Careers With Purpose

One day during the pandemic, Loyda attended a town hall that would later lead to the creation of a patient speaker series titled La Voz, which means ‘The Voice’ in Spanish. During the meeting, a president of a patient organization spoke about the language barriers that her Hispanic patients face as well as her lack of staff able to offer translation services. “Medical terms are not easy to understand,” says Loyda, “just imagine the experience for someone who has English as a second language – which is the majority of the case.” This made Loyda think about how much better patients can understand the language and cultural components when speaking with healthcare providers in their own language.

Following the meeting, Loyda was hard at thought as to how we can increase our accessibility. “Even though I’m not a translator by profession, I’ve been raised in a culture where we speak Spanish as a first language, and have experience launching products in Puerto Rico,” says Loyda. In continuing to think through how she can action on this need, Loyda landed on La Voz. “I think it’s important for us to be sensitive to the patient needs,” says Loyda, “and that was what gave me the courage to build a program that creates a safe environment for patients, healthcare providers and institutions to freely share their needs.” The way Loyda sees it, bringing these voices back to us is the only way we’ll learn.

Having a career with purpose is inherent in Loyda’s twelve-year tenure here. “As a Takeda employee, the most important thing for me is the patient,” says Loyda, who has transitioned internally into her role today. “I’ve been in the pharmaceutical industry for almost twenty-four years now,” says Loyda, “and this is the first time that I’m seeing a company putting its efforts into the patient needs.”

Loyda was shocked by how La Voz was received, during her first year implementing the program. “It’s just so emotional,” says Loyda, in response to the requests she’s receiving across departments enlisting her help in reviewing documents that are changing from English to Spanish. “The message is being heard by the marketing team and leaders, which is amazing.”

Today, Loyda is developing the seventh and eighth segments of La Voz. “From the seventh segment, we can learn how to advocate for Latina employees in the workplace,” says Loyda, “and from the eighth series, we can learn from the differences across the patient journey in the U.S., Brazil and Spain.”

Loyda is grateful for her team’s willingness to support the issues she’s identified and brought back here. “That support is not something that you can take for granted,” says Loyda, “it’s a blessing.”