When Press Ganey Associates — makers of the most widely used outpatient satisfaction survey in the United States — needed a leader for its growing life-sciences department, Farah Ahmad was a natural fit for the role.
With more than 20 years of experience in clinical development, coupled with a background in biochemistry and business, Ahmad was enlisted in 2022 by the healthcare company to harness advanced technologies that help gain real-time insights to improve the patient experience.
“I’m focused on bringing standardized experience measurement to clinical trials to ensure every patient has a voice in the process,” says the president of Life Sciences.
Ahmad has previously held senior positions at Clinical Maestro, Syneos Health and inVentiv Health, where she secured a new business line with the acquisition and launch of an interdisciplinary clinic in Florida.
Why Press Ganey?
“When you visit a hospital and receive care in the United States, there is a regulated process involving surveys that go out to measure patients’ perspectives of their experience. Press Ganey is the grandfather of this process because it was doing these questionnaires before they were regulated.”
Canadian industry insight
“There is a lot of opportunity for the Canadian health-care system to learn through direct patient feedback around wait times, quality of care, et cetera. It might not be actionable in the same way that it is in a private health-care system, but I think there’s a lot to learn.”
A career milestone
“At inVentiv Health, I was the head of the early global business-development team. I was laser-focused on reopening a unit in Florida that had been shut down. I put a good 10 years of effort in, and a lot of work, and it was a proud moment when we did the ribbon cutting.”
The Concordia factor
“The one thing that spurred my success is the entrepreneurial nature of the John Molson School of Business and Concordia in general. Thinking in an entrepreneurial way was the ticket for me; I am known in the industry as someone who’s willing to take a calculated risk.”