Our team
In healthcare, the stakes are always high. That’s why we’ve built a team with the capabilities, energy and expertise to deliver the impact our clients require.
We are proud to be a Great Place to Work Certified™ company.
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We know your business
We’ve been advising clients for doing for years and have helped to launch some of the most successful healthcare brands in the world.
We make it easy for you
We are resourceful, flexible and responsive. We aim to be an extension of your team and exceed your expectations.
We deliver impact
We deliver business impact, through our strategic advice, activation workshops and engaging multi-media outputs.
Here’s some of the brilliant people you will get to work with across our UK and US offices
Abigail Stuart
Founding Partner
Abigail is a seasoned expert at the intersection of technology and healthcare market research, data and insights. Her objective has always been straightforward: to combine the untapped power of technology with the critical thinking of human intelligence. Abigail is a regular speaker on the topic of technological innovation and a 2023 winner of Campaign 40 over 40 award which recognises outstanding contributions to the advertising, marketing, media and technology industry.
People describe Abigail as creative, determined and strategic.
Hannah Mann
Founding Partner
Hannah has 23 years of experience in pharmaceutical research both on the client and agency side. Throughout her career she has been lucky enough to work on some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical brands – seeing them through from early-stage development all the way to launch and beyond. Hannah has also deep expertise in the area of vaccination (paediatric, adult and travel) built up over the last 15 years from both the agency and client side.
People describe Hannah as fearless, hard-working and fun.
Joel Jitell
Global Head of Operations
Joel has over two decades of experience in market research with most of that time spent with project management, operations and business transformation, having done respondent recruitment and moderation prior to this. Joel cares deeply about not wasting time, about the right people doing the right things and ultimately that we can work the way we live – in a fast paced, dynamic, multi-cultural world that’s powered by technology.
People describe Joel as collaborative, efficient and fun.
Elise Roche
Managing Partner - UK
Elise has over 15 years of experience in the research industry – with the first 5 years in FMCG and then specialising in pharmaceutical market research across a range of methodologies after that. She is responsible for many of Day One’s biggest client relationships and leads the agency’s focus on delivering excellent client experiences. Elise’s passion for understanding human behaviour is evidenced by her secret passion for reality television (Shhhhh….don’t tell anyone).
People describe Elise as bright, diligent and efficient.
Claire Macchia
Managing Partner - US
With over 20 years of global healthcare research and brand building, Claire has helped to shape the launch trajectory of some of the biggest brands in healthcare. Bringing equal parts curiosity, intellect and creativity, she had led engagements that have redefined go-to-market strategies and refreshed more mature brands in ‘user-chooser’ categories such as aesthetics, vaccines and wellness to high science brands in autoimmune, cardiometabolic and oncology. As an expert listener, she loves designing and guiding conversations that bring fresh discoveries to both respondents and her clients.
People describe Claire as smart, empathetic, driven and creative.
Reena Sooch
Partner, Head of Digital Strategy
Reena brings over 16 years of expertise to changing the landscape of healthcare. Her strategic acumen has been pivotal in steering both payers, pharmaceutical and large tech companies towards the digitalisation of health (from digital therapeutics to omnichannel solutions).
Reena works on studies which span early ideas of innovation (discovery work) to the scaling up of market presence for new healthcare solutions (product-market fit). Reena is now immersing herself in the world of large language models (LLMs) and Generative AI, as it is the next frontier of healthcare disruption.
Sam Fernando
Global Client Partner
Sam has dedicated her entire career to pharmaceutical research, ever since she completed her PhD in Biotechnology over 13 years ago. She is passionate about integration and the application of research to comprehensively answer the most complex of business challenges. Possessing a unique blend of scientific rigour to understand and decipher our clients’ research need, with solid business acumen to drive commercial success.
She excels in helping her clients drive change within their organisations by serving as a trusted strategic advisor. Sam takes pride in understanding her clients personally, recognising their unique needs and the dynamics of their organisations. She loves a good brainstorming session with clients to discuss challenges and thrash out potential solutions and strategies for moving forward.
People describe Sam as driven, passionate and curious
Chris Peto
Partner
Chris is a seasoned market researcher with over 13 years of healthcare experience. During his tenure, he has helped to shape the launch strategy for many blockbuster brands in oncology, pulmonology, neuroscience, and obesity. Chris has led and managed hundreds of US and global studies across a wide range of methodologies and at all stages of the product life cycle. While comfortable in both qual and quant, Chris is a “qualy” at heart and loves the flexibility to evolve customer conversations throughout research engagements, extracting the most out of every interview, and always searching for golden nuggets of insight to help crystalise brand strategy.
People describe Chris as strategic, passionate, agile, and hard-working.
Ben Lorkin
Senior Research Director
Ben has 17 years healthcare experience and has worked for several leading insight-based brand consultancies. Ben specialises in qualitative research and has extensive pre and post launch experience across a range of methodologies, including ethnography, patient journey, communications research and drivers and barriers. Ben is a qualified NLP practitioner and is passionate about behavioural science and pioneering the use of new thinking and approaches – leading qualitative innovation at Day One and in several of his previous companies.
People describe Ben as strategic, creative and curious.
Hayley Mangan
Senior Research Director
Hayley has over 20 years of Insight experience– the first 10 years working in FMCG, consumer health and B2B specialising in brand strategy and ethnographic approaches to insight generation. Her enjoyment in consumer health research led her to seeking a career in health Insight. Hayley thrives on building great relationships, be that with clients or gaining the trust of patients and HCPs she talks to. She enjoys challenging projects, especially brainstorming the answers to tricky business questions. She is known for her ‘can do’ attitude, flexibility, openness to embrace new methods and being focused on the ‘so what’ for clients.
People describe Hayley as motivated, collaborative and thoughtful.
Hannah Tough
Senior Research Director
Hannah started in pharmaceutical market research in 2006. Early on in her career, she found her analytical mind and comfort with data led her to a quantitative specialism. Hannah has enjoyed real success with her clients – across both the Pharmaceutical and MedTech industries. Hannah has a real passion for excellence in research design, and always approaches her work in a pragmatic-yet-creative way. She loves the challenge of turning large sets of data into insightful and concise outputs.
Hannah has a wealth of experience in all kinds of research – ad-hoc to tracking, from the simple to the very complex, including advanced analytical methods such as segmentation and conjoint. Hannah’s organisational and strategic skills mean that she is particularly versed in running large successful tracking programmes, often involving multiple countries, therapy areas and client perspectives.
People describe Hannah as calm, flexible, proactive, extremely organised, and easy to work with.
Jamie Harrison
Senior Project Director
With nearly 15 years of project management experience, Jamie joined Day One in its early days to shape the project management function that helps drive the agency’s success today.
Jamie loves solving problems and keeping complex projects running smoothly, always ready to tackle unique challenges with creative solutions.
Known for a collaborative style that connects teams and builds strong relationships with trusted industry partners, Jamie brings a deep understanding of teamwork. By encouraging open communication and aligning shared goals, Jamie ensures projects flow seamlessly. Whether working with the team or alongside partners, Jamie’s commitment to collaboration leads to outstanding results.
People describe Jamie as efficient, a team player, and a master of Excel!
J.harrison@dayonestrategy.com
Our thinking
