Monica Giffhorn, VP of Marketing

Our mission at Protenus is to advance the science of healthcare by bringing together creative and skilled individuals who are passionate about the security, usability, and applicability of health data. As this information becomes more voluminous, comprehensive, and, as a consequence, more vulnerable, we are building scalable, insightful solutions that address critical issues preventing the efficient, safe, and effective delivery of patient care. 

Our team is comprised of a diverse group of people who come together to achieve this shared mission. To give a glimpse into our culture and highlight the diversity of our team, we’ve asked Monica Giffhorn, VP of Marketing, to share more about her experience working at Protenus. 

What’s your role at Protenus, and what do you do?

I’m the Vice President of Marketing at Protenus, and I work as part of the larger Revenue team to promote our company and its products. I work with a terrific team of marketers who manage all aspects of our marketing programs, from integrated campaign strategy and creation to execution and analysis. We are fortunate to have a strong digital presence and an industry-leading interest in all that we do. Whether it’s through winning awards like being the 2020 Best in KLAS category leader in Patient Privacy Monitoring or publishing the Breach Barometer or Drug Diversion Digest, our company has proven itself to be at the forefront of healthcare compliance analytics. 

What did you do before coming to Protenus?

Before Protenus, I worked in marketing across several Fortune 500 companies and high-tech startups. I have found that even though products and companies vary widely, the basic tenets still apply. It’s finding a need in the marketplace and meeting that need with a unique solution. It’s also about communicating value to customers and everyone who has a stake in the purchasing process, and most of all it’s also about delighting customers and making them your best advocates. 

What initially attracted you to Protenus?

I welcomed the opportunity to go back to my startup roots. There is something really exciting about building a set of products and watching a company grow. In addition, I really liked that Protenus is helping to advance healthcare. It’s not about technology for technology’s sake. It’s about giving people tools to help make their jobs easier and to help improve healthcare and patient safety. 

In today’s healthcare environment, there is so much data that it can be seen as a burden, but with advanced analytics, the Protenus platform can help hospitals and health systems to improve their overall compliance programs while protecting patient privacy and guarding against diversion of pharmaceuticals meant for patient use.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

I love the company’s culture and its people. It’s very rare to find such a talented group that openly accepts new people and embraces all of our differences. Our events and company spirit are great too. Even our Slack channels around different interests help people to get to know each other. My personal favorite is Pets, where my pug puppy Ziggy shares space with plenty of dogs, cats, and even a few chickens.

I also appreciate the flexible work schedules and the ability to work virtually if needed. We have great systems and technology to work from anywhere at any time. This helps our Marketing organization, where we often have people running programs around the country to be able to add people to meetings and have them feel like we are all in the same room. 

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned since starting at Protenus?

The most important thing that I have learned is that I can learn a lot from everyone in the organization. While I find that people look to me as a leader, I value their input and unique perspectives as well. It could be someone who is new to healthcare and wonders if we should be doing something a different way, or someone who has learned a key fact from a prospect or client about how we could be doing things better. I also find that my Marketing team is a great source of inspiration and ideas--whether we are trying to find ways to increase our digital presence, get more creative at events, or provide more value to our customers

How has working at Protenus affected  your career?

Protenus has allowed me to grow and learn new things even at an advanced level in my career. It’s great to join a new company, roll up my sleeves, and feel like I am making a difference. In my first six months at the company, it has been exciting to see how far we have come in a short amount of time, and to plan for how far we can advance. I’ve been happy to see large projects come together, like the revamp of the www.protenus.com website. However, there is so much more to do, and it’s exciting to help guide the company to become a world-class, market-driven organization.

What has surprised you the most about working at Protenus?

Frankly, I was the most surprised by what an impressive and long list of customers we have. We protect our client’s privacy by only publishing what they allow us to share, but the number of world-renowned hospitals and health systems using our platform inspires me. It lets me know we are going in the right direction, and I appreciate their partnership and validation in the work we are doing.

I was also surprised--and excited--about how easy it is to use the Protenus platform. When I heard terms like artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, I immediately thought that it must be complicated. Also, coming from a healthcare background, I knew that many of the systems on the market are not the most intuitive. However, the co-founders of our company insisted on two important values, as part of a list of seven in total as detailed on our Company page:

• Simplicity - building elegant and thoughtful solutions 
• Insight - illuminating actionable information

When looking at our software products, I can honestly say they are beautiful, elegant and user-focused. They also use natural language, so no special training is needed to interpret the alerts or cases. So while we have PhDs working on the data science behind the scenes, you don’t need a PhD to use the system.

In 10 words or less, how would you describe the culture at Protenus?

Talented, fun-loving team looking to improve the practice of healthcare.

We are growing! View our Careers page, if you’d like to see current job opportunities at Protenus.