Katherine BOWDISH, Ph.D.

Vice President Global R&D, Head of Sanofi Sunrise Ventures

As a Vice President in a large global organization, where I lead an investment and partnering group, I often have a lot on my plate. These include initiatives that are directly related to goals that are critical to my specific mandate, of central importance to my team, or valuable to the global organization. It is important for me to quickly separate all of these important ambitions from many other time-consuming demands seeking my attention, but less relevant to my goals and responsibilities to the organization.

Using the Sherpa System, I organize my time for greater focus and efficient execution, I no longer track things in my head, I don’t let things fall through the cracks, and I am now much more acutely aware of whether I am working on the most impactful projects. I no longer let my email inbox manage me, I manage it.

I set intentions to address the most important goals, projects and tasks. Additionally, tasks and projects are prioritized and tracked until done, in a very efficient way.

The Sherpa system has taught me to be very deliberate about how I spend every hour. For example, just the use of the Sherpa method of managing email, helps me avoid getting caught up in those “urgent, but not ultimately important” items.

Sherpa’s unique way of prioritizing and taking control over interruptions are important for each individual working in any size organization, but I notice it more acutely in a large global organization, with each stakeholder suffering from tyranny of the inbox as other distractions grab our attention. The resulting inefficiencies across a large corporation lead to extended workflow timelines and higher overall cost to the organization.

The efficiencies I have gained, multiplied across a large global team can lead to millions of productive hours gained. And most importantly, through the Sherpa system, I am no longer constantly worried that something is not getting done, allowing for more relaxing and enjoyable “down-time”.

Katherine Bowdish, Ph.D. joined Sanofi 4 years ago as Vice President Global R&D to build and lead Sunrise Ventures, an investment/partnering group within Sanofi. Katherine has extensive experience in the life science industry as an entrepreneur, founding, building and leading several start-up companies focused on biological therapies and serving on the Boards of Directors of several biotechnology companies, including Warp Drive Bio, Portal Instruments, Thermalin. Past positions include President & CSO, Permeon Biologics; Co-founder, President & CEO, Anaphore; President, Alexion Antibody Technologies and Senior Vice President, Alexion Pharmaceuticals; Founder, CEO & CSO, Prolifaron prior to its acquisition by Alexion. Katherine received her Ph.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and B.S. from the College of William and Mary. Katherine has been published in journals like Nature (2 cover articles), Nature Biotechnology, Cell, and Cancer Research.