Meet Carla Goulart Peron, Philips’ Chief Medical Officer

She leads the centralized, independent medical office with expertise in multiple medical specialties, clinical research, medical safety, product development and post market surveillance, among other areas. This team is focused on supporting the global business, navigating the intricacies of addressing patients' and customers’ unmet needs across a variety of ecosystems, and looking across the entire product lifecycle to help teams develop solutions that are safe, effective and relevant for patients, providers and payers.

We asked her about her goals and what motivates her in her new role with Philips.

What inspired you to join Philips?

I’m a medical doctor and take great pride in helping individuals live their most healthy life. In the past as a practitioner, I was reaching one patient at a time. Now that I’m in the role of Chief Medical Officer for a large, global company, this reach increases exponentially. Philips improved the health and well-being of 1.9 billion people in 2023. Our work touches many lives!

Working as a team, operating at this magnitude and scale, inspires me. Specifically, our ambition to reach ‘400 million in underserved communities’ appeals to me on a very personal level because of my background growing up in Brazil and my passion for addressing disparity in healthcare.

What will be your key priorities as Chief Medical Officer?

With our global reach and patient- and people-focused innovation, Philips is a leading health technology innovator helping to deliver better care for more people. My number one priority is making sure that the patient is at the center of everything we do. The Medical Office has a crucial role in helping our businesses deliver for patients and customers. We are constantly learning, improving and adding new capabilities that are required to operate in the healthcare industry.

We want to elevate the patient voice to support every stage of the product lifecycle. A strong partnership between the Medical Office team and our businesses will help Philips lead the way with innovation, patient safety, clinical value and patient access to care.

Can you expand on your ambitions for the Medical Office and for Philips?

Like everyone at Philips, my priority is to do my part to improve and help ensure patient safety and quality. As an innovation company – committed to delivering meaningful products and solutions to diagnose and treat patients and help people maintain their health and well-being – we need to demonstrate our capability and commitment and operate at the highest level. This is an absolute requirement in the healthcare industry. Our ambition as the Medical Office is to ensure all Philips products and solutions are safe and relevant for patients, providers, payers and stakeholders.

This is a time of true change for Philips, a time of focusing on our strengths while working through challenges. To do this, we have to speak up, think differently and ask the right questions. I approach my role with courage and strive to build a team environment where everyone feels empowered. We all have important skills and ideas to contribute.

I want to foster good collaboration, positive intention and curiosity. I like to surround myself with people who bring different points of view and beliefs, from different backgrounds – people who may look at the world or the issue at hand very differently than I do.

What does it mean to work in an industry that is doing such important and meaningful work for people everywhere?

At Philips, our purpose is to improve people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation. This is such a meaningful and important responsibility. I’m excited about my new role at Philips, where we are working together to improve every day. Every one of us in the company is dedicating time, energy and ideas to deliver healthcare innovations that are safe, effective and accessible for our own families and families around the world.