By: Amr Rageh
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Growing up in Lebanon, Olfat Berro developed a love of science from an early age, drawn especially to the workings of the human body and how it fights disease.
Berro, now area head for the Middle East at Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, grew up in a poor community, wracked by civil war, where people struggled to access healthcare, she tells SciDev.Net.
“These circumstances pushed me to have a clear goal early in my life: to work towards making an impact on society,” she says.
Despite disruptions to education during the 15-year-long war (1975-90) and the expectations of a society where girls were funnelled into fields such as teaching, leaving more “complex” subjects to boys, Berro chose not to surrender to the status quo.
She believed everyone should be able to access medicines and essential healthcare services – a belief that led her to enrol in the pharmacy faculty of the Lebanese University where she studied pharmaceutical sciences for five years.
After going on to complete a “doctorate of practice” at Claude Bernard University Lyon, in France, Berro returned to her homeland, “driven by [a] longing for Lebanon and its people, and a desire to help others”.
That’s when she joined Roche, initially as a medical sales representative in 2003.
In 2015, she was appointed country manager for Roche in Lebanon, before being made head for the Middle East four years later – the first woman at the biotech company to hold this position.
“I didn’t previously aspire to lead a global pharmaceutical company, and several factors contributed to achieving this success,” she says.
“Alongside good fortune, my family provided me with unwavering support. Additionally, my colleagues and managers at the company have been supportive and helpful, and I owe them a lot.”
Lifelong learning
Berro also attributes her success to the “continuous pursuit of self-development” through lifelong learning and urges young girls eying a career in STEM to adopt this mindset. “You must challenge the current situation, set your goals, and then pursue a career that will enable you to achieve those goals,” she advises.
“The main driving force behind my perseverance to this day lies in having a clear goal and my desire to contribute effectively to advancing the healthcare sector in the region, affirming that healthcare is a right for all.”
Berro is a firm believer that companies should invest in their employees and their scientific and professional growth and in 2022 she helped launch RiSE, a talent development programme at Roche for PhD and medical students.
She also advocates for more investment in education and encouragement for girls pursuing “STEM” – science, technology, engineering and maths – subjects.
Collaboration on cancer
Reaching the top at Roche, Berro says, was her chance to make “a positive impact on community health” and she began establishing various collaborations and partnerships with health departments across the region.
“In 2020, we collaborated with the Egyptian Ministry of Health to provide a range of integrated healthcare services aimed at diagnosing and treating breast cancer as part of the Egyptian Women’s Health Support initiative launched by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
“Over three years, we managed to secure screenings for more than 29 million women, reducing the incidence of advanced-stage disease by 50 per cent.”
Building on the success of this partnership, Roche has established a new collaboration with the Egyptian government, aimed at reducing the burden of liver cell cancer.
“This includes providing advanced diagnostic solutions, innovative treatments, and developing the capability for data recording and management,” Berro explains.
The company has also been working with authorities in Iraq and Bahrain to support digital transformation in healthcare.
As well as producing medicines and diagnostics, Roche conducts research studies worldwide to develop drugs and test them to ensure their effectiveness – a process that can take several years.
Part of this involves “examining the interplay between drugs and patients from different racial backgrounds … developing them to achieve positive results with these racial groups,” says Berro.
The company’s work improving access to medicines and developing “strategies for reasonable pricing” is something she is particularly proud of.
She adds: “Our primary goal as healthcare experts is to ensure access to medication for every patient regardless of their economic status, while also guaranteeing the best possible outcomes with minimal side effects, aiming for healthier and safer communities.”
This article was produced by SciDev.Net’s Middle East and North Africa desk and edited for brevity and clarity.