Tuck Knowledge in Practice Podcast: A Business with Humanity at its Very Core

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Kirk Kardashian: Hey everyone, this is Kirk Kardashian, and you’re listening to Knowledge and Practice, a podcast from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. In this podcast, we talk with Tuck professors about their research and teaching, and the story behind their curiosity.

Today’s show is part of a series called Alumni in the Classroom, where we speak with Tuck alumni who have come back to Tuck to teach a course or guest lecture. My guest today is Kirsten Detrick, T’92, an executive with more than 30 years of experience leading companies in the biopharmaceutical industry.

A few years ago, Kirsten returned to Tuck to teach the minicourse Contemporary Issues in Biotechnology. Kirsten’s approach to teaching goes far beyond what people might expect from a professor. In her words, her job as an adjunct professor is to teach, coach, motivate, and inspire.

In this episode, we’ll hear about Kirsten’s long and successful career, her decision to teach at Tuck, and we’ll discuss some of the most important issues facing the biopharma sector—which, as she says, serves the seven-plus billion people on Earth who need and deserve good health.

Kirsten Detrick, welcome to Knowledge and Practice. Thank you for being here.

Kirsten Detrick: Thanks, Kirk. It’s a real pleasure to be here in this amazing little studio we have here at Tuck.

Kirk: Yeah, we’re lucky to have this nice studio. This episode is part of a special series we’re calling Alumni in the Classroom.

You’re a member of the Tuck Class of 1992 and have been an executive in the biopharmaceutical industry for more than 30 years. You returned to Tuck a few years ago to teach a course called Contemporary Issues in Biotechnology. You also teach the Global Insight Expedition to Japan that focuses on how that country is navigating its high percentage of people aged 65 and older. That’s a lot!

Can you give us an overview of your work in the biopharmaceutical space and why you decided to return to Tuck to teach?

Kirsten: Well, who wouldn’t want to come back to the most incredible place on Earth? That’s the easy answer—true!

But my career—it’s ironic because all things come full circle. After Tuck, when I graduated, my dad encouraged me to take a solo trip to Japan for almost a month. He said, “If anyone wants to go to Europe and you want to go to Japan, go.” So I did. I took myself to Japan, and that comes in later in my career and in my teaching as well.

My biopharma career after Tuck spans about 30 years. I’ve worked for big corporations like Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Takeda. I’ve been blessed to work across countless therapeutic categories—immune-mediated diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, cardiovascular disease, rare diseases, and oncology. There are very few categories I haven’t touched, and I’ve worked across them as the science has evolved.

I started in what’s called small molecules—essentially oral therapies. Then I moved into biologics, typically injectable therapeutics—large molecules. Since then, the next step has been into cell and gene therapy, which is highly technical and fascinating.

I spent about two-thirds of my career in the U.S., on both coasts, and then in 2013, I moved overseas with my family. As my son loves to tease me, he says, “Mom, you’re an American woman working at a Japanese pharmaceutical company in Eastern Europe and living in Switzerland—could you make it any more interesting?”

I spent almost a decade in Europe working on global businesses and regional leadership as a general manager. When I graduated from Tuck, being a general manager was the dream—and I achieved it.

Coming back to the Upper Valley and to Tuck, I’d been guest lecturing every year or two. I pay great homage to my colleagues in the Center for Health Care—they’re an amazing group of professors doing wonderful work. I used to write and teach cases, and one day, during a guest lecture, the head of the healthcare center thanked me for “coming such a long way,” and I said, “It was just one exit up the highway.”

She asked if I’d be interested in teaching at Tuck—standing on the shoulders of professors who taught before me. I was humbled and thrilled. It’s been such a joy sharing my passion and experiences with students.

I’ve always said that as a leader and executive, you do four things: teach, coach, motivate, and inspire. And what better place to do that than Tuck?

Kirk: Wow. That’s a really interesting career history—you’ve done a lot, and in so many places.

