Dr. Christian Velten

Christian Velten, PhD

PASSIONATE CUSTOMER ADVOCAT
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE (CX) LEADER

DIGITAL CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT DRIVER
CONTENT INNOVATOR
SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION EXPERT

Dr. Christian Velten

VISIONARY, INSPIRING, INTEGRATIVE & EMPOWERING PEOPLE LEADER
HEAD OF MULTI-CULTURAL MATRIX TEAMS

Dr. Christian Velten

'BUILDER'
CHANGE-MANAGER
ENTREPRENEUR
MEDIATOR
FACILITATOR & ENABLER

Dr. Christian Velten

NATURE EXPLORER
PHOTOGRAPHER
MUSICIAN
AQUASCAPER

christianvelten.com

ABOUT ME

Dr. Christian Velten

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mail@christianvelten.com

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@9x9.photo

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@TrapperPHD's Outpost

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@CX Inspiration Hub

Read my business world blog (German)

@Business-Dschungel

My history in a nutshell

I am an educated molecular biologist with a strong expertise in genetics, cell biology, basic cancer research, microbiology, and (inherited) rare diseases.
After finishing my PhD, I had my own business for about 10 years and served life science industries with digital media, multichannel publishing, information research & analysis, and competitor & market intelligence.
In 2008, I switched to inside pharmaceutical industry, contributing my passion for facilitating scientific knowledge and understanding by smartly using digital channels/tools, innovative content and omni-channel strategies.
Today, the different aspects of professional life merge in the innovative space of 'Customer Experience' (CX). And they allow me to facilitate trusted customer relations by creating excellent customer experiences, especially (but not limited to) with regards to content and touchpoints in the virtual/digital space. My mantra is to start doing what customers need & expect, based on knowing by listening.

RESUME

A short history of my professional life.

TESTIMONIALS

Read some voices by former colleagues about me.

DELIVERIES

Facts, facts, facts ...

SOME STATS

YEARS IN SCIENCE

YEARS ENTREPRENEUR

YEARS INSIDE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

YEARS IN LEADERSHIP ROLES

EXPERTISE

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

CUSTOMER RELATIONS & CX

DIGITAL &
OMNICHANNEL

MEDICAL AFFAIRS ROLES

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

DIGITAL PLATFORMS INNOVATION

TRAINING & COACHING

EDUCATION & TRAINING

Doctorate/PhD (Dr. rer. nat., Molecular Biology/Genetics), Hanover University, Germany (1997)
Basic oncological research on the genetic regulation of cell growth.

Graduated with university diploma degree in Biology (Diplom-Biologe), Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany (1993)
Areas of expertise: Microbiology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Mycology, Waste Water Treatment

Mediator training (2018)

Novartis Management Academy - Influencing without formal authority (2012)

Conducting Negotiations Successfully (2011)

Novartis Management Academy - M1XP Leading for Results (2011)

Novartis Management Academy - M1 Leading at the Frontline (2010)

numerous company-internal leadership trainings

Certified Computer-Systems-Validation Expert (CSV-GAMP5) (2013)

Good Clinical Practice (GCP) for Investigators and Sub-Investigators (accredited by Swissmedic) (2012)

David Professional WebPublishing (2000)

Qualification "Safety in Gene Technology" (acc. to §15 Abs.2 Satz1 Nr.3 GenTSV, German Law) (1994)

CX Masterclass - Mastering the 6 CX Competencies (2020)

Strategic e-Medical Affairs (2018)

Project Management Methodology and Tools (2017)

Novartis ICE Bronze (IT project management) (2012)

Novartis Sharepoint Site Owner (2012)

Conflict Management (2010)

Japanese Business Culture Training (2009)

Liability Perspectives of Information Services (2007)

numerous trainings on professional information databases and database hosts

DELIVERIES

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTED

CLINICAL PROJECTS COORDINATED

CHANGE PROJECTS MANAGED

KEY PUBLICATIONS REALIZED

% PRODUCTIVITY INCREASE ACHIEVED

PEOPLE COACHED

SENIOR MANAGEMENT PRESENTATIONS

596

HOURS TRAINING PROVIDED

PROJECTS

Clinical Digital Solution

SAMS ("Saccade Analysis Made Simple") is an educational app for clinicians on the identification of specific impairments of eye movements (oculomotor test).

