Pictured: Maggie Malone, CEO, Certior Health
Maggie Malone is CEO of Certior Health. Established in 2020, Certior Health’s initial focus has been providing testing solutions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Certior delivered over 500,000 direct-to-consumer and corporate tests during the pandemic.
What are your main priorities and goals in your role?
Certior is pioneering a number of ground-breaking innovations in the cancer screening and diagnostic space. My focus is on building our senior leadership team to facilitate our strategy and sales goals. Having gone through the lab accreditation process, another priority is the continuous development of the systems and quality procedures to support our new product delivery.
What are your biggest challenges as CEO?
As a company that started in response to the pandemic, one of our biggest challenges has been staying nimble in our ability to change the strategy and respond to market demands. Now our biggest challenge is connecting with individuals and doctors to educate them on our cancer screening and diagnostic offerings. As the CEO of a health and wellness focused company, I also have to focus on carving out time for a good work/life balance.
How do you keep your team/staff motivated?
Our team is fully committed to our mission. Our staff is highly educated and very involved in the development of our strategy. We operate a transparent and communication focused company. My door is always open for a chat and to discuss ideas.
What are the challenges facing the industry going forward?
It is important to stay current on continuous innovations happening in the industry. There are some very exciting new technologies in development which will fundamentally improve the manner in which cancer is diagnosed and treated. One of the biggest challenges is advancing adoption of these new technologies in the existing health services.
There are some very exciting new technologies in development which will fundamentally improve the manner in which cancer is diagnosed and treated. One of the biggest challenges is advancing adoption of these new technologies in the existing health services.
What new trends are emerging in your industry?
Early detection of cancer through our ground-breaking technology is available now. We are also offering diagnostics which enable personalised cancer treatments. I believe we will see a number of additional breakthroughs in the development of cancer diagnostics and personalised cancer treatments which will fundamentally change how individuals will live with a cancer diagnosis and will dramatically improve outcomes.
Are there any major changes you would like to see in your sector?
For the sake of people being diagnosed or currently in treatment for cancer, I would love to see an overall adoption of newer screening and diagnostic tools across the board. Not only in private and self-paying medical settings, but also implemented through health insurers and the public health system.
As an employer are you finding any skill gaps in the market?
We have been very lucky to date to connect with a very talented pool of individuals for our team.
How did your strategy develop in the context of the banking crisis and economic crisis?
Our main strategic development as a result of the banking/economic crisis was to continually evaluate our cash flow, reduce debt and have robust plans in place to counter another such event.
How has Brexit affected you?
The biggest issue we have encountered as a result of Brexit is the general uncertainty in the UK’s business sector which can have a negative impact on the Pound/Euro exchange rate. As many of our costs are sterling based this is an area we now monitor closely.
How has the COVID-19 crisis affected your business/sector?
We are a company that started in response to COVID-19 PPE and testing needs. The ability to precisely react to new opportunities and changes in the marketplace is in our company DNA. We have learned some extremely valuable lessons throughout the pandemic.
How do you define success and what drives you to succeed?
I am driven by the desire to inspire my team to deliver solutions that improve the health outcomes of our client base while building a robust balance sheet through continuous growth.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given, or would give, in business?
“Always be prepared to walk away”. This was a piece of advice that I received early on. There have been occasions when I have not heeded that advice to my detriment.
‘Always be prepared to walk away.’ This was a piece of advice that I received early on. There have been occasions when I have not heeded that advice to my detriment.
What have been your highlights in business over the past year?
Having our team deliver over 500,000 COVID tests and receive a TRUSTPILOT rating of over 4.7 consistently throughout that time has been a great source of pride. Also, achieving our ISO15189 accreditation last February was a big high point.
What’s next for your company?
Having launched TrucheckTM – our cancer screening solution, we are now in the process of connecting with the oncology and public health sector to launch the Datar line of personalised cancer solutions offering deep genomic and cellular analysis of a patient’s cancer that can help identify personalized treatment strategies. We will also be launching a first to market cancer monitoring solution for patients in remission from cancer.
Where do you want your business/brand to be this time next year?
Certior Health will be a well recognised and trusted provider in the cancer screening and oncology eco-system in Ireland.
READ MORE CEO Q&As:
Paul Rellis of Viatel Technology Group
Richard O’Farrell of Engineering Design Consultants