Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to “Spread Love in Organizations”, a podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love.
I am Naji, your host, joined today by Saloni Behl an accomplished leader with over 16 years of experience in building high-impact strategies to grow companies and make them more efficient and effective in bringing transformative medications to patients. Over the last 10 years, Saloni has been in Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and has played a critical role in helping the company grow its portfolio within Neuroscience and Nephrology. She has undertaken leadership roles in New Product Planning, Business Development Strategy, and most recently R&D. Saloni believes in leading teams by observing, understanding and empowering. Her childhood experiences have taught her to see things other might miss, to bounce back from challenges, and truly value the people she works with. She is passionate about making a real difference in brain health.
Saloni, it is such a pleasure to have you with me today!
Saloni Behl: Well, thank you for having me here. And I’m also very excited and I feel privileged to be here.
Naji Gehchan: Can you first share with us your personal story? From biomedical engineering to leading R&D in pharma, what’s in between the lines of your inspiring journey?
Saloni Behl: So actually it starts way before biomedical engineering. Um, I. Uh, my childhood was spent in in Mumbai, India, and I had a little bit of a rough upbringing where I was abused.
I was exposed to a household where there was a lot of trauma. My father was, was an addict and he was pretty much addicted to, uh, anything, whether it’s tobacco or alcohol or, um, you know, gambling or, um, abusing my mother. Um, and growing up in that sort of a household, uh, I very early on became very acutely observant of what was happening in the world around me.
Um, and I went through a lot of my childhood as almost an observer of life, very passive, average student, um, doing the bare minimum needed to get by. Um, I was very, thankful and very lucky that my mother, um, garnered the courage to eventually get out of the marriage and, um, you know, start to rebuild life.
And within a couple of years, she met a wonderful human being who, um, she got married to and, um, we moved to the U S. Um, with with our with our family. Um, but as my as my life progressed and childhood progressed, um, uh, I continue to stay while while life was rebuilding. I would say around me. I continue to be more of this acute observer of life.
Um, and just when things were, you know, starting to rebuild. I, um, I remember I was in a classroom in my in a physics class. In high school and, um, my, my left eye protruded about two inches out of its socket. And, um, basically three years, many misdiagnoses and many, uh, hospital visits later. Um, I sat in Mayo Clinic and was told that I was at risk of losing my eyesight because I had, um, basically a tennis ball sized tumor pressing against my optic nerve.
And, um, for me, that was probably a turning point in life and a big turning point, um, as they say, sometimes a crucible, um, where essentially I realized that, um, you know, it was time to not be an observer of life, but actually be an active participant and start to shape life, um, you know, in a way that you can actually drive change.
And for me, that change was, was healthcare at that time. So, um, for me, a lot of my childhood has shaped honestly my, my leadership journey. Because even today, um, you know, I lead by obs. I, I lead by observing and then by understanding and being more resilient. Being resilient through challenges. And a lot of that has come from, from my childhood.
But as you know. But, you know, post that, I think my life is what you mentioned, where, you know, I decided to study biomedical engineering, um, and since then I’ve been on the health care bandwagon trying to drive change wherever, wherever, um, wherever possible and, and never looking back, essentially. Oh,
Naji Gehchan: Saroni, thank you so much for sharing this part of your, your story.
How you framed it from acute observer of life to an active participant and driving change and you’re certainly are driving change and bringing, I know you brought recently drugs also to patients and this is, this is why we do what we do and you’re certainly doing it every day with your teams. So I want to start with, you said, observing, understanding, empowering.
This is kind of your leadership. and how you lead teams. And it certainly comes from your past experiences. Can you share a little bit more about this, about your leadership signature, about how you drive your teams towards the purpose of making life better for patients?
Saloni Behl: Yeah. I mean, I think, um, you know, as I mentioned, it’s a good question.
