|
Sarah Scott Harrison began her relationship with Astra-Zeneca
Pharmaceuticals LP, one of the world’s top five pharmaceutical
companies, almost 30 years ago, when she joined the Zeneca Agricultural
Pro-ducts business unit as a chemist in 1977. She eventually was
named vice president of Customer Strategy Integration, with responsibility
for optimizing sales and profits in the public sector. Her work
has affected more than $6 billion in revenue. She also created
and implemented market-access strategies and infrastructure changes
to more effectively manage the public-sector market. Her prior
leadership positions include vice president, Pain, Anesthesia
& Infection Business Unit and vice president, Managed Healthcare
and National Accounts.
For now, Harrison is on a special consulting assignment, helping
to steer the company’s efforts to improve minority health
by focusing on reducing the disparities in health care. In this
role, she has aligned AstraZeneca with the National Medical Association
and is creating strategic collaborations and action plans. “Raising
the overall value of the Black race is very important to me and
I will continue to push for social change,” says Harrison.
A dedicated wife and mother, Harrison attributes her successes
and achievements to the support and encouragement of her family,
especially her mother, who instilled in her a sense of pride,
self-confidence and a “can-do” attitude, she says.
She also points to her own “heavy dependence on prayer,
praise, preparation, performance, perseverance, patience and peace,”
her 7 Ps for life. Armed with these 7Ps and firm religious convictions,
Harrison contends that she eventually will realize her dream of
using her “broad business experience, leadership skills
and vast network to improve health and well being, reduce poverty
and help youth and the underserved live a more successful life.”
Among her numerous accolades and awards are the 2004 National
Medical Association’s Presidential Award and the 2002 Apex
Award from the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education.
The Healthcare Businesswoman’s Association also named her
Woman of the Year in 2002.
Harrison has a B.S. in chemistry from Southern University in
Baton Rouge, La., and an M.B.A. from the University of Houston
in Texas.
|
