Susanne Baars as Siemens Healthineers Senior Global Marketing Thought Leadership Manager for Expanding Precision Medicine

A Quantum Leap. 

Today, I am joining my new position as Senior Global Marketing Thought Leadership Manager for Expanding Precision Medicine at Siemens Healthineers. Previously I founded SocialGenomics with a dream 'to make personalized treatments accessible and affordable for every person on the planet,' where I served as CEO and Head of Business Development for Precision Medicine, R&D, Innovation Strategy, and Partnerships.

I'm born and raised in a medical family specialized in genomics with roots in Europe and Asia. As a young girl, I have witnessed loved ones die because of a lack of access to lifesaving information and medical expertise. For me, this was unacceptable. I saw the need for digital solutions and IT infrastructures in healthcare and started thinking about how I could apply my expertise to solve some of these complex and intricate challenges. With SocialGenomics, I designed social networking AI technologies, strategies, and innovations to use algorithms to connect patients with similar cases and types of tumors to global research and treatments and contributed to transforming access to health care data standards. I wanted to have a real impact on the lives of patients and their loved ones searching for a cure. 

I started my career as a biomedical researcher at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. I engaged in global health working at the World Health Organisation and Peking University Health and Science Center until 2016. In 2016 I founded the Human Genome Foundation, an international lobby organization to provide patients self-ownership over their medical and genomic data and make lifesaving information universally available. In addition to my biomedical training at the University of Amsterdam, the University of Utrecht, and Harvard University, I have a second master's degree in Philosophy and Applied Ethics and post-graduate qualifications in business school and entrepreneurship. In 2020 I joined the Board of the National Health Care Institute of the Netherlands to help to accelerate the digital health transformation and implementation of AI solutions. I serve as a delegate at One Young World, international keynote speaker, judge, and startup mentor at the Hult Prize Foundation.

In a world where half of the world population has almost zero access to healthcare, and the other half of the world population often don't have access to the right treatments, my mission is to improve access to personalized treatments. I believe this is highly relevant to expand the impact of precision medicine through precision diagnostics, deep clinical insights, health care transformation services, AI solutions, and global partnerships. This is especially true in more rural regions in Asia and Africa, and other underserved communities. Though this is not limited to emerging countries, many wealthy countries also fail to provide access for all citizens. Many of them suffer from overconsumption of healthcare services and the waste of critical resources, not just human resources such as doctors and nurses, but also materials and energy resources. Through innovative technologies and new forms of collaboration and business models, we can solve this.

That's what motivated me to make the change to Siemens Healthineers. At Siemens Healthineers, I feel fortunate to be able to contribute to a mission and business that I'm passionate about while fulfilling a very personal goal of pursuing my lifelong dream 'Saving millions of lives by making personalized treatments accessible and affordable for every human on the planet.' I want to improve access to the right treatments for everyone, everywhere. Our goal is to improve access to healthcare by increasing availability in underserved countries with 260 million patient touchpoints, have at least 35% of revenues based on innovation introduced in the last three years, and improve clinical decision-making by increasing the number of AI-supported solutions to 160 by 2030. 

"Susanne brings a unique perspective, a lot of energy, and extensive experience to the team. Our joint goal of 'Expanding precision medicine' is to provide the right treatment at the right time for every patient. Tailoring treatment starts with a highly specific diagnosis without unwarranted variation. Based on data integrated from existing sources, adding genomics and radiomics enables a holistic understanding of the individual. These unique characteristics steer the personalization of treatment. A precise understanding of a patient's condition is the most effective approach to deliver outcomes favorable to all stakeholders, improve access, and democratize precision medicine."

Reto Merges, Global Head of Expanding Precision Medicine

A shared dream 

Joining a team with 65.000 pioneers and engineers from over 70 countries, innovating every day, truly shaping the future of healthcare together!

It's an exciting time, especially now that Siemens Healthineers and Varian have joined forces! Taking a leap in #cancer care and impacting #healthcare overall – to help people along the entire cancer journey– from diagnosis to therapy to survivorship.

Thank you Bernd Montag, Christoph Zindel, Ghada Trotabas, Alexander Zimmermann, Reto Merges, for entrusting this position to me. 

The need to transform healthcare is more important now than ever before. I look forward to joining forces with the team, thought leaders, global partners, customers, global governments, and patients to realize our shared dream. We need everyone to make it happen, including you!

Additional information on Siemens Healthineers' can be found here:

https://www.siemens-healthineers.com/insights/expanding-precision-medicine 

On TED: https://www.ted.com/talks/susanne_baars_how_we_solve_tomorrow_s_diseases