Alum Leads SPH Affinity Group at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Lindsey Frenkel-Rorden (SPH’15) recalls the monthly lunch gatherings she used to coordinate for fellow SPH alums working at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

“The lunches began as casual get-togethers to talk about SPH events and the projects we were working on in our departments,” says Frenkel-Rorden, who is the associate director of US Managed Markets at Vertex. “At first, we occupied just one table, and then we grew to three or four tables.”

The expanding lunch group was eager to develop more structured gatherings for alums at the Boston-based biopharmaceutical firm known for its exclusive development of FDA-approved cystic fibrosis drug therapies. So Frenkel-Rorden spearheaded the effort and established an official SPH affinity group for Vertex employees in 2016. Now in its third year, the group has grown to 25 alums, from recent graduates to employees who completed their degree programs in the 1990s. Members represent 12 unique departments at Vertex, such as patient services, medical writing, and health economics.

Frenkel-Rorden says the group gatherings are also great opportunity for alums to discover new interests—and secure internal connections and support, should they decide to pursue a formal job or internal rotation in another department at Vertex.

“You’ve got people who are brand-new case managers who have never worked in biotech before, to people with 25 years of biotech experience, in a really intimate setting,” she says. “They can ask questions and learn about each other’s work, and that’s just not something you can really get in other places.

”The group convenes quarterly to organize a variety of networking and educational opportunities, as well as support ongoing recruitment at SPH. They have held events with Dean Sandro Galea, as well as several faculty and staff members, to discuss current research, continuing education opportunities, and other noteworthy SPH news. Last month, Frenkel-Rorden represented Vertex at the annual Career Fair, where a steady line of students assembled at the company booth for the duration of the event.

Frenkel-Rorden says that students, recent hires, and longtime employees alike are attracted to the fast-paced and challenging environment at Vertex, where “no two days are the same.” She joined the company in 2015 as a manager of government affairs and public policy —a role she learned about through an employee who was an SPH alum—and assumed her current role as an associate director in 2017. She describes her position as playing the “ultimate team sport,” in which she translates complex science and clinical data to health insurance companies, pharmacies, and other stakeholders, and conveys the value of the company’s cystic fibrosis drugs therapies so that insurers and providers can ensure patient access to the life-saving medications. The rare genetic disorder affects approximately 70,000 people worldwide, and almost half of those cases are in the United States.

“What we’ve been able to deliver is completely transformational,” Frenkel-Rorden says. “These patients have never had anything else that actually treats the cause of their disease. They’ve only had medicines that help with their symptoms, but don’t actually help them live better lives.”

She says Vertex’ serial innovation, patient-centered model, and commitment to its employees and to the community distinguish the company from its competitors.

“Coming from a public health background to biotech, I asked myself, will I feel like I’m making a difference for constituents?” she says. “At Vertex, I’m surrounded by some of the smartest people that I know, and I feel like we’re doing the right thing.

“It’s really rewarding to be able to use the public health skills that I learned to go for patients in need.”

—Jillian McKoy