Managing Director Rebecca Cortiula explains how she ’ s taking Varian forward after being acquired by Siemens Healthineers
VARIAN
Managing Director Rebecca Cortiula explains how she ’ s taking Varian forward after being acquired by Siemens Healthineers
Global oncology company Varian , now part of Siemens Healthineers , is dedicated to creating a ‘ world without fear of cancer ’. Headquartered in Palo Alto California , USA , it has 10,000 employees globally .
Rebecca Cortiula is the Senior Managing Director for Varian Australasia , based in Sydney . She is responsible for improving access to radiation therapy for cancer patients in Australia and New Zealand .
Rebecca entered healthcare in 1992 as a hospital scientist at a blood bank . She says the environment has changed remarkably since .
“ Some of the big changes I ’ ve seen are in automation and the reduction in manual and repetitive tasks within hospitals ,” says Rebecca . “ I used to work in the laboratory system . The industry has moved from people in lab coats manually running tests to machines that can run multiple tasks within one system .”
Patients are also more engaged in their healthcare today . Access to large amounts of healthcare information means they can take a more active role .
“ We ’ re ensuring that patient feedback is central to decisions around care ,” explains Rebecca . “ There is a multi-disciplinary component to that , where physicians with different areas of expertise have to come in . They make decisions on the best treatment options for a patient , taking patient preferences into account along the way .”
74 March 2022