Sabrina Sun, who provides competitive insights to shape and optimize BioMarin’s internal product strategy and better serve the phenylketonuria (PKU) community, discovered early in her tenure that BioMarin would give her the platform to make a direct impact for people with genetically defined conditions. 

“Being part of a company that is developing therapies for patient communities that are often underrecognized and underserved is very fulfilling,” says Sabrina. 

We interviewed Sabrina, who is Associate Director, Corporate Intelligence, for the latest installment of “The DNA of BioMarin.” The series draws inspiration from the four bases that constitute DNA – A (adenine), T (thymine), C (cytosine) and G (guanine) – by asking employees to reflect on the role that Aspiration, Translation, Connection and Gratitude play in their everyday work. 

Learn more about Sabrina and how the support of her BioMarin colleagues has shaped her career. 

ASPIRATION
How did you get your start in the biopharma industry? What do you aspire to accomplish through your work at BioMarin and in your career?  

My foray into the biopharma industry was here at BioMarin in 2018, when I was a summer intern on the Corporate Intelligence (CI) team. I was a graduate student back then, engineering adeno-associated viral vectors for improved gene delivery and developing novel gene editing approaches to treat rare conditions. While research satisfied my scientific curiosity, I was eager to make a more direct impact on the advancement of therapeutics and developed a particular interest in strategic roles that straddle the intersection of science and business. During my graduate studies at UC Berkeley, I went to a seminar about career opportunities beyond the bench. The role of CI piqued my interest, and I learned about a position with the BioMarin CI team. The rest is history!  

I have spent the last 11-plus years focused on rare conditions – first as a graduate student, then as a research scientist at a gene therapy biotech company, and most recently as a member of the CI team at BioMarin. I aspire to continue contributing to the advancement of treatments that will have a transformative impact.

CONNECTION
What role does connection play at BioMarin?  

Connection with my colleagues is critical for fostering trust and building my influence as the source of truth about competition and, more importantly, as a strategic thought partner. Strong relationships also facilitate collaboration, deepening my understanding of a function’s strategic considerations and in turn, enabling me to provide the most pertinent competitor insights and better support our team.  

The breadth of connections I’ve made here has been a key driver of my career growth. It has created many opportunities for me to learn from various subject matter experts and hone my strategic thinking.   

GRATITUDE
Tell us about something you’re grateful for in your career, and why.  

I’m incredibly grateful for the CI team at BioMarin, the camaraderie that we share, and our steadfast ability to retain our sense of humor through all of the natural ebbs and flows. We have built a supportive, collaborative and fun team culture together that facilitates frequent cross-pollination of ideas and lessons learned from our past experiences. The team showcases the value of diversity, as we each bring vastly different backgrounds, perspectives and personalities to the table, and are constantly learning from each other. This is a prime example of BioMarin’s operating principle No. 7: “We’re all here for a reason.” 

I am especially thankful to my manager and teammates – past and present – for being patient teachers and tireless cheerleaders. They have been critical in identifying my blind spots, expanding my knowledge and skillset, and helping me grow in my influence and career. 

TRANSLATION
How do you hope your work will translate into impact for the patient communities BioMarin is working to support?  

My goal is to inspire the teams that I work with to embrace operating principle No. 8: “This is a competition. Our wins change lives.” I hope that the insights I bring influence every function to always keep competitive differentiation in mind, learn from the successes and pitfalls of our competitors, and aspire to be more effective and efficient. A competitive mindset pushes us to think strategically and challenge ourselves constantly, and this translates into medicines that provide more value and more meaningful impact for patients.