Nienke Feenstra
Healthcare Professional
About Nienke Feenstra
Delivering outstanding and sustainable results through teamwork and partnership with all stakeholders in health care, is what I am passionate about. The starting point of delivering results is adding true value for patients. I began my career in patient-centric, value-driven roles, overseeing health economics, marketing, sales, account management, marketing, and business development programs at the local, national and global level.
While Country Head for Takeda in Hungary and Poland, the aim was to build the most patient-focused pharmaceutical business. That starts by defining ambitious goals in terms of patient value, and orientating all strategies, tactics, and processes towards that, fueled by the power of our purpose.
I am grateful for the learnings that have come from having taken on a large variety of roles, most notably my time as HR Business Partner for South and Central Europe. My passion for promoting diversity, lateral changes, and challenging people to push past their comfort zone will stay with me in all the roles going forward and so I bring that now to France.
Returning to France is an honor and pleasure and I look forward to getting the current state of the healthcare system and to, with the French team, contribute to add value to it in true partnership with all external stakeholders.
In my free time, I seek out new adventures. Although I studied pharmacology, my curiosity led me to explore the Netherlands’ higher education system, particularly subjects like literature and psychology. An avid traveler, I have lived in the Netherlands, France, Hungary Switzerland, Poland and I now back in France. I am fluent in English and French, speak conversational German and try to retain my Polish, remaining Italian and very basic Hungarian.
Blog
Navigating the Global Pharmaceutical Landscape: Shifting Positions to drive sustainable Patient Value
As I travelled back from Boston to Paris, I could not help but reflect on the role of the US in the global pharmaceutical market. In the case of defense many have read or heard [...]
My personal journey on Diversity, Equity, Privilege, and Inclusion
French version after the English text Upon coming to France many people asked me what my values are, what is important to me, and upon answering I realized just how much my thinking on certain [...]
#TakedaFrance, My First Impressions After 100 Days
Traditionally, after 100 days in a new role, it's time to take stock and look back. In this blog, I would like to share my impressions and lessons learned after these 100 days. Upon coming [...]
Holidays: The Brain’s Best Boot Camp
This year’s holidays sure were special. And, as with almost everything else in 2020, we won’t forget the way we experienced them anytime soon. Like many of you, I needed the time away after an [...]
Does Covid-19 Change My Acts of Strategic Selfishness?
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have received several questions on whether this situation has impacted my outlook on what I call “my strategic acts of selfishness”. It is all well and good [...]
A Strategic Act of Selfishness: Leveraging Work for Private Life
Over the last two years, I have written several blogs on how to embed things that are important to me as an individual into the workplace to ensure I can function optimally: what I call [...]
Quantified Acts of Strategic Selfishness
Much as penicillin was discovered in the accidental pursuit of an entirely different outcome, my currently-quantified self resulted from the receipt of a FitBit -- a gift that would have a more profound impact than [...]
Another Strategic Act of Selfishness: Learning new languages
On why learning a new language goes beyond its obvious advantages Dzisiaj nous allons beszélni waarom imparare della Sprache is mucho fun! This blog will be about one of my main passions: languages. For those [...]
A Strategic Act of Selfishness: Discovering living abroad over and over again
Occasionally, there are things in life that draw you in with little to no explanation. Your intuition points you in a certain direction and you suddenly feel an inexplicable yet pressing need to follow. For [...]
Hired because I am a woman? Yes please!
Hired because I am a woman? Now I know that is a provocative statement—and one which easily could have stopped you from reading any further. But please bear with me as I explain how I [...]
The Humble Art of Strategic Selfishness: Sharpen Your Mind by Single-Tasking
The Humble Art of Strategic Selfishness: Sharpen Your Mind by Single-Tasking Challenge ahead! In my previous blogs, I have written quite a lot on preserving energy, and on making strategically selfish choices to truly be [...]
Creative block? Try the Flying Trapeze!
Creative block? Try the Flying Trapeze! Twenty meters above the ground, my heart races. I can barely make out the directions my instructor shouts at me, so intense is the pounding. Gingerly, I step on [...]
The Art of Strategic Selfishness
The Art of Strategic Selfishness People often ask me, “How do you find time to do all that you do?? Do you have more hours in the same day?” Sometimes, this question is followed by [...]
10,000 Steps Each Day, Every Day: A Personal Investigation into the Impact of Changing Your Lifestyle
At two in the afternoon on December 31, I felt my Fitbit buzz against my wrist. I had done it--I had accomplished my goal of walking 10,000 steps each and every single day during 2016. [...]
Looking into the Crystal Ball: My Thoughts On Possible Developments in Healthcare.
Thanks to the advances of modern science and innovations in medicine, we are living in a time of great hope and improved outcomes for patients. When I compare the medical treatments and therapies that are [...]
Improving Healthcare in Hungary: A Marathon of Baby Steps
Though I knew moving to a new country would mean adjusting to new healthcare policies, I hadn’t anticipated just how different Hungary’s healthcare system would be from the Dutch system I was used to. The [...]
Why Health Literacy Matters
Imagine that tomorrow you woke up and did not feel well. So unwell, that you could not go about your day to day, you could not perform to the best of your abilities at work, [...]