I mean, as I mentioned, a big part of my leadership is observing, understanding, and empowering people the way I, the way I, um, the way I Utilize that in my day to day is, um, I’m very acutely observant of if there, for example, there are inequities in the workplace. If people are being mistreated in the workplace, if their voices that are not being heard in the workplace, if people are not, if the workplace is not being adequately represented with certain voices and diverse voices, um, so I use that sort of to my advantage, um, because I In meetings, I will, you know, try to make people speak up who, for example, are not getting a chance to speak up.
We’ll try to be as inclusive as possible when we’re discussing strategy, for example, for a product or for the company. Um, that’s how I sort of apply. My observational skills that, um, you know, I think have shaped my leadership and then in terms of, you know, trying to empower people. It’s linked to that because, um, if you’re somebody who sees a lot, then it’s it’s your job to act.
And, and, um, and do something about it. So, um, I do wherever wherever possible. I make sure that, um, that that individuals, whether they’re on my team or individuals I mentor, which there are quite a few within my company, um, are empowered to speak up empowered to act and and not just observe.
Naji Gehchan: You know, several times I was asked when we say spread love, if love is an acronym for something. And it’s, uh, it’s interesting two of the words you have. So at some point I was, you know, reflecting on it, it’s listen, observe value and empower. So we, we certainly do align on, on how leadership should be. And you’ve done, you’ve been a leader in different functions, uh, within, uh, within your company.
Uh, from commercial product planning to now leading RNC cross functionally, uh, on, on one of the assets. Uh, what are your biggest learning? As you have moved function and led different capabilities, different, uh, different people. Also, uh, is there, was there a common thread and all those roles from leadership perspective that you had?
Saloni Behl: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the, I think the common thread for me is. Being able to elevate voices across the organization and elevate opinions, elevate insights across the organization, which I think whether you’re a leader in commercial or a leader in R and D or your leader in business development strategy, um, to develop effective strategies, no matter where you sit in the company, you need to bring the right people to the table, the right voices to the table, make sure you have, you know, discussions and elevate risks, elevate, um, You know, elevate roadmaps that you need to put together.
So I think that’s been a skill that I’ve had, which is mobilizing teams in an effective, effective and efficient manner towards driving milestones and decisions. And so wherever I sit, um, you know, it’s It really doesn’t matter and that’s what sort of helped me move around, I would say, and drive change.
Naji Gehchan: So your passion is in neuroscience, and these days it became, I should say it has always been, but it feels like these days it’s really an exciting field. Like we’re seeing so many advances from gene therapy to Alzheimer’s, everything’s happening in those fields. So it’s certainly an exciting, um, time to, uh, be passionate about neuroscience and most importantly for the patients, right.
And in this, uh, suffering from neuroscience diseases, I’d love to get your view and what is most exciting for you, uh, in the future of this therapeutic area.
Saloni Behl: Yeah. I mean, that’s a great, that’s a great question. And there’s so much exciting. There’s so much exciting work happening. So it’s, it’s hard to pinpoint one thing, but I would say, um, within neuropsychiatry, let’s say as a category, the, the two areas I’m most excited about is, um, one digital therapies that are, um, actively being developed, um, in the space to treat a lot of, um, mental illnesses.
And then second, um, I’m seeing a lot of, uh, very, very robust evidence come out in from psychedelic based therapies, actually, um, in the neuropsychiatric space where you’re looking at, um, you’re seeing some really interesting phase two and phase three data emerge that shows that these medications could potentially treat the brain in a very different way than traditional therapies.
So I’m, I’m excited about that. I would say I’m very excited about the digital therapy space as mentioned. Um, also because of, um, the number of patients this could potentially access. Coming from a country that’s developing and a lot of people don’t have access to therapists or physicians there in places that are far away from doctors offices.
Um, I think if one, but I think if you’re able to get digital tools to those places and, you know, somebody can get. Get treated by an app that could be transformative and imagine the number of patients who could get care that don’t currently get it. So I think that’s the aspect of digital therapies that gets me very, very excited.
And, you know, there’s, there’s, there’s, there’s challenges to navigate across all of this, but it just, I feel hopeful.
