ESSEC Alumni’s Health Club  has been running a particularly active and extensive network in this sector for more than 35 years. We talked to its volunteer co-heads Gilles Lasserre (E87), Luc Ottavioli (E89) and Alexis Capelle (E20), Managing Director of DocCity LifeSciences, Americas Director of Laboratoires Pierre Fabre and founder of BTHT in Barcelona respectively.

ESSEC Alumni: What are the missions of the Health Club? 

Gilles Lasserre: We have set ourselves two goals. Firstly, to foster reflection on the health ecosystem, particularly in relation to healthcare organisations and industries. Secondly, to promote the ESSEC brand and values in this business sector. 

EA: Who is the Health Club geared towards?

Luc Ottavioli: We are geared towards all ESSEC alumni involved in the health industry, regardless of their academic path at the School. We place a specific emphasis on the complementarity of three professions: doctors and healthcare professionals, engineers and managers. This complementarity is what enables us to better anticipate and address changes and developments in our field.

EA: What role does the ESSEC community play in the health sector? 

Alexis Capelle: ESSEC was the first management school to create a Health Chair (presently the Innovation & Health Chair) back in 1987! The Health Club was founded in the same year. The link between both entities has endured, helping to make the ESSEC community one of the largest and most active in the sector. Our LinkedIn group boasts more than 1,200 members. 

G. Lasserre: It must be said that ESSEC understood from an early stage the importance of dual degrees in our field. We thus have a lot of doctors, pharmacists and engineers among us. 

EA: What services does the Health Club offer?

L. Ottavioli: We offer events in two formats: in-person conferences (outside the pandemic period) on current or prospective topics, and webinars such as the ‘1 Month - 1 Alumnus’ sessions which spotlight an ESSEC member with an outstanding career in health.

A. Capelle: In addition, we recently launched a mentoring programme which enables some twenty ESSEC members annually to avail of guidance from a similar number of volunteer peers. We’ve just launched the 2023 edition. 

EA: Do you lead joint initiatives with the School?

A. Capelle: Teachers and students are kept informed of our events. We also work with the ESSEC Life Sciences association, which I co-founded during my studies.

G. Lasserre: I intervene two to three times a year in the Innovation & Health Chair training programmes or the Executive MS in Strategy & Management of Health Industries (SMIS).

L. Ottavioli: We also contribute to the continuation of the close partnership between ESSEC and CentraleSupélec, through regular collaboration with the CentraleSupelec Health Club.

EA: Who are the members of your team? 

G. Lasserre: Three of us oversee operations at present. We’d like to expand, however, to develop our existing activities, launch new projects and boost our communication within the ESSEC network and the health sector. Don’t hesitate to contact us!

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), Content Manager at ESSEC Alumni. 

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