The tablet-based app guides through systematic qualitative measurements of various eye movements done locally by a physician or nurse. Simultaneously, the app records a video of the patient's eye movements, and the physician subsequently has the opportunity to share selected recordings with a remote expert for his review. The expert's feedback is supporting the local physician in developing his skills in the recognition of multiple potential neurological disorders known to be behind eye movement manifestations.

As project management lead, I have been responsible for specifying user requirements, application risk management, aligning with legal department for having a compliant set-up, coordinating KOLs involved, the developing agency and caring field force, ensuring continuous improvement, and a scale-up to additional countries.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Actelion Specialty Care Global Business Unit

TIME FRAME: November 2015 - June 2016 (development)
June 2016 - today (active in market)

Leadership to digital leadership in commercial and medical

Digital Strategy for Commercial & Medical

Lead with the global digital strategy initiative for commercial & medical functions (digital transformation of business).

Together with a specialized agency, provision of a global digital strategy for Actelion business, including an omni-channel strategy for disease-specific promotional and medical communication.

Establishment of a cross-functional and cross-departmental internal network linking internal digital activities, projects and expertises. Alignment with and of global/regional/local layers, IT, R&D, compliance/legal, and digital strategies at Janssen.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Actelion Commercial Excellence

TIME FRAME: July 2018 - February 2019

iFind - the Novartis PubMed+

In April 2009, a new line management of our team at Novartis asked for a new internal information tool. The specification was "something like PubMed ... but much better!" (PubMed is a public search engine for bio-medical scientific literature, provided by none other than the US National Institutes of Health)

The whole team met the spontaneous challenge, which came on top of concurrent pressure regarding resources as well as a quite high basic load regarding obligatory standard deliveries.

I am still proud that I had the opportunity to be part of a real success story. After only 7 months for development and implementation we provided "iFind - the Novartis PubMed+" in December 2009. This great achievement was the result of a fantastic and highly motivated multidisciplinary team.

My role with the development of iFind was to initially provide a vision ... and subsequently more detailed specifications (URS), which met the needs of business and users. In parallel, I evaluated reasonable literature data sources for iFind. And I also contributed to the innovative usability concept and screen design of the iFind literature search & analysis tool.

iFind highlights:

easy-to-use (also for non-information professionals)
live visualization of number of hits ("numeric volume indicator"), immediately showing how changes to search strategy impact search results
1-click access to full-texts
Novartis drug name thesaurus automatically including all kinds of synonyms
innovative and dynamic results view, various sorting and export options
open interfaces, allowing to complement the constricted PubMed content with any suitable internal or external data sources
daily updates
powerful infrastructure which serves Novartis business units worldwide and 24/7

DETAILS

CLIENT: Novartis Pharma AG

TIME FRAME: April - December 2009

Business Integration of Digital Customer Engagement (Actelion-Janssen)

Lead of the digital pillar of the Actelion Janssen/J&J integration.

Identification of business-relevant Janssen digital customer engagement assets. Bottom-up piloting of three prioritized solutions, each meeting customer needs related to a discrete market challenge, in different regions (EMEA, APAC, US).

Management of the executing agency, Deloitte, and multi-disciplinary alignment with regions and affiliates.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Janssen Integration Team

TIME FRAME: July 2018 - November 2019

BIONEWS/Inside-Lifescience eZine

In the early 2000's, I designed and realized one of the first German online magazines on Life Science business on behalf of GIT Publishing Ltd.. Concept and implementation included a multi-channel publishing approach. That was publishing the same content on a website (eZine), via an email-newsletter, and as WAP edition for PDAs and mobile phones (at those pre-smartphone, pre-Android and pre-iOS times the so-called Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was the established technology for providing digital content on mobile devices).

