I enjoy performing in community musical theatre when my personal schedule allows
Juanita Dessources
Randolph,Massachusetts
Summary
Senior Administrative Professional with 12 years in executive team support. Expert in calendar management and event planning. Methodical, and organized while maintaining strict confidentiality. I partner with executives to achieve business goals, through proactive and timely support.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work History
SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
01.2021 - Current
- Manage calendars for VP of Medical Operations, including meeting scheduling (both internal and offsite meetings), accepting/declining invites, meeting prioritization, securing conference rooms, ordering catering and 'day-of' logistical and administrative support. Remain proactive in reconciling conflicts throughout the year.
- Forecast recurring meetings each year and schedule in advance so as to minimize conflicts. These include Monthly team meetings, 1:1s with LT members for VP of Medical Operations and other 1:1s with stakeholders outside of Medical Affairs.
- Assist with hiring and onboarding of new personnel into the department. Work with Vertex approved recruitment vendor, to liaise with prospective new hire, to process CDA's through to completion.
- Book flights/hotels, complete expense reports, and arranges team lunches/dinners and offsite meetings for VP of Medical Operations.
- Serve as a departmental resource for Vertex's internal technologies (i.e; Concur, SharePoint, Concur, Vertex U, MyVertex, etc.)
- Attend Weekly LT meetings for Medical Operations team. Promptly request weekly Medical Operations updates from the LT, to be compiled and sent to VP, Medical Operations and to SVP as a collective.
- Keep track of the agenda for monthly team meetings (using SmartSheets). Collect presentation slides from presenters and lead agenda preparations monthly. Create slides for monthly meeting and ensure that the slide deck is in the approved Vertex visual aid format.
- Help foster an atmosphere of collaboration and camaraderie. Organize small and informal events to foster cohesiveness within the team. Assist colleagues by offering knowledge and administrative help adhere to the hybrid way of working.
- Serve as a DocuSign superuser for acquiring virtual signatures and facilitate efficient execution of documents.
- Utilize applications like survey monkey, Smart Sheets and pollEv to compile suggestions / new ideas / feedback from the team.
- Assist with visitor registration, including pre-registering and escorting visitors.
- Serve as VIBE Committee Chair in Heritage Month & Affinity Groups Committee - Plan Heritage Month activities to celebrate the uniqueness and various cultures of employees at Vertex. Plan activities around those months, involving panel discussions, guest speaker talks and social events which welcome and involve companywide participation.
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
01.2019 - 01.2021
- Schedule, manage and maintain calendars for the Vice President of Biostatics, as well as his 4 direct supports which include Senior Directors and Directors. Anticipate conflicts and ensure that they are resolved to prioritize critical, time sensitive meetings and projects with stakeholders.
- Coordinate events for the department of 40 colleagues which includes Conferences, Weekly Seminars, Monthly Conferences, Bi-monthly All Staff Meetings, Annual Team building all day off-site activities and the End of year Holiday Party.
- Provide monthly deliverables on study projects, to department head and leadership team, which allows for project planning and direction on individual studies.
- Manage daily requests for access to study based systems which allows for blinding and unblinding of studies. Grant or revoke access for Department Biostatisticians to operation systems, based on appropriate study timelines.
- Ensure that each new hire is onboarded appropriately. Liaise with HR and desk support to finalize onboarding; outfitting new hire with all equipment necessary to perform and be comfortable in their space.
- Manage the resources, office supplies and support equipment for the department.
- Liaise with team members across functions to provide Administrative support and vacation coverage for other admins in other departments.
- Participate in trainings on LinkedIn Learning and company-based training, to promote my own professional development.
- Serve on the committee to improve the intranet site for the GMDA VNet site which is geared towards promoting employee engagement and participation.
- Welcome all GMDA new hires and hold monthly Office Hours to answer questions and help navigate our toolkit.
- Worked with two team members to create the graphic theme based on the 2020 agenda, for the GMDA developmental day.
- Served on kick-off Brainstorming session, to discuss recruitment materials and literature for the APOL1 Kidney disease study.
