Shifting your regulatory career goals and why in-person networking matters more than ever, according to Lisa Bobich

Lisa Bobich is a principal regulatory affairs specialist with Medtronic and has been a RAPS member since 2018. We chatted with Lisa at RAPS Convergence 2022 about her career move from the supply management area to the regulatory affairs department, and the thrill of networking in person again at RAPS Convergence. This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

How did you get started in regulatory?

I’ve been working for Medtronic for several years and had been working in the supply management area. I helped coordinate change control between all engineers and our regulatory department. So, I was already interfacing daily with the regulatory group. I was very interested in the kinds of questions they would ask, and how thoroughly they were interested in the products. And how they needed to understand that information well to convey it to our regulators. So, when I was looking to advance my career, I knew I wanted to move into the regulatory department.

What do you like about working in regulatory?

It’s so broad and there’s a whole lot to learn. There’s not just one area, and you can become specialized in one area and still know so little about another area. It’s a great organization to be in if your desire continuous learning throughout your whole life.

How did RAPS Online University help you?

So, when I was in my previous role in supply management and I was looking to move into the regulatory affairs department, I was already a principal-level engineer, and I already had a PhD. However, I didn’t have any direct regulatory experience. To get that type of information I worked with one of the regulatory affairs managers and he suggested not just looking at university degree programs because that was a lot of money, and I already had a high degree and a high title within the company. He suggested looking at the RAPS Online University. I signed up for the Regulatory Affairs Certificate in medical devices, which was helpful in providing me with the information I needed. It really helped solidify all the links between the information that I had gleaned from interacting with regulatory and filled in the gaps that I didn’t know. I thought it was one of the best online programs I had ever used.

Learn more about RAPS Online University here.

I was trying to do it after work and on the weekends. I would log in for an hour or several hours, and work on it. What I really liked about the tool was it was online, so you could go at whatever pace you wanted. It was very interactive, so it wasn’t someone just presenting slide by slide. It would present you with information—sometimes it would be scrolling by, sometimes it's, "Click on these buttons to gather more information," sometimes it was a video telling you information—and then it would have questions interspersed as you go through to help gauge how well you understood the information you had just looked at. At the end of it, you have a final quiz or assessment to take also that would help you understand: Did you really master the material, or do you need to go back and look through it again to fully understand?

What do you get out of a RAPS membership?

I joined RAPS to better understand what opportunities are available within regulatory affairs. You can sign up for the email distribution list to see what kind of questions are being asked, and that helps you get exposure to people not just in your own company but also at other companies. Obviously, the discounts on RAPS Convergence attendance and the access to online materials and RAPS Online University are big benefits.

Learn more about the exclusive benefits of RAPS membership.

What’s one highlight from your RAPS Convergence 2022 experience?

This is my second time attending RAPS Convergence, but the first time was online. It was hard to focus online, so it’s nice to be here in person this time, go to a session, focus specifically on the speakers, and internalize everything they’re saying. It’s also obviously much easier to network when you see people in person. You can visually take in a lot of people at once and not just have one-on-one conversations.