For prospective students listening and wondering what it looks like to be a general manager at a big biopharma company, what does that job look like?

Kirsten: It’s the best job on Earth—truly. Everything I learned about that role from 1990 to 1992 came true.

I was doing the job in Austria—headquartered in Vienna—but also leading for several Eastern and Central European countries. It’s all about motivating people from different cultures, making good decisions with the patient at the center, and building trust. When you build trust, you earn a great reputation, and the business follows.

It’s about learning to work at every level of government, building strategy, and executing it, amassing the resources you need. It’s literally the best job on the planet. I loved every single minute of it and was so fortunate to have that opportunity.

Kirk: I think I noted in your CV that you have a BA in chemistry?

Kirsten: I do. I thought I was going to be a toxicologist in college, but one day I realized my personality wasn’t suited to having mice and rats as companions—or my colleagues in that space!

But I love science, and I’m curious. I’m a big learner. Tuck helped me apply that passion for puzzles through the discipline of business—strategy, execution, organizational behavior—all of it came together for me in this sector, which is so important.

When you work in biotech or biopharma, you have seven billion people relying on you to make wise, decisive decisions. That’s what Tuck taught me. For anyone considering Tuck, it’s a great place to map out your future—not all of it, because so much is serendipity—but it helps you realize your potential in a community that will help you achieve your dreams.

Kirk: Before we talk about your elective, help us understand the context of the biotech industry today. How big is it? How does it intersect with people’s lives? And what are some of the important issues the industry and its stakeholders are grappling with today?

Kirsten: There are seven billion people on the planet who need and deserve good health—and access to therapies. The industry is about a $1.5 trillion global sector. The biotech component—advanced biologics, cell, and gene therapies—makes up about one-third of that, roughly $500 billion.

There are countless therapeutic categories—defined by mechanism of action, delivery, or indication—and the scale and scope are enormous. It’s a privilege to work in an industry that, while a business, has humanity at its core. The people who succeed in it often hear a higher calling—they use business to serve that calling.

Right now, there are three major issues.

First, access to capital. About three or four years ago, the capital markets for biotech tightened dramatically. Most innovation originates in academic labs—places like Dartmouth—where scientists make discoveries and realize, “This could help people.” But to grow, they need capital. Those markets have constricted, and scientists—who may not have business backgrounds—need people like Tuckies to help connect them with funding. Access to capital is a huge issue.

Second, access for patients—providing therapies affordably. In the U.S., with its multipayer system, insurers negotiate with pharma companies to determine formularies. Other countries have single-payer systems where governments are the purchasers.

I’ll give you an example. I once launched a cell therapy administered two weeks after a surgical procedure. The product had a 24-hour shelf life and had to be couriered overnight to hospitals. When it arrived, a hospital administrator called and said, “We can’t afford to administer it—it’s $50,000.”

Our company’s value was “patient first.” So I called the head of the hospital and said, “We’ll give it to you for free. If it works, you pay us.” Clinical data showed a 50% response rate. The hospital agreed. The patient responded, and the hospital was happy to pay.

That’s what it means to put the patient first.

Third, the integration of technology and biotech—the rise of TechBio. AI and machine learning now let us identify which patients are likely to respond to a therapy based on their genetic makeup. That accelerates clinical trials, gets drugs to patients faster, and personalizes medicine. It’s the dawn of targeted therapies—what we call personalized medicine.

Kirk: That’s fascinating—and exciting. Is it correct to say that biopharma nests under biotech?

Kirsten: Actually, it’s the other way around. Biopharma is the broader term—it encompasses both biotech and pharma. Many companies we once considered “pharma” are really biotech now. The industry keeps maturing, and it never gets boring.

Kirk: Your elective is called Contemporary Issues in Biotechnology. What’s your approach to teaching a course like that to MBA students?

Kirsten: I stand on the shoulders of those who taught it before me, and I’m so grateful. It’s a nine-session minicourse—all case-based. I start each class with a short lecture to set context, then we dive right into a case, often by minute six.

