“The ball is rolling”
December 2024
This also describes Henri Saenz’s life. We met the Biozentrum alumnus in Allschwil, in the Alba building. On the 9th floor. The view is breathtaking – from the Black Forest to the Vosges, from the Roche Towers to the Biozentrum. In September, the telemedicine company Medgate, where Henri has now been working for five years, moved in here. We chatted with him about his journey from biology to digital health management.
How did you find your way into biology?
That became clear at the very end of high school. Our biology teacher was preparing for the new school year and molecular methods such as PCR were on the curriculum for the first time. He kind of tested the topic out on us. For me, it was an eye-opener! I realized that biology is so much more than just pressing plants and identifying animals.
What happened next?
My teacher had studied in Tübingen, and because I didn’t want to commute to Munich from our small town near Augsburg and wanted to stand on my own two feet, I decided to study in Tübingen. In the undergraduate program, we had a crazy seminar called “The Human as a Habitat.” It was an all-round view on the human being, from history with alchemy to the microbes living in and on us. It was so cool. From that point on, I knew I wanted to go into infection biology.
Later you actually did your PhD in infection biology with Christoph Dehio.
Yeah, I was really fascinated by everything infectious. I even wrote my master’s thesis in that field. After that, I followed the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology from Tübingen to Berlin as an intern. But I also met with Christoph, who had just moved from Tübingen to the Biozentrum. Finally, I decided to join Christoph’s lab. That was 24 years ago.
Why did you decide to leave academia after your PhD?
Honestly, I didn’t know what I would do after my PhD. Over time, though, I realized that I was drawn to editing and project management. That led me to a job at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), which also publishes a scientific journal. I worked there as a science manager for more than eleven years.
Henri Saenz studied biology at the University of Tübingen and completed his PhD in 2006 at the Biozentrum in Prof. Christoph Dehio’s group. He then worked as a science manager at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). For the past five years, he has been working at Medgate, first as a project manager and now as a product owner. Henri lives with his family in Binningen.
What attracted you to that position?
At ESCMID, the focus was still on research in infection biology. I organized scientific conferences all over the world and refined my project management skills. We managed a large community with a small team, and that required efficient tools – not just using but also developing them. That experience paved the way for my move to Medgate later on.
What links the different jobs?
I only realized this in retrospect. I love being the link between people from different fields who often speak different “languages”. Translating between them is crucial, and I have always enjoyed it. As a PhD student, I managed collaborations. Now at Medgate, I am the link between physicians, engineers, and software developers.
Transitioning from academia to the business world is a big step. Did you ever have doubts?
Yes, of course. Leaving academia is incredibly challenging. Universities mainly prepare you for academic careers and nothing else. I was lucky – a friend told me about the ESCMID job. But even with my scientific background, I wasn’t sure if I could meet the expectations. But as a scientist, you’re naturally curious. If you keep that curiosity and figure out where you can contribute, it really helps – especially when you step off the usual path.
Like your move into telemedicine five years ago...
Exactly. When I started as a project manager at Medgate, we were working with IBM Research on an AI-powered language model for patient triage. In the beginning, not a week went by where I didn’t think “What am I actually doing here?”. The IBM researchers were on another level entirely. In meetings, I often felt like I was more or less the secretary.
Sounds like a tough start.
Yes, indeed. But you get in step by step. I had high expectations of myself, but I learned that you don’t need to understand everything – you just need to understand enough to contribute meaningfully.
What exactly was your first project at Medgate about?
The goal was to improve the triage of our patients. In other words, we needed to determine whether a caller could be treated via telemedicine and, ideally, fully resolved without needing further steps. We wanted to identify such patients with the help of an AI-based questionnaire. Another part of the project was integrating this triage module into our app, which also meant registering the app as a medical product.
…and that’s how you ended up in the next project?
That’s right. Coordinating, documenting, and integrating everything into our workflows – it all came together under my responsibility. In my time at Medgate, I have never done the same thing for more than a year. There is a saying here: The only constant at Medgate is change. To wrap up that story, though – with the emergence of the new AI tools like ChatGPT, our app was no longer considered a medical product. So, after all the effort to get it certified, it wasn’t even necessary anymore. That was quite frustrating, but I learned a lot.
What are you currently working on?
Over time, my work has become more IT-focused. For almost two years now, I have been a product owner in software development, first for our patient management system (PMS) and now for the app. I define the requirements and the features the system needs to meet and coordinate with the development team on how and when we can implement them.
That’s a completely new role again.
That’s true, but again, I am the translator. We had to completely relaunch our PMS, the core of Medgate. All our doctors and staff who interact with patients work with it – for example in patient reception. The PMS contains all the patient files, pathologies, diagnosis, just everything. It was a huge project, and they needed someone to help set it up. Now that the PMS is updated, we are tackling the app renewal.
So, a lot of work. Do you still have time for your private life?
Yes, that’s important to me. Since having kids, I work part-time. By the way, I met my ex-partner at the Biozentrum. Today, I am part of a happy patchwork family. And I play football once a week, which also started at the Biozentrum.
How did it start?
Back in 2001, I was invited to play in a match between the Biozentrum and FMI. We played in Schützenmattpark. Later, this led to the founding of the FC Schützenmatt Kickers, which I co-founded. And the ball has been rolling ever since – for over 20 years now.