Working with Stars: Meet Barbara da Silva-Tillmann, MDCM, FRCPC
Barbara da Silva-Tillmann is an exceptional pharmacovigilance expert with deep experience guiding products from early development through approval and beyond. She is passionate about translating complex risk-benefit data into clear, actionable information for patients, and she is a joy to work with.
How did you get started in pharmacovigilance?
It is actually a little bit by chance, but also by luck as well. I was in academia at Northwestern, doing Endocrine consult service/clinics and clinical research. A job opportunity came up in pharmacovigilance at a smaller pharmaceutical company in Chicago. I decided to take the opportunity; I liked it, and the rest is history. I was also really fortunate to have extremely supportive mentors. They helped me learn what being in industry was like and how to apply my medical clinical thought processes to pharmacovigilance. The more I learned, the more I enjoyed working in industry and having a front row seat to observing the impact of bringing pharmaceutical products to market and evaluating their safety along the way.
What experience stands out most in your career?
With my background in Endocrinology, I was fortunate to work in clinical development teams in HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) projects. I initially had an interest in the metabolic effects of HIV and its treatments. Working in virology eventually turned from HIV to HCV. Our first company approval for HCV was in Europe and when we first took our drug regimen to the EMA, the clinical development lead, me (as safety lead), and the PK lead, basically represented Abbott/Abbvie as we moved to get our HCV regimen approved. And it was fantastic. It was our first approval for one in a long number of years for Abbott/Abbvie going all the way from the Discovery phase (preclinical) to First-in-Human through Phase 3. There is a real fluidity in safety from early development to marketing. Publications on efficacy and safety of various phases of our development were both thrilling and exciting as we brought a new treatment to patients. All of these were 'firsts’, and it was a huge, huge thing!
What do you see as the key drivers of your success?
Hard work, determination, integrity, and curiosity. It is about digging into the data, reviewing, figuring things out, and questioning, with the goal of characterizing the safety of a compound. Also, loving what you do, enjoyment and having fun while working with people that help push you to do your best. In the example I gave with HCV, we were a wonderful team that worked well together. Although we worked long hours, we enjoyed working together for a common goal. The long hours of work and travel for advisories or conferences were worth it when we were able to achieve our goal. It was a well-functioning team. At the end of the day, we had fun on top of everything we accomplished.
What did you want to be as a child?
A teacher. In fact, within Abbott and AbbVie, we had interns, so I got to mentor and have a teacher function for those interns and for new employees as well.
What do you value about consulting and working with JPCC Associates?
My work before consulting allowed me to go through the patient journey and ensure that all aspects of this journey were addressed throughout, including the risks aspects, all the way down to packaging and labeling. Consulting is about bringing all what you learned to another company. What I like most at JPCC, is that we share our experiences. Even though we are all in different parts of the world, we feel like everyone is there for you. We can ask questions and get answers much like walking into each other's office. There is a huge amount of support. The other thing is respect for each other and the different capabilities and expertise we have. Being a consultant allows me to do very different things (different therapeutic areas) in my expertise. I also enjoy the flexibility to balance my work with other things I like to do outside work.
What are these after work activities you have?
I have played piano since childhood, so love doing so now.
What do you want to be remembered for?
For my thoughtful, precise, or very careful specific work. At the same time, I think one of the big things is making things understandable. It is really easy to write very sophisticated, complicated statements and paragraphs or summaries, but to make it understandable for anybody and relevant to whoever's reading it is more difficult but absolutely necessary.
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