"I’m all about becoming a champion and an ambassador for whatever brand or product I’m involved with."Name: Doug Everidge Title: Healthcare StrategistAlbum Recommendation: 2112 by RushQ. What are your responsibilities in your role at TrendyMinds?A. Healthcare Strategist is a new role at TrendyMinds. I’m focused on driving new business, primarily with pharmaceutical clients. I work on understanding their needs and how we can best serve them. Naturally, we want to get all of our projects started off on the right strategic foot. I also spend a fair amount of time sharing our capabilities and examples of our work with potential new clients and making sure they understand everything our agency is capable of doing. Q. What were you up to before you joined TrendyMinds?A. Before this, I had a full career at Eli Lilly and Company. I started as a chemical engineer, extracting insulin from the pancreas glands of pigs and cows. This style of extracting animal insulin was what put Lilly on the map in the 1920s. Human insulin was developed in the 1980s, and animal insulin was phased out in the 1990s. As my career continued, I became one of the lead designers for Humalog, the company’s second human insulin product. Later, I was consulted on a special project to streamline the way we communicated about our insulin product portfolio, and I started finding myself more on the business and marketing side of things. I became a marketing director and moved to Singapore for three years and Australia for two years, before returning to the global headquarters in Indianapolis and finishing my Lilly career as a global marketing director.Q. What is your favorite thing about working in healthcare and healthcare marketing?A. When I graduated from Purdue, I had a lot of choices. As an engineer, I could have gone into virtually any industry. I found myself drawn to healthcare because I wanted to feel good about the products I was creating, and I wanted to work on projects that improved people’s lives. I’ve never regretted my choice for a second. Even after a full career, I’m still choosing to be in healthcare. The chance to make individuals’ lives better through my work is what drives me. At Lilly, I spent 20 years working on diabetes, but changed track and spent my last ten working on Alzheimer’s. Diabetes meant a lot to me, but Alzheimer’s took everything to a whole new level. My heart has broken for everyone I’ve ever met who was impacted by Alzheimer’s, and I continue to be involved in nonprofits and volunteering in the Alzheimer’s space.Q. Do you have a personal philosophy about healthcare marketing?A. I’m all about becoming a champion and an ambassador for whatever brand or product I’m involved with. I only get involved with things I feel proud about. Q. Do you have advice for anyone starting out in healthcare marketing?A. Healthcare marketers face challenges that marketers in other industries rarely face. In healthcare, all messages and claims have to be related to data. Some people might think that’s like putting handcuffs on a marketer, but I think it’s an interesting challenge. We’re tasked with highlighting the data and benefits to tell the truth of a product and brand in compelling, positive ways. My advice is: don't be frustrated by the things you can’t do. Focus on how you can bring data to life in a creative way for patients and physicians. Q. What are your favorite projects to work on?A. I like the bigger, strategic projects, because that’s where my strength and experience are. Strategy is the most important part of execution. I love working with clients to understand what their goals and objectives are, figure out what success looks like in their minds, and learn what actions they want customers to take. It’s really exciting to find strategic solutions that meet their needs. Q. What are your hobbies outside of work?A. I’m a huge music fan, and I go see a few concerts with my wife each month when I can. I like big arena shows and small local shows equally. Seeing the Pacers, Colts, and Purdue football and basketball teams is always a thrill. I also play racquetball and ride my Harley when I can.