Furthermore, I set-up and managed the editorial team, workflow processes and technical infrastructure, and held editor in chief position with responsibility for sub-editors and external content providers.

DETAILS

CLIENT: GIT Publishing Ltd.

TIME FRAME: 2000 - 2003

READ ON: "Moving Online", article on the history of Inside-Lifescience, originally published in October 2000 by Business Information Searcher

Global Biomarker Patient Identification Project

In was lead of global project aiming to identify hidden patients with Niemann-Pick type C, an ultra-rare and severe neuro-metabolic disease (prevalence 1:89'000, ~1'000 patients on treatment worldwide).

The project included 44 countries, mostly in Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa. We used a highly specific and sensitive biomarker, Lyso-SM-509, provided by the Centogene AG lab, who was also performing the analyses.

We were able to identify >200 additional patients, achieving surprisingly high hit rate of 5 in 100, corresponding to 4 patients per month on average. Investment per patient identified was in the range of 5.2% of yearly treatment costs.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Actelion Specialty Care Global Business Unit

TIME FRAME: January 2014 - August 2018

Business Start-Up

Obviously, one of my most exciting projects had been establishing my own business, SCITARI - Dr. Christian Velten Informationsdienste, in 1999. Together with my team I supported life science industries with information research & analysis, digital media and market/competitor intelligence.

Starting from scratch, I successively developed business with major life science market players (Roche, Aventis/Sanofi, BASF, Bayer), reputable patent law firms (e.g. Vossius), mid-sized biotechs, a German specialist publisher, and single clients form other branches of industry (e.g. Honda R&D).

In parallel, I built an operative team of internals and externals (<10) and was responsible for up to 6 associates, caring for all aspects of people management. I designed and implemented a complete set of processes for internal operations, workflows, knowledge sharing by the team and customized services.

As managing director, I held full responsibility for all aspects of business administration and management. This particularly included corporate development, team development and management, financial management and budget maintenance, project management, vendor management, and customer relationship management.

I quit the business end of 2008 after about 10 successful years to join Novartis.

DETAILS

CLIENT: myself

TIME FRAME: September 1998 - March 1999 (start-up)

Medical Education Programme

Development and provision of a medical education programme, supporting the launch of a new product for a rare dermato-oncological disease.

The programme included ...

a Medscape online CME programme on disease-specific clinical guidance, comprising a web-based expert lecture, a 'curbside consult' (peers' discussion on clinical best practices) and MedSims virtual case discussions
five internal training modules on the new product and its indication (the disease, the patient, diagnosis, treatment/disease management options, specific treatment with product), available for all launch markets and HQ functions on the corporate internal training portal
two animated scientific videos explaining origin of the disease (MoD) and treatment effects (MoA), in different version to be used at event booths, on disease websites or as presentation screen teaser at scientific conferences

DETAILS

CLIENT: Actelion Specialty Care Global Business Unit

TIME FRAME: February 2017 - May 2017

Product Intelligence Platform

Since the late 1960's up to the end of 2013, eNova was the Corporate Product Literature Database of Novartis and its ancestors.

But in fact it was much more than that. Over many years of continous improvements, eNova had evolved to the most sophisticated, mature and powerful information source on real-world product behavior. Providing an outstanding high level of "digestion" of source data, eNova was able to answer very specific questions regarding clinical findings and medical evidences on Novartis products 24/7 and within just a few minutes ... where alternative methods needed hours to days.

