Jim Hanly is Vice President of Enabling Functions IT at BMS, providing IT leadership in a cross-disciplinary approach. Enabling Functions IT is the technological backbone of the company, supporting and enhancing the capabilities of areas such as corporate functions, finance, human resources, and legal.
Beth Basham, Senior Director, IT Business Partnering, Research & Early Development, is on the other side of that intersection, bridging technology and business strategies in her organization. With a background in biophysics and biochemistry, she was drawn to IT because of a deep interest in bioinformatics – specifically, how data can be interpreted and utilized to affect therapeutic outcomes and ultimately transform patients’ lives.
“I live in two worlds — the biophysical world where I’m thinking about electrons and how atoms are relative to each other, but also at the macro level, seeing how this can help explain the mechanisms of disease.”
Beth thrives in the incredibly data-intensive environment that is intrinsic to R&ED, with a greater focus on making the research more predictive. It requires new thinking about how to use data — a huge development in problem solving beyond just decision support. It's having this ability to realize the full potential of research in the context of IT that drives her.
“We’ve just had the explosion of systems biology and the ability to generate more and more data. I’m fascinated how we use all of it and extract value from it in order to help make life better for patients.”
That’s why professionals like her are essentially embedded within research teams. She welcomes the opportunity to be “close to the medicine” while helping scientists get their predictive models running properly or helping analyze their data from clinical trials. It means being able to manage both the technology aspect and the people aspect. For Beth and other IT Business Partners, that’s the big challenge.
