Health Tech: Dave Hickey On How BD’s Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness

An Interview With Dave Philistin

Start with asking ‘Why?’ What is the problem that you are looking to solve? Begin by thinking about the customer and understand what the problem is that you are looking to solve. Then you have to work collaboratively with your team to develop an innovation that can solve that problem. Once that’s done, you have to become laser focused in developing, validating, and launching that innovation. The quicker you can get a new product out on the market without compromising quality, the sooner you are bringing an impactful innovation to life. Then you must monitor and measure the impact of that innovation.

In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dave Hickey.

Dave Hickey serves as executive vice president and president of the Life Sciences segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. In this role, he oversees the global operational, commercial and financial performance of the two businesses that comprise the Life Sciences segment: Integrated Diagnostic Solutions and BD Biosciences.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

I grew up in a very small village just outside of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Fun fact: as a teenager I worked on a local farm, delivering milk to people’s doorsteps. I had a typical primary school experience and eventually attended university in Manchester. After university, I joined the National Health Service, where my qualification is in clinical biochemistry. I am privileged to have worked in the NHS for nearly seven years before I joined “industry” but still in healthcare.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

There are so many stories, but one that was pivotal not only for my career but for me and my family, was the opportunity for us to move to the United States in 2003. It was a big decision in terms of the impact it would have on my family including my wife and children from an opportunity, experience and cultural perspective. We moved to Connecticut as I began a global role with Bayer Diagnostics

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I had so many mentors and leaders over the course of my career, but the move to the United States in 2003 would not have been possible without the support of my wife Sylvia, and the children. My wife had an established career as a practicing physician and a primary care doctor in the U.K. Without hesitation, she agreed that moving to the United States was a great opportunity. Without her ultimate support, it would not have happened.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“God gave us two ears and one mouth and you should use them in that proportion.” Listening versus just talking to or at somebody is critical. Real leaders listen and digest what they hear much more than they talk.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Having a vision and being very deliberate on how you want to achieve it. When I think about impact and purpose, it’s about making a difference, having a north star, and knowing what your true north is.

For example, when I decided to pursue higher education I chose sciences over art. Knowing at a very early stage that all I ever wanted to do was work in healthcare, I was very deliberate in my choices. Even though I’ve moved around the globe and have worked in a variety of different roles, at the end of the day my true north has never varied and having an impact in healthcare is what has driven me.

Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?

Ultimately my role is very much aligned to the overall purpose and mission of BD, which is advancing the world of health. This is about creating research and diagnostic tools to help our customers become better at their jobs. Everything we do starts with the customer, especially from an innovation perspective. Whether in clinical research or diagnostics, we first look at what problems our customers are facing. That informs our innovation strategy and where we put our investments.

How do you think your technology can address this?

Automation, informatics and artificial intelligence play a huge role in our technology today and in the future. Ultimately the automated instruments we develop and the tests that run on them, give labs and clinicians the right diagnostic answer so he or she can make an informed clinical decision on treatment or therapy as quickly as they can.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

As a kid I would watch a TV program called Quincy M.E., where the main character was a pathologist in a lab. While watching, it struck me that I didn’t really know anything about pathology. At school I was very intentional about talking to our guidance counselor about a career in pathology. That triggered the need to go and look at university courses, and ultimately steered me in the direction of being a clinical biochemist.

How do you think these types of products might change the world?

I think of pathology, infectious disease diagnostics, and the role labs play in hospitals today as an undiscovered story and hidden gem.

Not many people know what happens behind the scenes. When a physician is deciding how to manage or treat a patient 70 percent of the physician’s decision is made with the insight of a clinical laboratory test. The fact that the diagnostics and innovations BD makes inform physicians to make the best possible decisions regarding the course of treatment for their patients. That is the essence of what BD Life Science does. The pandemic and the role of COVID testing, whether rapid or PCR testing, has heightened global awareness of how pivotal and vital diagnostic medicine is.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

At BD we’re leveraging our technical know-how to make smart devices, increase automation and informatics in laboratories. When people hear the words “automation,” “digitization” in the context of diagnostics, they can be skeptical about data security and privacy, which BD takes very seriously. We are committed to providing secure products to our customers and value the confidentiality and integrity of all information, including protected health and personally identifiable information.

Also, people can be distrustful of machines conducting and analyzing the results of a test without the analysis of a clinician. But the bottom line is human interpretation can sometimes lead to unnecessary mistakes. Now that we are moving toward more and more self-testing, at home, untrained consumers are often the one to perform the test and interpret the results.

I’ll give you one “for example.” Conducting COVID-19 testing at home presents several challenges, which can include confusing instructions, confirmation that swabbing was performed, potentially ambiguous interpretation of the results and difficulty reporting results to public health officials or employers and schools. Our at-home test solves for all of these. There is no guessing game about one line or two, as is sometimes the case with visually read tests. The app gives you a definitive “negative” or “positive” digital display of the result. Our at-home, COVID-19 test offers smartphone interpretation and digital display of results, along with automated reporting.

Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”? (Please share a story or an example, for each.)

Start with asking ‘Why?’ What is the problem that you are looking to solve? Begin by thinking about the customer and understand what the problem is that you are looking to solve. Then you have to work collaboratively with your team to develop an innovation that can solve that problem. Once that’s done, you have to become laser focused in developing, validating, and launching that innovation. The quicker you can get a new product out on the market without compromising quality, the sooner you are bringing an impactful innovation to life. Then you must monitor and measure the impact of that innovation.

A lesson I have learned from a former mentor that was very instrumental to me is to never lose sight of work life balance and always remember what really matters. An analogy would be that of a juggler who is juggling the many aspects of life and work, with a glass ball which represents family, friends, and personal health. Try and juggle as many balls as you feel comfortable with, but whatever you do, you should never drop that glass ball.

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

Know what your true north is and stay dedicated to it. My hope would be that our younger generation can find something that they are passionate about, that will drive them, put a fire in their belly, and make them get up every single day. In summary, you must be very deliberate about understanding and following your true north.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why?

From a leadership perspective, I would love to have lunch with Sir Alex Ferguson, who was the coach of the Manchester United football team for 26 years and took the team to levels and accolades they have never seen. During the week he is surrounded by a bigger team on the training ground, but ultimately during the 90-minute match every week, he must coach them from the sidelines. I think a leader who can successfully do that is tremendous.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-hickey-2903395/

Follow BD: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bd1/

Twitter: @BDandCo

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.