During my time at Novartis, I was responsible for the content of eNova which was systematically and continuously picked out of the scientific literature and conference abstracts and analyzed. I was the owner of the corresponding Novartis-specific guidelines for information classification and analysis, and continuously improved and streamlined the rule sets to assure the expected level of quality. I cared for the quality and stability of corresponding eNova content creatiing and updating processes. In addition, I was in charge for (internal) customer relations, user support, and user training.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Novartis Pharma AG

TIME FRAME: until December 2013

QuickAnswers iOS app

In 2010, I initiated and promoted the development and implementation of "eNova QuickAnswers", a quick and easy access to standard answers asked by marketing and medical information colleagues. "QuickAnswers" was finally realized as search tool within eNova and as website widget which could be implemented on any intranet or Sharepoint site

Last not least the team decided to additionally develop a QuickAnswers iOS app for internal use.

I supported the team with migrating the QuickAnswers concept and functionality to the principles of an app. The result successfully passed user acceptance tests, Novartis risk assessment, and was rolled-out to the internal app store soon before due date.

The eNova QickAnswers iPhone/iPad app was one of the very first Novartis-internal iOS apps, providing unique and mobile insights on real-world product behaviour.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Novartis Pharma

TIME FRAME: 2013

Drug Intelligence Report (360° view on a drug)

Within two weeks in November 2010, I conceived the "Drug Intelligence Report" concept (One-Stop-Shop for information and insights on a pharmaceutical product) for Novartis Global Medical Affairs.

The mission was to provide senior management with a kind of one-stop-shop solution for all information on Novartis products. Factually, the general situation at Novartis at that time was a high fragmentation of internal information sources and services, so that colleagues quite often had to spend considerable time with gathering information themselves.

The core principle of the Drug Intelligence Report concept was to provide a single intranet location where all other information sources could be integrated as they were.

The team subsequently provided a Sharepoint-implemented prototype successfully showing proof of concept. Concept and principles of the "360° view on a drug" had then been considered with the development of "eNova NG" at Novartis.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Novartis Global Medical Affairs

TIME FRAME: November 2010

New Pharmacovigilance Literature Screening Process

Within 5 weeks in Q2/2009, I designed and implemented a new literature support process for periodic safety reports by Novartis Drug Safety.

The service was fully compliant to regulatory requirements and covered all global Novartis drugs (~160) as well as all periodic safety reports to relevant authorities by Novartis Global Drug Safety (PSUR, PBRER, ASR, DSUR). For example in 2012 and 2013, around 1'000 produkt-related literature searches per year were processed by the service (on average 85 per month).

Originally this process had been intended to be an interim solution. But due to its stability, reliability and scalability, it was subsequently expanded to Sandoz (generics) and Novartis Vaccines products, and continued at least until I left Novartis in 2014.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Novartis Drug Safety

TIME FRAME: May - June 2009 (set-up)

Due Diligence on a Biosequences Portfolio

Between 2000 and 2008, I investigated prior art, freedom-to-operate, infringement evidences and patent portfolios for reputable patent attorneys and life science industry clients, like Roche and BASF.

In 2004, I joined a BASF due diligence team preparing a company buy-in as an external expert for analyzing the biosequences portfolio of the target company.

I locally evaluated the IP relevance of the protein and DNA sequences offered, e.g. by checking for uniqueness and redundancies. I applied in-depth computer-based sequence analysis using algorithms like BLASTx, TBLASTx, FASTA, FASTM, Smith-Waterman, and ClustalW2.

DETAILS

CLIENT: BASF

TIME FRAME: May 2004

Market Monitoring Platform

Following a customized market analysis, I provided Sanofi Pasteur with an online platform for continuous market monitoring.

Originally Sanofi representatives asked for regular print updates of the successfully provided market analysis. I took the initiative offering a permanently updated, password-protected online portal directly giving access to all data as well as latest findings. Together with my team, I successfully set-up the platform and completed content migration within 3 weeks after approval given by the customer.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Sanofi Pasteur

TIME FRAME: April 2003

Internal report on gaps and bottlenecks of information supply within Novartis Pharma

Between 2009 and 2013, I responsibly cared for the internal customer relationship management on behalf of the Novartis Knowledge Management business unit. My objectives had been to proactively manage customer relations, to align our deliveries with our clients' business needs, to design efficient customer service processes ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction, and to coordinate the customer support team.