- Serve as Committee Chair in 'VIBE' - an Employee Resource Network that is created with the purpose of using diversity to fuel company success. In this role, I am responsible for employee engagement and recruitment of new members. As a result of these efforts and those of my teammates, VIBE's membership grew from approx. 200 to currently 326 members.
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Boston Children's Hospital
01.2013 - 01.2019
- Coordinate high-level international and confidential conference calls for bi-monthly steering committee meetings.
- Coordinate international, domestic and local travel for 40 Principal Investigators, to the annual Consortium Meeting.
- Process the collection of travel reimbursement submissions.
- Develop and maintain financial spreadsheets keeping track of grant funding.
- Act as a liaison between the Trust and the IBD Director regarding research funding.
- Update and maintain the Director's calendar and assist the program manager with special projects.
- Proofread and edit all documents including confidentiality agreements to ensure accuracy and consistency, prior to acquiring final signatures.
- Assisted in the coordination of meetings with Hotel Event Planners, for the departmental holiday party to coordinate all logistic: procuring the space, catering and entertainment.
- Create marketing materials for the research website, which resulted in increased traffic on the site, and increased enrollment in research studies.
PULMONARY TECHNOLOGIST 2
Boston Children's Hospital
01.2004 - 01.2013
- Triaged telephone calls, scheduled all testing and appointments for patients seen in the pulmonary lab, as requested by in-house or referring physicians.
- Managed databases relating to sensitive medical information of patient population.
- Assembled and analyzed data, generated a final report and communicate assessments with a physician.
- Maintained and calibrated medical equipment and troubleshot problems when necessary.
- Performed all Pulmonary testing and certified to perform Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) draws on patients as young as 1 month old.
- Verified the accuracy of data prior to the finalization of report into patient file and medical record.
RESEARCH COORDINATOR
Massachusetts General Hospital
01.2002 - 01.2004
- Conducted clinical trials according to the Institutional Review Board protocol, which included managed confidential demographical and sensitive medical patient information for various research studies in accordance with HIPPA laws.
- Scheduled informational and educational meetings between physicians and traveling research staff.
- Coordinated quarterly meetings and monitored visits between company representatives and research staff.
- Created and managed databases for preliminary organization of patient medical records.
- Prepared and maintained regulatory documents for clinical trial submissions.
- Maintained accurate and up-to-date case report forms and source documents for traceability.
- Monitored patient safety throughout clinical trials and reported any adverse events.
- Maintained compliance with protocols covering patient care and clinical trial operations.
UNIT SECRETARY
Tufts New England Medical Center
01.2000 - 01.2002
- Managed all administrative duties the floor; Set up patient charts for new admissions, managed telephone calls, discharges, and general chart maintenance.
- Maintained communication between physicians and nurses for transcription of physician orders and consultation appointments for all in-house patients.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Biology
Emmanuel College
Boston, MA05.2002
Skills
- Efficient Organizer
- Event Planning
- Docusign Superuser
- PowerPoint
- Proficient in compiling and recording payroll data
- Microsoft Office Suite
- Outlook
- Evernote
- Zoom
- Dropbox
- Spreadsheet development
- Meeting support
- Strong organizational skills
- Effective problem solving
- Travel coordination
- Excellent interpersonal skills
Notable Impact
Demonstrated exceptional organizational skills by simultaneously maintaining VP support responsibilities while providing interim EA support to the SVP of Medical Affairs for four months (January 2025-May 2025).
Provided full training and served as the on-boarding buddy to new EA, who was an external hire.
Interests
Timeline
SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
01.2021 - Current
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
01.2019 - 01.2021
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Boston Children's Hospital
01.2013 - 01.2019
PULMONARY TECHNOLOGIST 2
Boston Children's Hospital
01.2004 - 01.2013
RESEARCH COORDINATOR
Massachusetts General Hospital
01.2002 - 01.2004
UNIT SECRETARY
Tufts New England Medical Center
01.2000 - 01.2002
Bachelor of Science - Biology
Emmanuel College
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