Industry Insider is a timely chat with an ophthalmic industry thought leader.

Jeannette Bankes

Jeannette Bankes joined Alcon in March 2019 as president and general manager of the company’s global surgical division, where she is in charge of global portfolio management and commercialization of products. She is the first woman to serve in that role. She was previously the general manager of the urology and public health division of Boston Scientific, again as the first woman to fill that role.

Ophthalmology Management: What struggles has the COVID-19 pandemic presented to Alcon?

Jeannette Bankes: First and foremost, we are concerned about the safety of our employees, so we’re making sure all our sites comply with social distancing regulations, any quarantine protocols, that our employees all have sufficient PPE and so forth. Our goals have been to balance the global patient need for our surgical products while manufacturing them in as safe a manner as possible, and I’m very proud of Alcon’s associates during this time.

To better grasp how to work during this pandemic, we had some of our global representatives reach out to Chinese authorities to study how they handled patient flow and best practices with customers as they had to deal with COVID earlier than we did. We also launched the new ARGOS biometer, which helped practices during this time. It can reduce pre-op biometric measurement time for cataract patients by 30% to 40%, which we saw as being very helpful when many practices need to keep patients waiting in parking lots to ensure appropriate distancing and safety protocols. Additionally, we had to quickly pivot to more virtual HCP trainings. Our virtual training center, AlconExperienceAcademy.com , has seen more use during the year of the pandemic than it did during the previous year and a half.

OM: What are Alcon’s latest releases in the ophthalmic space?

JB: We’ve had several significant launches during this time, including the ARGOS. Our PanOptix IOL, for example, has been a great success and has really delivered on the promise of trifocal IOLs. It is the first and only trifocal IOL to reach the U.S. market, and its ability to improve sight across near, intermediate and distant vision has met with a lot of positive feedback.

Just this year we also launched another first-of-its-kind IOL for the U.S. market, the AcrySof IQ Vivity, a non-diffractive, extended depth of focus IOL. This means that a patient will be less affected by halos and glares, which makes night-time activities such as driving much easier. The Vivity IOL offers functional near vision and excellent intermediate and far vision.

This year, we’re also focused on continuing to improve the integration of our equipment ecosystem — this includes the connectivity of our preoperative and intraoperative equipment footprint like our microscopes, biometers and NGENUITY 3D Visualization System. So much information is still entered manually between these devices, so we want to put it all in one place using a cloud-based data system. This will ultimately seamlessly connect devices and data systems from the clinic through the OR, for increased simplicity, efficiency and accuracy, helping to deliver optimal patient outcomes.

OM: What advice do you have for other women looking for leadership roles in ophthalmology?

JB: First, I would say that my success may not be the same for others, as we’re all different individuals. My biggest career advice from my last 30 years, though, would be to be authentic to yourself. Your leadership style may be different from others, but you can embrace that rather than resist it. And maybe a leadership style that doesn’t work with one business culture will be the perfect fit for another, as each employer is different.

I’ve also noticed that women often wait to be invited to participate whereas men do not typically wait for that signal. My advice to women is to not wait for an invitation, just be part of the discussion if you think you have valuable input. OM