Focus Magazine - Summer 2017 - 54

5 QUESTIONS
Tim Sosbe

5 Questions With...

John Constantine

s LTEN prepares to welcome more GxP
trainers to the 46th LTEN Annual
Conference, it's a good time to consider
again what the GxP community is, and how
commercial trainers can help welcome their
non-commercial counterparts.
With that goal in mind, I recently spoke
with former LTEN Board President John
Constantine about the GxP community. Now
senior vice president of talent solutions for
Orchestrall, Constantine has nearly 30 years of
life sciences experience, in both commercial
and non-commercial training.
Tim Sosbe (TS): First of all, what is GxP?
John Constantine (JC): GxP is defined as
good clinical practices, good manufacturing practices, good laboratory practices.
e x is sort of a placeholder between the
G and the P. It's something you need to
adhere to as a participant in this kind of
regulated environment. Any job that has
to do with a regulated field like clinical trials, manufacturing, research. Even sometimes in terms of epidemiological
research. It's really anything where your
job is regulated by some sort of regulation.
TS: How does GxP training diﬀer from
commercial training?
JC: It diﬀers because a lot of it is required and
you need to do certain things for GxP
training. With the commercial training,
there's a lot more focus on making people
more capable at what they do. With GxP
stuﬀ, it's more about just ticking the box
and making sure you're compliant.
Trainers in the GxP arena need to make
sure they continue to focus on making
sure they're making people better instead
of just ticking the box to be compliant.

TS: What skills does a GxP trainer need to
excel in that role?
JC: I don't think it's very diﬀerent. I think
trainers need to be able to assess and do
needs analysis and be good at root cause
analysis of business problems and be able
to create training programs that can
address business problems. at's no
diﬀerent than in the commercial space.
TS: Why should GxP trainers get involved
with a professional network like LTEN?
JC: e commercial trainers in our industry
have so many opportunities to be
connected with people who will further
their careers. e GxP trainers- and I've
been on both sides now - have so many
fewer opportunities to connect with
people who will further their careers.
LTEN is a great place for them to land and
to further their careers.
TS: How can commercial trainers help
connect non-commercial training
colleagues to the broader community?
JC: I think the commercial trainers, just by
their own DNA, are connected to people.
For them to connect to the people in
clinical and medical aﬀairs and
manufacturing, it not only helps each of
the individuals in the network they make,
it also helps the company by making sure
people are getting capabilities that they
need to make the company better. Most
companies are designed in silos that disincentivize the interaction between
commercial and manufacturing and
clinical and medical aﬀairs. To the extent
the training people can increase
connections, it's better for the company. ■

Tim Sosbe is editor of Focus magazine and editorial director for LTEN. Email Tim at tsosbe@L-TEN.org.

FOCUS | Summer 2017 | www.L-TEN.org

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