'Seeing How Medicines We Manufacture Help Patients Makes Me Proud'

Irina Stamenovska leads one of the production teams in Teva Dupnitsa, Bulgaria site. Since joining Teva eight years ago, she saw colleagues become close friends, and enjoyed collaborating with them to solve challenges and overcome obstacles.

"Seeing a medicine we manufacture helping patients makes me proud every time," says Irina Stamenovska, Production Supervisor in Teva Dupnitsa, Bulgaria. "It's such an amazing feeling because I know that what we make has a big impact on the world."

Irina joined Teva over eight years ago as a team leader in the Dispensing team, which is the first production team in the bulk manufacturing process. Today, she leads a group of 21 operators, three logistics specialists and a cleaning team for the rooms where the team dispense the materials as part of the manufacturing process. Irina's team is in charge of preparing the raw materials for the second granulation in the manufacturing process.

"Throughout my years with Teva, many of my colleagues became my close friends. Every day we learn something new together and it is very fulfilling. We train, grow and develop as a team and as individuals, and have the platform to do so, which is very important," she says. "One of the many things I learned in Teva is how to lead people and communicate to my team the value of everything we make."

Irina adds that she maintains a healthy work-life balance and tries not to talk too much about her work when she's home, but her family and friends are well aware of what she does every day and are proud of her. "I'm proud of myself as well, because I participate in supporting worldwide health."

 Collaborating makes a well-oiled machine

One of the things she enjoys most is collaborating with other teams and functions at her site: "The processes to produce what we make together are connected and depend on each other, so when we collaborate, we work like a well-oiled machine."

This is essential for the site's day-to-day work, explains Irina, since good interactions and support between colleagues allows quicker and better solving of challenges and obstacles. Working together helps in identifying gaps at an earlier stage and providing the right advice, at the right time.

What is Irina's message to her colleagues?

"We are one big family and should be proud of what we make. Each one of us will be a patient at some point and we have to do our work with this in mind. All of our friends and our families will use medicines at some point, and it is our responsibility to ensure that, when this time comes, the medicines we use are available, high-quality, and improve lives."

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