Supporting Mental Health for Healthcare Workers - Sara Sarkey, U.S. Medical at Takeda

Shiv Gaglani: Hi, I'm Shiv Gaglani, and today in Raise the Line, I'm really happy to be joined by Sarah Sarkey, who's the vice president of Neuroscience and Vaccines for US Medical at Takeda, which is among the largest pharmaceutical companies in the US with nearly 20,000 employees. 

Takeda Neuroscience is focused on developing innovative medicines to address the unmet needs of patients with neurological diseases. We'll be asking Sarah all about that work, and also about a new project involving Takeda, Pack Health, Lundbeck, and Osmosis to offer free health coaching and resources to frontline healthcare workers who may be experiencing burnout and mental health challenges as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. So, Sarah, thanks so much for taking the time to be with us today. 

Sarah Sarkey: Thank you so much. Glad to be here. 

Shiv Gaglani: Well, I'd like to start first with learning more about you and what first got you interested in biotechnology? 

Sarah Sarkey: Yeah, so I'm actually a neuroscientist by training. I have my Ph.D. in neuroendocrinology. I realized quite quickly doing basic research in a lab that I really wanted to be closer to the patient. I really wanted to see my work make a difference. Thankfully Takeda was willing to take a scientist with no industry experience, and I was able to grow within Takeda. I've learned so much and really see how we can actually improve the lives of patients and how basic science and clinical science can be translated into making people the best they can be. 

Shiv Gaglani: And on that, I mean, you've been with Takeda for most of your career. Can you give us an overview of the company and what it's doing here in the US?

Sarah Sarkey: Takeda is a values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical company, but I think some people don't realize how old we are. So, this is our 240th anniversary this year. Takeda is based in Japan, and our US affiliate has grown over the years. We're quite big now, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Takeda has that Japanese root, we call Takeda-isms, which is really incorporating fairness, honesty, perseverance, and integrity at the core. At Takeda we call this PTRB, which is patient, trust, reputation, and business, in that order. So, you put the patients first, and I think this is what has always drawn me to Takeda and keeps me here is that the patient is at the core of everything we do and we assume business will follow. 

Shiv Gaglani: That's great to hear. And so, as I mentioned in the intro, your background is leading up neurosciences for the company and the focus of Takeda neurosciences is to help people who have various neurological conditions. Can you go into some detail around what are some of the conditions you all are dressing? And some of the things that get you most excited?

Sarah Sarkey: Today, we're really focused on mental health treatment. So we focus on depression and ADHD, but really, delivering innovative medicines to patients and it really extends beyond the medication. I think people think of pharma and they're like, "Oh yes, you produce a drug and that's great" but really our commitment extends beyond the medications into how do we really raise awareness of these devastating disorders? How do we broaden access to therapies and really address the unmet needs of patients?

As we know, the healthcare system in the US is complicated. So, you need things to help support you, and particularly someone who has mental illness...that just adds an extra layer of complexity on how to get to the right treatments and how to get to the right therapies. And so, we're really trying to push beyond just a drug to a whole ecosystem to support patients and really destigmatize the whole issue of mental health. 

Shiv Gaglani: It's great timing to be involved in that work. Obviously, COVID has had a huge impact on mental health and in addition to the work that you mentioned with patients, customers and employees are also confronting these mental health challenges. How do you and Takeda view those stakeholders and are there things that you all are doing for them? 

Sarah Sarkey: Yeah, this last year has been devastating. I think the impact of the pandemic is causing what some people call the "second pandemic" which is the mental health crisis that is following. In addition to the fear of getting sick, you have forced isolation due to the social distancing and how we kept ourselves safe from the virus. This year has really exacerbated some of these conditions. So really what we're trying to do is respond to that need. How do we really get to the patients beyond, "Let's provide another treatment." How do we provide support to the actual patient? How do we make sure they can access counselors or access someone who can really listen to them and as yet, keep it virtual? We still want to be very careful in this pandemic. 

I think those are some of the things we're looking at. In addition, I think this pandemic has really highlighted some of the social disparities and inequalities in health care. I mean, you've seen this: people who are least likely to survive being out of a job or socially isolated are those who are most in need. It's really had a devastating impact on some of our communities of color, our ethnic minorities, and so we've really launched, I think, a number of efforts to help people and to kind of respond to all those pieces in our patients, our customers, even our own internal colleagues. Takeda has put into place a whole bunch of things so that we, as employees, can access mental health resources ourselves. I think part of it is our ability to translate that into how do we support our communities that we live in to give them the same access to care?

