A Second Tour of Duty… Lessons Learned with Annalisa Jenkins

The battlefield and the boardroom are more similar than you might think

For me, everything started with the military. I was raised in a military family and when I was searching for financial support for my medical studies it seemed a good time to join the British Navy, which had just started to open its doors to women in the medical branch. I served as a medical officer in the British Navy and was part of the Minesweeper Squadron during the Gulf conflict. Ultimately, I rose to the rank of Surgeon Lieutenant Commander, but after my tour of duty I wanted to go back into research, so I trained in cardiovascular medicine. I worked for the National Heart and Lung Institute, where I investigated the role of cholesterol on atheromatous plaques, and in 1997 I was offered the opportunity to join the pharma industry as a cardiovascular medical advisor at Bristol-Myers Squib (BMS), which was an exciting opportunity; in the 1990s, BMS was one of the top cardiovascular companies in the world.