In this role, I responsibly conducted an internal customer survey by doing series of interviews with middle and senior management stakeholders. I published the results in April 2009 as internal report "Current situation of the Novartis Pharma internal information supply - An analysis of needs and bottlenecks".

In the following years, I had the opportunity to complement the business analysis by an additional round of customer interviews on end-user level (2010) as well as an in-depth internal analysis on the impact of efficient literature research on the productivity at Novartis (2013).

DETAILS

CLIENT: Novartis Knowledge Management

TIME FRAME: December 2008 - April 2009

Driving Change

In late 2011 an additional organizational transformation within our Novartis division was announced more or less surprisingly. I had the lead with implementing consequential changes of structures, processes, services and deliveries. During day-to-day operation, I reshaped information research & analysis processes and moved corresponding tasks and assigned FTEs to the Novartis Hyderabad (India) subsidiary. In addition, I coordinated and supervised vendors and external contributors.

Despite limited resources as well as the short-term nature of the requested changes, I reached a successful and save handover as well as the continuity of our regulatory deliveries ensuring services without interruptions or complaints.

DETAILS

CLIENT: Novartis Knowledge Management

TIME FRAME: October 2011 - May 2012

WORKED FOR

RESUME

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

NOV 2019 -
TODAY

GLOBAL HEAD MEDICAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG

Leading the ambition to provide HCPs & patients with an excellent Roche customer experience spanning brands. • Facilitating the evolution of customer & patient engagement and content in the digital space, also allowing a connected experience across all channels. • Enabling outside-in driven innovation, resulting in impactful and scalable solutions and content. • Establish innovative CX approaches and best-practices customized to pharma customer needs.

JUN 2018 -
OCT 2019

COORDINATOR GLOBAL DIGITAL STRATEGY

Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. / Janssen Pulmonary Hypertension

Led the global digital strategy initiative for commercial & medical functions (digital transformation of business). • Established a cross-functional and cross-departmental internal network linking internal digital activities, expertise and passion. • Aligned global/regional/local layers, IT, R&D, compliance/legal, and digital strategies at Janssen (J&J).

DEC 2014 -
OCT 2019

GLOBAL MEDICAL PROJECT MANAGER

Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Responsible for developing an ultra-rare neurodegenerative disease area by managing innovative clinical projects (IISs), providing impactful scientific communication, delivering scientific education media, driving key scientific publications, and coordinating global activities.

NOV 2008 -
JUN 2014

KNOWLEDGE ANALYST & PROJECT TEAM MANAGER

Novartis Pharma AG

Identified strategic and operational needs, translated those into effective solutions and support processes, providing Novartis with superior strategic information and medical evidence for a knowledge-driven competitive advantage. • Coordinated and supervised globally distributed teams (Basel, India, UK) delivering high quality and compliant in-house product intelligence. • Advanced internal information processes in GxP environment (especially drug safety related).

JAN 1999 -
OCT 2008

FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR

SCITARI - Dr. Christian Velten Informationsdienste

Together with my team, I provided life science industries with digital media, editorial content, multi-channel publishing, web-based information platforms, information research, and intelligence. • Developed & implemented a multi-channel online magazine on Life Science business for GIT Publishing Ltd. • Held editor in chief position for 3 years with responsibility for sub-editors and external content providers.

NOV 1998 -
MAY 1999

MARKETING ASSISTANT & WEB DESIGNER

LION Bioscience AG

I developed and implemented a new version of the corporate website for the IPO.