The first thing I tell students is: you don’t have to be a scientist to succeed in this sector. You just have to be curious, willing to learn, and unafraid to ask questions. We talk about strategy, pricing, manufacturing—everything from positioning to what happens when your first shipment of vials falls off a truck.

Many students come in intimidated by the science, but by the end, they’re energized. We need bright business minds solving these problems—people who can help deliver health care, improve therapies, and use innovation to address diseases like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia.

Kirk: When we spoke earlier, you talked about your teaching philosophy—how you think of your role as more than just delivering content.

Kirsten: Yes. I believe great leaders are teachers. My job is to teach, coach, motivate, and inspire. I want to ignite curiosity—to help students feel courageous enough to ask questions, to make mistakes, and to learn. There’s no such thing as a stupid question. Asking is how we learn and make the world better.

I share my career mistakes openly. I tell students, “I made my mistake on someone else’s dime—now you get to learn that lesson for free.”

Courses are about content, yes, but more importantly, about lighting a fire in someone’s soul for that content. I want students to articulate their dreams and help them turn those into reality.

Kirk: I think I noticed in your syllabus that one of your objectives is to help students feel confident talking about technical issues.

Kirsten: Absolutely. If you can speak the language, you can join the conversation. Simplifying complex ideas invites people in. I’ve noticed some people make things sound more complicated, thinking it sounds impressive. But simplicity brings people together.

As Thoreau said: Simplify. If I can explain something clearly, you’ll want to learn more—and that’s how understanding spreads.

Kirk: Earlier you mentioned Japan—you went there after Tuck, right?

Kirsten: Yes. A Japanese classmate hand-drew my business card for me—business cards are a huge form of respect in Japan. This was before computers were common, so I had them printed in Hanover. I also brought tiny bottles of maple syrup as gifts—gift-giving is an important tradition there.

Kirk: I’m sure that was a hit!

Kirsten: It was. But I digress.

Kirk: Now you teach the Japan Global Insight Expedition at Tuck. For those who don’t know, GIX stands for Global Insight Expedition—it fulfills Tuck’s global education requirement. Students begin with classes on campus, then travel with faculty to explore cultural and business dynamics abroad.

Your GIX went to Japan in fall 2024 to study how the country is managing its aging population. Tell us about that.

Kirsten: I love this course. Tuck’s global requirement is a spectacular part of the education here. The world is getting smaller, and being able to do business across cultures is vital.

Our Japan GIX focuses on the economic impacts of aging across sectors—transportation, housing, healthcare, innovation.

Right now in the U.S., about six working people support each retiree. In Japan, it’s three to one—and by mid-century, it’ll be one to one. That has enormous economic consequences. Japan is a healthy, aging society, but fertility rates are declining, so the population pyramid is inverting. That affects everything—from transportation to housing—and innovation is crucial to address it.

Kirk: What can other countries learn from Japan?

Kirsten: It’s hard to get people excited about a problem 25 years away, but the impacts are real. We use the GIX as a learning laboratory—immersing students in Japanese culture and business realities. We call it the silver tsunami.

It presents both challenges and opportunities. Other countries, including the U.S., should pay close attention to what Japan and South Korea are doing to respond. There’s so much to learn.

Kirk: Sounds like a great learning opportunity—and a great trip.

Kirsten: It really is.

Kirk: Thanks for your time, Kirsten. It was great talking with you.

Kirsten: What a pleasure. Thanks for having me, Kirk. It’s delightful to talk with you, and I can’t wait for the next round of students in Contemporary Issues in Biotech—and the upcoming Japan GIX.

Kirk: I’d like to thank my guest, Kirsten Detrick. You’ve been listening to Knowledge and Practice, a podcast from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Please like and subscribe, and if you enjoyed the show, leave a review—it helps people find us.

This show was recorded by me, Kirk Kardashian, and produced and sound designed by Tom Whalley. See you next time.