Andrea Wainer: Executive Vice President, Rapid & Molecular Diagnostics, Abbott

Komal Bavaskar, D Y Patil University

BIOXONE BIOSCIENCES SERIES – “Extraordinary Women in Biosciences”- Day 5

Andrea Wainer: an exceptional woman in the history of Abbott. She is currently the vice president of Abbott’s Rapid & Molecular Diagnostics and is also considered one of the world’s leading providers of rapid point-of-care diagnostics.

Wainer’s Early life:

Andrea Wainer is the vice president of Molecular Abbott in Chicago & she is 51 years old and she has 2 children, Ari who is 12 years old, and Annali who is 10 years old. Her first job was in the pharmaceutical industry. She formerly worked in the animal health business which was bought by Zoetis in Feb 2015 and is currently in molecular diagnostics at Abbott. When she was working in pharmaceuticals, she told her leaders that she wanted to transfer into a general management position.

Now, because she has a wide range of experiences, she can be pushed and work on unusual projects. She is a highly adaptable person who constantly wants to work in new positions and do different things for her growth. She also believes in being unselfish and giving to companies for the welfare of others. Andrea now heads two unique businesses: one a leader in molecular diagnostics and the molecular analysis of DNA and RNA, and the other the world’s top provider of fast point-of-care diagnostics. Each of these companies provides solutions that give physicians with actionable information that can help them achieve better clinical, operational, and financial outcomes.

Wainer’s educational background:

Andrea holds two bachelor’s degrees. She gained her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Washington University’s John M. Olin School of Business in St. Louis, Missouri.  And also she has completed a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois.

Awe-inspiring accomplishments of Andrea Wainer:

Andrea Wainer began working in 1997 and has held six different positions for three different firms. From January 1997 until 2004, she held the role of marketing director at Abbott Laboratories. From January 2004 until 2006, she was the Marketing Team Leader at Pfizer. She then switched companies again, working as Sr. Director, Urology Marketing at Astellas from January 2006 until 2009. She joined abbot laboratories in 2009 and remained there till 2011, there she was Divisional Vice President of Abbott Renal Care at Abbott Laboratories. From August 2011 until January 2015, she was Divisional Vice President / General Manager, Abbott Animal Health at Abbott Laboratories.  From January 2015 until currently, she has held the Position of Abbott Molecular. She is also Abbott’s Executive Vice President of Rapid and Molecular Diagnostics.

Her struggles:

Andrea’s identity includes both her role as a mother and her career. She says that it has been critical to always focus on and balance delivering on both aspects of life. It is frequently necessary to focus on little details. One of the most exciting programs and initiatives for working women is health care benefits, as well as programs for caring for your children when they are young, such as day-care initiatives. She mentioned that women have a lot of hours that are flexible to work. We have a job-sharing program in place. We have jobs that allow women to change their careers and the kind of jobs they do depend on where they are in their personal lives.

Other achievements:

Andrea Wainer has left the imprint by her sheer longevity, particularly in stock markets. The wisdom she has been gathering and imparting throughout these years. She has created wealth not only for herself but also for the company. Her estimated net value as of 17 August 2021 is at least $9.68 million. Ms. Wainer owned stock of moreover 14,500 Abbot Laboratories valued at $8,168,957 and sold ABT over $1,511,594 in stock during the previous two years. Furthermore, she earns $0 for Abbott Laboratories as Executive Vice President, rapid and molecular diagnostics. Since 2019, Andrea has done more than eight trades in Abbott Laboratories, according to SEC Form 4. Recently, on August 17, 2021, she has been exercising 14,500 ABT stock units for $595,515.

The most important business she has ever carried out was to stock 30 thousand units of Abbot Laboratories, valued at about $1,152 thousand on 30 September 2020. Andrea exchanges every 61 days since 2019 in average around 4.513 units. She has remained stock at least 64,282 Abbott Laboratories units from 17 August 2021.

The way Wainer is inspirational to young girls and ladies:

Andrea Wainer is a woman who can inspire someone to accomplish something great. Something that makes the world a better place. She is perhaps a woman who lives her life without being defined by, constrained by, or attached to widely held ideas and preconceptions of beauty and success. For her, the salary check is less significant and more important is to promote and contribute to the organization. She encouraged today’s young women to believe that they can do everything they set their minds to. Wainer exemplifies versatility by studying a variety of skills to expand her knowledge base for having easy accessibility for people’s welfare. She also motivates us to make assiduous efforts to make this world a better place to live.

Wainer taught us an essential lesson: making money isn’t as important as providing and contributing to an institute so that those in need may have access to better health care. She says, “I also have a newfound respect for working mothers. Working mothers are courageous. It is difficult for them to deal with the criticism they receive for not staying at home. It is tough to strike a balance between work and home life responsibilities.” It’s difficult to be a super-employee and a super-mommy at the same time, yet millions of women do it every day, and Andrea Wainer is one of them. She has not only risen to the top levels of biotechnology but has also profited the firm via the sale of marketing stocks.

Wainer, the current Covid scenario and her future plans:

Andrea Wainer has also participated in webinars to raise awareness of their efforts in averting future pandemics. She was excited to speak with Aspen’s Peggy Clark about the future of testing and healthcare. She stated that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant changes in healthcare and society. Looking ahead, the difficulties become much greater, with nations throughout the world dealing with overburdened health systems, growing health disparities, and an escalating burden of disease and healthcare expenditures. Innovative and immediate action is required to provide improved health today and in the future. She also provided an update on the efforts to extend COVID-19 testing to different locations and situations, such as the home, school, etc. During the beginning of the covid pandemic, people had to stand in huge lines for testing, and it took days to obtain results. So, Abbot is going to introduce BionaxNow, which will allow users to test Covid19 and receive fast results like on the spot. BionaxNow is a tool that is both inexpensive and convenient to use at any time.

They also discussed Abbott’s 2030 Sustainability Plan, which aims to provide the future of healthcare. This plan describes how we’re striving to reach more people, in more places, than ever before. And with the ambitious aim of improving the lives of more than 3 billion people by the end of the decade, with an emphasis on inventing for more access and affordability in our life-changing technologies.

Also read: Non-enzymatic glucose sensor; No needles required!

References:

1. Top 10: Earn it! (n.d.). Working Mother. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.workingmother.com/top-10-earn-it
2. The future of testing and care: Broader access. (n.d.). Abbott. Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.abbott.com/corpnewsroom/sustainability/the-future-of-testing-and-care-broader-access.html
3. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-wainer-a624a24/

Author info:

Komal Bavaskar is pursuing M.Sc in Biotechnology. She is a resourceful person with a positive and proactive attitude when faced with diversity. She is interested in the research field and is a very dedicated worker who sets realistic goals. Komal strives to do the best she can for whatever task is presented to her.

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