“It takes courage to do things that others consider impossible.”
Dr. Maky Zanganeh
Maky has an enthusiasm that is hard to match in the industry, constantly striving to surpass herself and advises others to do the same.
leadership
Maky has led many industry transformations ranging from minimally invasive surgical robotics to a patient-friendly small molecule drug for blood cancer patients. She firmly believes in the concept of “taking responsibility and the ability will follow.” Maky’s leadership ability is due to a natural authority, to which are added rare qualities such as courage and respect for others, two traits that her collaborators and friends admire. Her optimism is contagious; her rigor, hard work, courage, tenacity, and honesty is exemplary.
Maky has an enthusiasm that is hard to match in the industry, constantly striving to surpass herself and advises others to do the same. She seeks to build and mentor, to be a leader not a boss. She believes that to bring people together, you must have the ability to listen and respond appropriately. To mentor, you must have dynamism, energy, instinct, the ability to perceive in others their potential and what motivates them before they even realized it, and the ability to transfer knowledge.
The Race for Results: Collapsing Time
One of Maky’s keys to success, lies in seeking the shortest path between ideas and their application. She is a rapid decision maker and will reach a conclusion and decision and then communicate it with enthusiasm, while others are still at the beginning of the thought process. She is always looking at how to “collapse time”; to attain the end goal more efficiently and in the shortest time.
Computer Motion
In 1998, Maky became The President of Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Computer Motion, the world’s first surgical robotics company.
Maky’s major achievement at Computer Motion came in September 2001, when Professor Jacques Marescaux, Chairman of the Digestive and Endocrine Surgery at the University of Strasbourg and President, Founder of the Research Institute Against Digestive Cancer (IRCAD), launched the first telesurgery operation, on a patient in France, between New York and Strasbourg France, via the Zeus Robotic System.
Computer Motion, in collaboration with French Telecom and professor Marescaux and his team, showed the world that the barriers of space, distance and time can collapse. The signals had to travel over 10,000 miles. This resulted in a delay of approximately one-tenth of a second after the surgeon made an incision before they saw the effects.
Professor Marescaux operating in NY with the robot controlled by Professor Marescaux in Strasbourg, France.
Pharmacyclics
In 2008 Maky joined Pharmacyclics, Inc. where she again accomplished one of the biggest business successes in the industry at that time. As a Chief Operating Officer, she led the struggling biotech company with two failed Phase 3 trials, closed a multi-million-dollar license deal for the lead compound, ibrutinib, with Janssen Biotech in 2011. The deal with Janssen Biotech received the award of the “Best Biotech Transaction” in 2011. In 2013, Pharmacyclics launched Imbruvica, a patient-friendly, oral therapy drug, for blood cancer patients, in record time. Imbruvica became the blockbuster drug in hematological cancer and since then many patients could get back to their normal life thank to efficacy of the drug and pristine safety profile.
In 2013, she received the Fierce Biotech “2013 Top Women in Biotech” award and was nominated to the E&Y company “Entrepreneur of the Year” 2013 award. Maky continued at Pharmacyclics where she was a key leader in the subsequent sale of the company for $21 billion dollars in 2015 to AbbVie Inc – the second largest biopharma sale ever, at that time. In 2015, Pharmacyclics was also awarded the prestigious Prix Galien for “Best Pharmaceutical Agent”. This award is the biomedical industry’s highest accolade and recognizes outstanding achievements in the development of new therapies.
Pushing the Boundaries
Over Maky’s career she learned a great deal about cancer patients and their will to live. She learned that to fight cancer, the industry must aim high and go for a cure as long as the body can handle it. In other words, fighting until the end and never giving up. She learned that 2% chance is not 0% chance and we may have invented, innovated, created anti-cancer drugs, but it is a combination of everything else that is occurring in the body, that impacts the patient’s prognosis, and we must give that our consideration. Maky is determined that her new company, Summit Therapeutics, will make a positive impact on the medical world, improve the quality of life, and help save lives.
It Takes Courage to Do Things that Others Consider Impossible
In a recent presentation at the 2022 United Nations #February11 Global Movement Dr. Zanganeh shared: “Follow your dreams, move forward. Life is in front of you, not behind you. Changing the world, for the better, is a true adventurous journey, not for the faint of heart, not for the impatient ones. It takes courage to do things that others consider impossible. Perception, observation, knowledge, a sense of certainty and a willingness to take chances is part of a parcel of innovation. Curiosity and caring about life and its forward progress, hard work and willingness to sacrifice are required to achieve your goals and purpose. We have to work together and collaborate to make a significant difference for the betterment of humankind. Together we can move mountains. And I hope you will always continue as if there are no limits to innovation, joy, and happiness and that we, working in harmony, will create that.”
my book
The Magic of Normal
I would like to start by honoring all cancer survivors. I am also a cancer survivor, diagnosed back in 2020, and wanted you to know that I care and understand about the challenges and difficulties that are faced. When I was going through my cancer treatments, I started a book which was just recently published called The Magic of Normal. In the book, I share my personal story growing up – from Iran, Germany, France, to gaining my Dental Degree of Surgery, and then into the world of business.
