In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Mahi Rayasam, SVP and Information Officer at Eli Lilly and Company, who discusses how his organization is strategically deploying AI across drug discovery, clinical development, and commercialization to accelerate the delivery of life-saving medicines to patients. . What we talked about with Mahi: * Lilly’s 150th anniversary * The transition from McKinsey to technology leadership at Lilly * AI prioritization framework * LillyDirect – the direct-to-patient access model * The scientist-in-the-loop philosophy * Interdisciplinary hiring in pharma * AI adoption among scientists * Surfacing previously unreachable healthcare innovation . Visit us on our socials: 🦾 Get started with SS&amp;C Blue Prism: https://okt.to/JcMLdU 🧑‍💻LinkedIn: https://okt.to/k8zIdp ✖️Twitter: https://okt.to/fHyd9G 🙋‍♀️Facebook: https://okt.to/Vyjfiz 📸Instagram: https://okt.to/5nYvIf 💭Blog: https://okt.to/QuGqVP 🤩Case studies: https://okt.to/ft1AMX . To ensure that you never miss an episode of Transform NOW, be sure to subscribe!

494. Pharma's AI Moment: More Innovation in 12 Months Than the Previous 10 Years

Transform NOW

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Transform NOW

## Participants

- **Brad Hairston** (None)
- **Mahi Ryassam** (None)
- **Mahi Ryassam** (Eli Lilly & Company)

## Transcript

Welcome to Transform Now, brought to you by SSNC, where we explore the future of work through the lens of AI. Across industries, leaders are rethinking strategy, culture, and operations to harness AI's full potential. This podcast gives you the insights and ideas to transform your organization, stay competitive, and thrive in a world driven by change. Let's get into the show.

Hello everyone, Brad Hairston here. Welcome to Transform Now. My guest today is Mahi Ryassam, the SVP and Information Officer at Eli Lilly & Company. Mahi has been on the podcast twice before, back when he was a partner at McKinsey & Company. Really happy to have him back on the show now in his new role, focused on technology, AI, and innovation at Lilly. Mahi, welcome to Transform Now.

Mahi Ryassam, Welcome back. It's good to see you. Why don't you tell everyone more about yourself and your role at Lilly? I almost said new role, but you've been in it for a year. So I'll just say your role at Lilly. That would be great. Mahi Ryassam, Thank you, Brad. Great to be here and great to have me on your podcast again. In terms of my background, I need technology at Lilly for a couple of our most important functions. One is broadly our commercial platforms and one of the largest affiliates, Lilly USA.

And also like Lilly Direct. And that's one side of my own side of the work that I do for Lilly. The second side of the work is on the clinical development side, where it's all about like clinical trials and bringing the drug from all the way from, you know, like the molecule stage, all the way through approvals and submissions, clinical trials, whatnot, to the manufacturing side.

So effectively, I lead on one hand, drug development. On the other hand, the drug commercialization, both from a technology standpoint. So very excited to be here. It's been a privilege over the last one year to work on wonderful products and solutions.

Awesome. Great to have you back. And it's interesting to be podcasting with you today because I saw that just yesterday, you guys celebrated your 150th anniversary, which is amazing. So congratulations. Thank you. Very exciting time for the company, I'm sure. No, it's a big celebration going on and we're all incredibly privileged and excited to be here.

I'm in particular very privileged to be working actually at this, you know, like critical juncture of like our long history. So very exciting times. It's amazing. And I've told you this, but about a third of your life as a company, I've been a customer of Eli Lilly as a type one diabetic who uses your insulin. So thank you very much. I know that's not your flagship product necessarily anymore, but pretty important to me. I'll tell you that much. No, we exist to serve patients.

Yeah. You know, like we wake up every day to help patients ...

494. Pharma's AI Moment: More Innovation in 12 Months Than the Previous 10 Years

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

494. Pharma's AI Moment: More Innovation in 12 Months Than the Previous 10 Years

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.