Naji Gehchan: That’s why we’re here, right? Like, making sure that we overcome those challenges. And I know you’re doing it. On this, you, you talked about access. and inequity in access. You talked about where you come from.
Um, I also, uh, come from a country that has challenges where, where I was born through access. So how do you think about health inequities or health equity globally as a healthcare leader these days?
Saloni Behl: That’s a that’s a good that’s a good. That’s a great question. Um, globally. Yeah, I mean, I think there’s more inequity than equity, to be honest, and a lot of a lot of the globe.
So, um, I, I think it’s, yeah, I mean,
think about this a little bit.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, I think it’s health and equity is Related to related inequities and so many different arenas, right? Like, uh, income, inequ, inequity, um, you know, uh, d uh, just like the access to, like hygiene for example. Like there’s inequities in so many different arenas across different countries, and I feel like the countries that are really struggling in, um, education, in hygiene in.
Um, uh, you know, income inequalities. I think they’re having to struggle with a lot more health. Health and equity just goes hand in hand with that. So, um, my Yeah, I thought that is just that it’s so it’s so linked to what’s happening, you know, and it’s a big question.
Naji Gehchan: I, I definitely agree with you. You know, I think of it and we both when you are currently a student at MIT, but it’s certainly the system dynamic, right?
As you said, like, it’s so interlinked those there is. systemic inequities built in, in our societies, right? From, as you said, uh, information, education, like it starts very early on to unfortunately health equity. Um, so, so it’s certainly interlinked and we, we have, uh, we, we have this responsibility as healthcare leaders to look at it, think about it and, and make a change.
Saloni Behl: And think about it to your point holistically at a systemic level because it’s so linked. Yeah. Yeah.
Naji Gehchan: Yeah. So I’m going to move now to a section where I’m going to give you a word and I would love your reaction to it. The first one is leadership.
Saloni Behl: Responsibility. Um,
Can you share more about it? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think, um, as you as you grow into leadership roles or as you have a leadership position, I think your responsibility increases to be, you know, responsible to give back. You’re responsible to, um, to do more. You’re responsible to empower people around you to also grow as leaders.
So I think with leadership, with good leadership comes responsibility. Responsibility to contribute to give back, um, in whatever organization you’re in, whatever role you’re in. Um, and and even outside, um, the organization to the community and, um, and to society
diversity, um, inclusivity. And the reason I put those together is I don’t think diversity by itself is enough when you have, for example, a diverse workforce. What’s the point if you can’t build an inclusive environment where the diversity can actually speak up? So diversity without inclusivity is, to me, um, not enough.
Uh, yeah. What about brain health? the most complicated, uh, problem that we’re, we’re sitting on today. So brains, um, you know, unlike a lot of other parts of the body, the brains, I believe truly believe are the most complicated machines on this planet. So, um, brain health. by default is, you know, trying to solve problems, um, to fix parts of the most complicated machine on this planet.
Uh, so complex.
Naji Gehchan: The last one is spread love and organizations
Saloni Behl: necessary. This, this, uh, organizations can’t operate without love, without empathy, without, um, understanding, um, So I think that’s just the core of the DNA, the blood of organization that keeps organizations going, um, even in this, this, this, the world of AI and generative AI, um, love is what keeps us.
I love that.
Naji Gehchan: Any final word of wisdom, certainly for health care leaders across the world?
Saloni Behl: I would say that what, like, I think, you know, just that I think people should just health care leaders across the world should just remember that, um, health care will and always be some of the most pressing need, um, globally. And, um, it’s really important, um, as health care leaders of tomorrow and today, that That leaders work together with each other to to try to solve some of the needs.
Um, it’s time to not work in silos. It’s time to work as a community to towards figuring out some of the most solutions towards some of the most pressing problems that the world faces in health care.
Naji Gehchan: Well, thank you so much, you’re such an inspiration for many. And I really thank you for your time, your generosity and your vulnerability being with me today on this podcast.
Naji Gehchan: Thank you all for listening to SpreadLove in Organizations podcast. Drop us a review on your preferred podcast platform
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