“The Emerging Leaders is a perfect platform to look outside your own box and work experience and learn about different opportunities. I graduated from university
with a degree in electrical engineering and a PhD in applied computer science but at some point, I knew I wanted to go in a different direction. Participation in the ISPE
Emerging Leaders program provided exposure to the areas I was curious about,” Rehbaum said.
A resident of Germany, Rehbaum started his career at Ottobock, a leading company in prosthetics and orthotics. There he worked as a researcher on advanced hand
prosthetics, developing algorithms to analyze multivariate muscle signals for intuitive control of the hand prosthesis. After earning his PhD, he became the head of
research and development for L.B. Bohle, a technology company that develops and builds process equipment for the production of pharmaceutical products, especially
oral solid dosage manufacturing.
In 2016 he started his own company, Dr. Rehbaum Technology Consulting GmbH. “I work with many different teams and customers in North and South America,
Europe, and Asia. They all adhere to the same PAT requirement and regulations, but the way issues are being solved is very different among different cultures and
companies, which makes my role very interesting. I’ve been able to get a wide view of how analytical problems are being solved, which is something I would not be able to
experience if I was working for just one company. Sometimes there’s not only one truth, but multiple ways that ‘lead to Rome,’ as they say, which is something that I was
never able to experience before, and it’s something that I really love about my work now.”
Rehbaum says the PAT-LCS CoP has been a great way to bounce ideas off others and a place to go when seeking answers. “The CoP, especially the Steering Committee,
is a community of friends and peers I can go to when I need to discuss ideas or talk through a solution to determine if it is a good approach.” He and other members of the
PAT-LCS CoP Steering Committee will be presenting “Application of PAT for Real-World GMP Operations” at the 2023 ISPE Annual Meeting & Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, on
Monday 16 October. The session will focus on best practices in the design, implementation, and operation of PAT for GMP operations, including operator skill set, team
skills set, and IT infrastructure requirements to facilitate data management under GMP standards.
In addition to presenting at ISPE’s Annual Meeting, Rehbaum is looking forward to meeting the students and recent graduates who have received travel grants from
ISPE to attend the meeting. “It was great to see the students at this year’s ISPE Europe Annual Conference in Amsterdam. There were 51 students and recent graduates
from all over the world—not just Europe and US, but also Malaysia, the Philippines, and South America. The travel grants are a great opportunity and give students and
recent graduates a chance to broaden their horizons and gain a deeper understanding of the pharmaceutical industry.”
