Founded in 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim is a research-driven biopharmaceutical company with a mission to create value through innovation in areas of unmet medical need. The company has over 52,000 employees and serves over 130 markets in three business areas: human pharma, animal health, and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing.

In 2021, Boehringer Ingelheim initiated a comprehensive, company-wide plan to change the way clinical development and medical affairs work is done. The ambitious goal of “One Medicine” is to bring therapies to market more quickly and create new levels of value for patients. A major part of this transformation was the launch of the “University of Medicine Excellence” to build the capabilities of individuals and teams to increase speed and value.

“As an organization, we cannot afford to stand still,” said Guido Scholze, the global head of University of Medicine Excellence for Boehringer Ingelheim. “We must move forward to deliver value for our patients. This takes a commitment to being constructively disruptive, focused on achieving the best outcomes, and prepared to deliver on our goals.”

After evaluating multiple educational providers, Boehringer Ingelheim selected Harvard Medical School Corporate Learning to work with the University of Medicine Excellence to create and co-deliver its “Accelerate” executive education program. The company was drawn to HMS because of the School’s mission to nurture a diverse, inclusive community dedicated to alleviating suffering and improving health and well-being. The University of Medicine Excellence leadership also recognized the benefits of an educational approach that led with a focus on the complexity of human life and illness associated with health and health care and applied perspectives from the world of medicine to the company’s business. 

The Accelerate program strikes this balance through a selection of faculty and program topic areas that cut across domains. The real-world perspectives HMS faculty members bring as clinicians, researchers, and administrators are complemented by sessions led by faculty experts in other subjects from Harvard Business School and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

“I joined the program because I was excited by the idea of learning at Harvard from some of the best people in the world, not only about medicine but also about how teams work and how to present oneself with impact,” said Accelerate participant Dr. Lauren Liss, senior scientific relations manager for Boehringer Ingelheim.

The Accelerate program aims to empower individuals to grow as leaders and apply their skills to Boehringer Ingelheim, the biopharma industry, and the broader health care sector.  Participants explore the main drivers of change in health care and identify implications for the company. Patient centricity and engagement are core to the curriculum.

“The patient was at the center of everything we learned,” said Accelerate participant Madhuri Jerfy, senior associate director of Global Regulatory Affairs for Boehringer Ingelheim. “It put into perspective why I come to work every day.”

Topics covered in the program include integrated evidence generation, analysis, and enabling tools, including real world evidence, digital, artificial intelligence, and emerging practices supporting effective insights and decision-making. A culture of organizational excellence and growth is fostered through a focus on leadership and communication skills, dynamics of empowerment and speaking up, knowledge sharing and risk taking, and the science of team decision-making and cross-functional collaboration. 

Accelerate is delivered in a blended model featuring live virtual class sessions and self-paced learning—a format that is ideal given the scale and reach of the program. A year into Boehringer Ingelheim’s bold initiative, nearly 1,000 learners have completed the Accelerate program. Participants have included staff from functions including translational medicine, medical affairs, clinical development & operations, biostatistics & data science, pharmacovigilance, and regulatory affairs distributed across the globe and based in locations including Europe, the US, Asia, and the Middle East.

HMS Corporate Learning has also worked with the company to deliver three waves of the “AccelerateEX” program to a select group of about 60 former Accelerate learners, mainly from the various Asset teams. This advanced program includes in-person program time at HMS’s campus in Boston and the company’s German headquarters in Ingelheim. AccelerateEX participants work on real life challenges from the medicine organization and present their project solutions to executives at the end of the program. 

Additionally, the University of Medicine Excellence is making HMS’s HMX online medical science courses available to the entire Medicine community at Boehringer Ingelheim. Several hundred staff members have already participated in this opportunity to advance their knowledge in fundamental and advanced areas.

Looking ahead, Boehringer Ingelheim intends to continue offering new waves of the Accelerate and AccelerateEX programs and the University of Medicine Excellence will continue to engage its growing alumni community through a summit and other opportunities for ongoing learning, sharing, and connection.

“Through our work with Harvard Medical School, we are creating the next generation of leaders in medicine who can bring innovative treatments to patients faster than ever before,” added Scholze.