other career opportunities.

The UK lags behind Europe in terms of female representation in STEM subjects for GCSEs and A levels. I think the percentage of girls who pursue further education in science after taking their GCSEs is much lower than it is for boys. I don’t think there is enough awareness of the value that sciences can bring to one’s life and ways of thinking.

There are so many diverse opportunities and they should all be available to girls. I feel compelled to keep emphasising this, because it’s so important for the UK to be on par with the rest of Europe.

IE: How would you say that female representation across the pharma industry has changed over the course of your career?
DI: I think it has changed a lot. Women are clearly far better represented in boardrooms and executive teams, and I have also seen an evolution in the way women present themselves.

‘Being authentic has huge value in the workplace – when you speak from the heart, people will follow, but when you’re not authentic, people will notice’

At the beginning of my career in healthcare, I noticed that women who advanced in their careers often showed more male traits – being more assertive, less empathetic, listening less and talking more, but this has changed over the last 20 years. Now, I see women showing empathy and vulnerability. I see them being authentic, which has huge value in the workplace. I think when you speak from the heart, people will follow. But when you’re not authentic, people will notice.

IE: Do you feel that there has been a marked difference between female representation in the different countries you have been based in?
DI: In Romania, as I said, there was equality and I think women were equally represented then. There is still no difference between men and women. If anything, women are, at times, much more ambitious and show much more drive to advance to leadership positions.

I think a lot of progress has been made in the UK in terms of equality and it’s the same in Germany to an extent. Even though the child support system in Germany was far better and more affordable than in the UK, women were still expected to stay at home and look after their families for the first two to three years. Now there are a lot of women in leadership roles in Germany as the pharma industry recognises the value of diversity.

IE: What advice would you give to women who are just starting their careers in pharma?
DI: I always had a dream of being able to help people who have cancer. My father passed away when I was 20 from lung cancer. That happened many years ago and he had very few options in those days. I always hoped I’d have the chance to go back to Romania and work to help provide people with cancer with more treatment options, so I was delighted that I ended up working in healthcare at an oncology company and was able to create a subsidiary in Romania.

Pursuing that dream, being authentic along the way and being passionate about my work really helped me. My advice, if you want to be successful, is to follow your dreams, follow your passions.

IE: How do you see Merck changing and adapting over the next five years?
DI: Flexibility and agility in the local environment, while maintaining a strong focus globally on the therapeutic areas and patient value, are really key in taking the company forward. Merck has been around for more than 360 years, so I have great faith in the company’s resilience and its ability to continue to be successful for the next 360 years!

Iona Everson is Group Managing Editor and Emily Kimber is Deputy Editor, both at PMGroup