Shiv Gaglani: That makes sense, and it's actually a good transition into one of the ways we all started working together which is the mental health initiative for frontline healthcare workers. That's obviously a collaboration with Takeda, Lundbeck, Pack Health and Osmosis. Do you mind describing how it all got started and what the goals are of this initiative?

Sarah Sarkey: Just as we were talking about, the impact of this pandemic hasn't been felt the same by everybody. I think one of the things that really drove this was the recognition that we've been asking so much of our frontline healthcare workers, to spend 20 hours a day dealing with patients. And we say, "Oh they're great!", "They're Heroes!", "They're awesome!" but really, we need to help them. We need to make sure that they're taken care of. They're suffering from burnout. They're physically exhausted. They are mentally exhausted and emotionally exhausted. 

So, we really see that this is a segment of the population that has been uniquely impacted by the pandemic and we recognize that they need some mental health supports. Through our alliance with Lundbeck and working with Pack Health, we supported this patient engagement platform. It's really interesting. It's a first-of-its-kind initiative, and it's all virtual. So, you don't have to go somewhere, you don't have to make an appointment. It's a virtual coach for anyone who self-selects. "I'm struggling", "I'm burning out", "I've got mental health challenges". This is kind of how it came about...we're just trying to make sure we get the supports to the people who truly need them right now. 

Shiv Gaglani: It's definitely a theme that's come up on the Raise the Line podcast. I mean, the reason we even called it Raise the Line is because one way to respond to any future pandemics -- whether that's viral, like COVID, or chronic like obesity or hypertension -- is to get more people to train to become healthcare professionals and then keep them in there longer which clearly this work that you're doing to help support providers who may be burning out will hopefully help with. 

So, you mentioned you have a background Ph.D. in neuroscience. My co-founder Ryan got a Ph.D. in neuroscience too, and we put a lot of that experience in our learning platform. We are a teaching and learning company at Osmosis and we love asking Raise the Line guests what advice they have for our audience about meeting the challenges of the COVID pandemic and approaching their careers in healthcare?

Sarah Sarkey: It's a great question. It's something I think we all think about...how do we respond to the moment and how do we kind of move forward? I think it really comes down to asking yourself, where do you want to be? What kind of difference do you want to make? When I was early in my career and trying to get out of a lab and wanting to get closer to patients, I could have decided to go into patient care. I could have gone back to school to be an MD, or an NP, or a PA, or nurse. But that really wasn't my calling. 

I think everyone has to decide for themselves what ultimately you want to do? And then realize that the path forward is not always a straight line. Moving around and gaining different experiences, working for different companies, even lateral moves, or different areas of the country, you're going to gain valuable skills and experience which you can then translate into what you ultimately want to do. So to me, it all starts with how you want to impact the patients and people in the world, and no, it's not just a straight line to get there. Sometimes it takes a couple of steps, but every step is valuable. 

Shiv Gaglani: That's great advice and certainly something I personally have resonated with. I mean, I mentioned both you and my co-founder have PhDs in neuroscience and could have gone academic and stayed in the lab doing basic bench research, but both of you chose different careers and are having big impacts on the health care system in different ways. I know we're coming up on time. I wanted to ask you, is there anything else that you'd like to share with our audience today while we have you on the podcast? 

Sarah Sarkey: We talked a little bit about the Pack Health initiative. I also want to just recognize that's just one piece of the things that we do. I think in terms of gaining access and education, Takeda's very involved with the NAMI organization -- National Alliance on Mental Illness -- particularly focusing on an initiative in the Chicago area to get to those underserved communities. I think part of that is the recognition that you've got to pick and choose your battles and your points of care. I think Takeda's really anchored in "How do we get to people who normally wouldn't get care?" So I do want to say that to me, that's the most important. You can't boil the ocean. We know there's lots of concerns, but really picking and choosing where you want to make a difference. I'm just ultimately so proud to work for Takeda who has decided to focus on getting care to those people who are most in need and most unlikely to get it.

Shiv Gaglani: That's wonderful and much needed. Not only the mental health focus, but as you've talked about -- and as we've talked about on this podcast multiple times -- the disparities in access and quality of care that people receive. 

Well, it's been a pleasure speaking with you, Sarah. It's pretty impressive, the work that you and Takeda are doing. I had no idea that Takeda was actually 240 years old, so it will be interesting to see what the next 240 years bring. But with that, thanks again for taking the time to be with us today. 

Sarah Sarkey: Thanks so much Shiv. I appreciate you asking me.

Shiv Gaglani: Totally, and with that, I'm Shiv Gaglani, thank you to our audience for checking out today's show, and remember to do your part to flatten the curve and raise line. We're all in this together.