MAY 1994 -
DEC 1997

SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATE

Hanover Medical School

Scientific associate at the Hanover Medical School, Institute for Molecular Biology. Scientific guest at the Vienna Biocenter. Basic oncological research on the genetic regulation of cell growth.

BACKGROUND & EDUCATION

DEC 1997

DOCTORATE

Hanover University

Dr. rer. nat., molecular biology/genetics; scholarship for DFG Graduate Student Course "Molecular Pathophysiology of the Cell Growth", Hanover Medical School, Institute of Molecular Biology

DEC 1993

DIPLOM-BIOLOGE

Technical University of Darmstadt

Graduated with university diploma degree (master level) in Biology; majors: microbiology, biochemistry, mycology, and waste water treatment

JUL 1987 -
SEP 1988

BASIC MILITARY SERVICE

Wetzlar

4. Panzergrenadierbataillon 132

JUN 1968

BORN

Giessen, Hessia, Germany

TESTIMONIALS

Christian is very engaged and interested in making things better. He is an excellent listener, and is very focused on customer service.

— CLIENT • Novartis Drug Safety

Christian is an excellent communicator, having a wide range of competence and is very result oriented.

— MATRIX PROJECT TEAM MEMBER • Novartis Pharma

Christian's strengths are closely related to his deep understanding of the business and his high level of competency.

— LINE MANAGER

Christian can translate complex ideas into simple ones, and he can see where things should be in order to be able to improve them. He is also an ethical and moral person, who is committed to quality in his work.

— CLIENT • Novartis Pharma

Christian is a very nice guy who enriches any team, because of e.g. his kind behavior and wide background.

— TEAM PEER

SELECTED BLOG-POSTS

CONTACT

ADDRESS

Markgräflerland, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

PHONE

+49 7631 1731525

mail@christianvelten.com

SEND MESSAGE

Clinical Digital Solution

DETAILS

Digital Strategy for Commercial & Medical

DETAILS

iFind - the Novartis PubMed+

DETAILS

Business Integration of Digital Customer Engagement (Actelion-Janssen)

DETAILS

BIONEWS/Inside-Lifescience eZine

DETAILS

Global Biomarker Patient Identification Project

DETAILS

Business Start-Up

DETAILS

Medical Education Programme

DETAILS

Product Intelligence Platform

DETAILS

QuickAnswers iOS app

DETAILS

Drug Intelligence Report (360° view on a drug)

DETAILS

New Pharmacovigilance Literature Screening Process

DETAILS

Due Diligence on a Biosequences Portfolio

DETAILS

Market Monitoring Platform

DETAILS

Internal report on gaps and bottlenecks of information supply within Novartis Pharma

DETAILS

Driving Change

DETAILS

Why doesn’t anyone tell him …?

How to maximise the effectiveness of
your FTO research – Checklist

Don’t forget to gaggle!

From Builders and Maintainers

Clinical Digital Solution

DETAILS

Digital Strategy for Commercial & Medical

DETAILS

iFind - the Novartis PubMed+

DETAILS

Business Integration of Digital Customer Engagement (Actelion-Janssen)

DETAILS

BIONEWS/Inside-Lifescience eZine

DETAILS

Global Biomarker Patient Identification Project

DETAILS

Business Start-Up

DETAILS

Medical Education Programme

DETAILS

Product Intelligence Platform

DETAILS

QuickAnswers iOS app

DETAILS

Drug Intelligence Report (360° view on a drug)

DETAILS

New Pharmacovigilance Literature Screening Process

DETAILS

Due Diligence on a Biosequences Portfolio

DETAILS

Market Monitoring Platform

DETAILS

Internal report on gaps and bottlenecks of information supply within Novartis Pharma

DETAILS

Driving Change

DETAILS

Why doesn’t anyone tell him …?

How to maximise the effectiveness of your FTO research – Checklist

Don’t forget to gaggle!

From Builders and Maintainers

How to maximise the effectiveness of
your FTO research – Checklist