Carlos Doti has moved countries and changed jobs, but one thing hasn’t changed. Making an impact on patient care has always been a priority for the AstraZeneca executive.
When Carlos Doti moved his family from Argentina to the United States five years ago, it was not only for career development reasons. It was also to open his three daughters’ minds to the possibilities of life outside the South American country.
“Look, the world is your playground. It’s not your home country,” Doti told BioSpace while describing the mindset he wanted to pass on. “And then you may decide that you want to live in Argentina or in Europe or in Asia. That’s your choice. But you don’t have to feel that you have to live in your country because that’s where you’re born.”
The transition had its challenges for Doti—the vice president and head of medical affairs for the U.S. oncology business unit at AstraZeneca—and his family. For example, the Maryland resident shared it was hard to leave their other family members behind and move to a country where they had no support system. His daughters also needed to make friends in their new schools.
That said, Doti’s family did adjust to life in the United States. What’s more, his daughters, ages 13, 15 and 19, are ready to move again if the time comes. They’ve even suggested Europe as a potential future home.
“That was exactly what I wanted from them, to think outside that you can only live in one place or belong to one place,” Doti said. “Your heart can be in your home country, but your mind and your career can be anywhere.”
An Immigrant’s Career Path: From Argentina to the U.S.
Doti’s career began in Argentina. He spent seven years as an attending physician at Hospital Britanico de Buenos Aires, working in the hematology and bone marrow transplant unit. During his tenure, he oversaw the hospital’s clinical trials, managed his own flow cytometer to do diagnostics and headed up education for three universities that used the facility as a teaching hospital. His next step was to move into his boss’ job, but that wouldn’t happen until his manager retired.
Noting that he didn’t want to base his career on someone else’s decision, Doti shared that when an opportunity came along for him to practice medicine in a different way, he took it. In 2009, he joined his first pharma company, Novo Nordisk, in a medical affairs role. After working his way up to Latin America medical and science manager, he accepted a position at Pfizer, serving as its regional medical director of oncology. A little over a year later, he took a role at AstraZeneca.
Three years after joining AstraZeneca, Doti moved to the U.S. He said he felt there’d be more career development opportunities in America based on what he’d seen while training as a hematologist in the country when he was younger.
Doti has now worked at AstraZeneca for eight years, moving up from medical director of Argentina to his current position, where he develops the company’s U.S. medical strategy across its oncology portfolio.
Transitioning to Pharma: From Patient Care to Patient Solutions
During his transition to pharma, Doti said, he had to get used to no longer being a physician treating patients and instead being a subject-matter expert working to find solutions for patients.
“That means that a big part of your work is not just creating data, it’s educating on the data so that the right patients receive the right treatment at the right time,” he said.
That means that a big part of your work is not just creating data, it’s educating on the data so that the right patients receive the right treatment at the right time.
Doti has no regrets about transitioning to pharma, where he noted he can still make a difference in caregiving, even if it’s not directly, as a physician.
“Although I miss the contact with patients now and then, I still think I made a good decision because I really enjoy what I’m doing,” he said. “And in places with AstraZeneca, with the pipeline that we’re developing, the number of lives that I’m able to touch—again not directly, but indirectly through my work—it’s a million times bigger than the ones that I was touching when I was practicing medicine.”
Making an Impact on Health Equity
Doti’s work at AstraZeneca includes tackling an issue he’s passionate about: health equity. He noted that during his time in pharma, he’s found that companies can provide drugs easily in some countries but not in others. He’s also seen that in the U.S., not everyone gets screened at the same level due to factors including socioeconomic backgrounds and access to care.
As a result of seeing these inequities, Doti got involved in projects focused on closing those gaps. For example, he noted, AstraZeneca partners with different organizations across the country—such as Touch, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance—to not only increase screening for cancer but also to increase early detection of other prevalent diseases.
Doti is also focused on making clinical trials more accessible. He noted that when he started his career, they were more of a last resort for patients, used as a tool for research or drug approval. Today, he said, they’re a tool for treatment, sometimes even as a first-line option for certain diseases.
“So, if you don’t make clinical trials available to more patients, we are reducing the chances of a patient that could be in a remote location to have the access to that,” he said.
To address that issue, AstraZeneca is moving away from conducting clinical trials only at big academic centers, Doti shared. For example, he said, the company is working to decentralize clinical trials in medical affairs and hopefully later in R&D. To that end, it’s started a project aimed at having fully decentralized clinical trials in oncology by the end of next year. This will allow AstraZeneca to bring the trial to the patient instead of the patient to the trial, Doti noted.
“No matter how motivated you are, if you live 100 miles away from a clinical trial center, you’re going to abandon it halfway because at some point, it’s become impossible for you with a severe condition, with economic restrictions to make that travel as frequent as some of these trials require,” he said.
Having Clarity, Accepting Challenges, Speaking Up
As Doti looked back on his work so far in pharma, he noted his greatest accomplishment is helping accelerate other people’s careers.
“Every time that I see someone progressing in their career, even outgrowing me, that’s when I feel most proud of my work,” he said.
For those just starting out in biopharma, Doti recommended being clear on what they want to do. For him, that’s always involved helping patients.
“I want to impact patient care, and I don’t need to be sitting in the room with the patient to know that I can make a difference,” he said.
I want to impact patient care, and I don’t need to be sitting in the room with the patient to know that I can make a difference.
Doti also recommended never hiding away from a challenge, noting that he’s not only moved from Argentina to the U.S. but has also changed positions within AstraZeneca. He started with a medical role before moving to commercial and international positions and then returning to a medical job. Doti said he learned something—and hopefully impacted people—in each position.
For biopharma professionals who are members of the Latino or Hispanic community, as he is, Doti recommended they not shy away from speaking up because of their accents or concerns about language barriers. He noted that while it can be hard to think in one language and speak in another, they bring experience, passion and strength from their countries and cultures and should embrace that. He added that they can always get translation help if needed through tools like Google Translate.
“Ideas are always more important than the way you express those ideas,” Doti said. “So, don’t shy away to share those ideas with the rest.”
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