As part of our "5 Questions for..." series, we talked to Christian Brühlmann about his company Proteomedix, his professional and private views, and the most important lessons he has learned along his career path so far.
50 years: Just a century ago, Swiss men and women only lived to this age on average. Today, life expectancy in this country averages 84 years for women and 80 years for men - immense progress. Various factors contributed to this remarkable development, such as material prosperity, better working conditions, but above all medical progress. Over the last hundred years, it has led to a decrease in infant mortality rates, various infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases and is still unstoppable. Nevertheless, despite all the progress made, cancer remains the most common cause of premature mortality.
Today, one in seven men over the age of 50 is diagnosed with prostate cancer. One life science company that has developed a revolutionary product in this area is the Proteomedix AG. Founded in 2010, the Zurich-based company is a spin-off of ETH Zurich. At the beginning of the year, the diagnostics company launched with Proclarix® launched an innovative blood test for prostate cancer that can reliably diagnose prostate cancer at an early stage. Thanks to this non-invasive procedure, there should be fewer misdiagnoses, which are common with the current screening method and lead to unnecessary biopsies. This is a promising relief for patients, because today three out of four men are falsely diagnosed with a positive suspicion and have to undergo a stressful and unpleasant biopsy unnecessarily.
We spoke this month with the co-founder and chief business officer of the Proteomedix AGChristian Brühlmann, about his career and professional practices. From a major Swiss bank to the country's leading telecoms company to founding his own company: Brühlmann, who studied economics, has now been applying his diverse professional experience to his current job for more than 10 years. At the Proteomedix AG Christian Brühlmann is responsible for product management, corporate development, operations, and finance. Learn more about our Personality of the Month in our Interview of the Month.
Mr. Brühlmann, if you had taken a different path when you were younger, what would you have become?
"There was not this ONE dominant career aspiration as a child. I was interested in technical things early on (e.g. children's chemistry sets, model cars, Lego technology)... In this respect, studying engineering or science would certainly have been an obvious choice. But I was also interested in organizational aspects. I was lucky that my parents liked to travel with the family and I can remember that I often looked for potential for improvement in the hotels: How can we optimize this and that, how would I design the hotel, etc.? So at least at times, hotel manager was also there as a child wish idea."
What is your favorite way to start your day?
"Every morning looks a little different, especially now with increased home offices in the wake of the Corona pandemic. But there is one constant: I like to enjoy a coffee in combination with a small breakfast. It gives me time to think about the day ahead (well, and wake up ;-))."
What does success mean to you personally?
"For me, success means that, looking back, I am satisfied with what I have achieved, whether this is due to the achievement of a goal, the way in which the goal was achieved or thanks to the satisfaction of the people involved. At work, the focus is on achieving goals. The greatest success is when I can contribute to improving people's circumstances or situation. If patients can avoid an unnecessary biopsy thanks to our diagnostic test, that is a significant success for me. In private life, the journey can also be the goal, and success can also be achieved if, for example, everyone involved is satisfied at the end of the day.
What would you work for free for a week?
"With two small children and setting up a business, time is very tight at the moment and such activities are unfortunately out of the question at the moment. However, I could well imagine getting involved in charitable organizations in the future. The Cancer League in particular makes an enormously important contribution to those affected and their families with its educational work for cancer patients."
What was the best professional advice you ever received?
"At the very beginning of my professional career, my predecessor, who was training me, gave me the advice that you can define your job yourself to a certain extent. What is meant by this is that everyone in a department, even with the same job title, can focus on their activities differently. This allows you to build on your strengths rather than spending all your energy trying to improve your weaknesses. As my career progressed and built on that, it was then realizing that it's best to staff teams in a complementary way rather than with people who all have the same strengths."
We would like to thank Mr. Brühlmann for his contribution to this article. This interview was conducted in writing.
Editor: Neslihan Steiner
Batterman Consulting Basel AG
Executive Search,
Byfangweg 1a, CH-4051 Basel
T +41 58 680 55 55
basel@batterman.ch
