Paul Keel, 3M’s President of Skin & Wound Care

Get to know 3M’s President of Skin & Wound Care, Paul Keel. 3M Skin & Wound Care is one of 3M Health Care’s flagship businesses that provides innovative, effective, skin-friendly solutions in several medical product segments including wound care, IV site dressings, and skin integrity. Learn why 3M remains one of the most trusted names in healthcare and the intricate driving forces behind the company’s 100+ year staying power and global influence.

Q: Please describe your work experiences that prepared you for your current position as President of Skin & Wound Care:
A: Prior to joining 3M Skin & Wound Care, I was President of 3M Unitek, our orthodontics division. 3M Unitek has been a leading global supplier of products and services for orthodontic specialists for over 60 years. Prior to Unitek, I led business development for 3M Health Care, which has a long tradition of innovation and customer focus, central values to 3M Skin & Wound Care, as well. Before 3M, I enjoyed a variety of leadership roles at General Mills, McKinsey & Company and General Electric. The breadths of these experiences, many centering on healthcare have been good primers for my current role.

Q: What should our readers know first and foremost about 3M’s wound care division?
A: 3M is one of the most trusted names in healthcare. In addition to our medical products franchise, which includes Skin & Wound Care and Infection Prevention divisions, we’re market leaders in oral care through 3M ESPE (dental products) and 3M Unitek (orthodontics). 3M Health Information Systems (HIS) provides the coding and grouping systems for three-quarters of US hospitals. 3M Food Safety provides rapid method diagnostics solutions that keep our food supply safe and 3M Drug Delivery Systems technology can be found in a healthy proportion of all inhalation or transdermal therapeutics on the market today.

  3M Skin & Wound Care is one of 3M Health Care’s flagship businesses. We provide innovative, effective, skin-friendly solutions in several medical product segments including wound care, IV site dressings and skin integrity. Our products are sold in virtually every country in the world. We have customer service teams, R&D centers, and manufacturing plants on six continents, and we’re proud to partner with leading healthcare providers around the world in advancing the science of medicine.

Q: How were you first introduced to the arena of wound care and why do you enjoy working in this arena?
A: My mother is an RN, my wife and sister are physicians and I‘ve done research in health economics in addition to working in various sectors of the industry for over a decade. So I have benefitted from exposure to healthcare from multiple perspectives. As your readers know well, wound care attracts people who are passionate about patient care. The same passion that draws doctors and nurses to the clinic draws team members to 3M Skin & Wound Care, myself included. By working with the many talented and committed people whom this field draws, 3M can make a lasting and material difference. There is still so much that is unknown about how our bodies repair themselves. We take seriously our role in helping to unravel this mystery. At the end of each day, this is what propels my colleagues and me forward.

Q: How does 3M value the use and many dimensions of the Tegaderm™ Technology?
A: With over 25 years on the market, the Tegaderm™ brand is the standard for IV site care and the world leader in transparent film dressings. Over the years, we have brought countless new products to market that build upon our core expertise in films and adhesives. A recent example is 3M™ Tegaderm™ CHG Chlorhexidine Gluconate IV Securement Dressing, introduced in 2008. This dressing contains an integrated chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) gel pad that provides continuous antimicrobial activity at the IV site. Another example is 3M™ Tegaderm™ IV Advanced Securement Dressing, introduced earlier this year. Tegaderm™ IV Advanced is a comprehensive solution with transparent, breathable film, a stabilization border, and a novel comfort adhesive technology. The new dressing is designed to reduce catheter movement, leading to less frequent dressing changes, which may reduce costs by up to 85% when compared to other products.

  Building on the trusted Tegaderm™ name, we’ve extended the brand into wound care, where innovation has played a major role in our success. We offer a full line of acute and advanced wound care solutions under this umbrella. In June we introduced 3M™ Tegaderm™ High Performance Foam Adhesive Dressings which provide total fluid management by combining fast wicking, high absorbency and breathability. Our unique spoke delivery system allows fast, easy application for wounds over body contours.

  It’s tremendously rewarding for me to visit clinics around the world and hear firsthand from caregivers how Tegaderm™ products are helping them treat their patients.

Q: What are some of the company’s biggest accomplishments thus far? What are some of your key products that clearly distinguish your brand?
A: 3M is so well known for our consumer (eg, Post-it®, Scotch-Brite™, and Command™ ) and industrial products (eg, tapes, adhesives, and abrasives) that it may come as a surprise to some that healthcare is one of 3M’s largest and most successful businesses. Regardless of industry, the 3M brand is synonymous with innovation and quality. Three of our Skin & Wound products help illustrate this.

  3M™ Cavilon™ No Sting Barrier Film forms a hypoallergenic, non-cytotoxic liquid film barrier film that dries quickly to form a breathable, sting-free transparent coating that protects both intact and damaged skin from incontinence, wound drainage, adhesives and friction. Like metered-dose inhalers and hypoallergenic medical tapes, 3M created the no-sting barrier film category. There is now close to 20 years of evidence supporting the efficacy of this terrific product. We have over 30 pieces of clinical evidence supporting the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of Cavilon No Sting Barrier Film. This year we introduced additional products to the Cavilon line, including an anti-fungal and will be bringing more to market soon.

  3M™ Tegaderm™ Matrix with PHI technology is a unique, affordable wound dressing that aids in the management of hard-to-heal wounds. It is designed to jump start stalled wounds, enabling the wound to progress through the normal wound healing cascade. It is the first advanced wound care solution that uses the innovative PHI technology. This technology consists of a unique blend of cations found naturally in the body. The unique formulation helps promote a moist wound environment important in restoring natural balance to the wound.

  3M™ Coban™ 2 Layer Compression System is designed to provide therapeutic compression for the treatment of venous leg ulcers. This proprietary two-layer system is engineered with "Intelligent Compression Dynamics," 3M's proprietary materials that cohere to each other, creating an inelastic sleeve to consistently provide the right amount of compression to reduce edema. Because it is comfortable, patients are more likely to keep the compression system on, increasing compliance and improving the potential for more effective treatment.

Q: Please describe the mission/vision of your division: A: Our Mission is clear and unwavering— to improve the standard of care worldwide by maintaining skin integrity, providing safe, effective, securement; and accelerating wound healing. You will find this mission proudly posted in our offices around the world. Whether you visit us in New York or New Delhi, our team members are focused everyday on making this simple but powerful mission a reality.

  We know from our customers that tremendous opportunities remain for improving wound care management. Many billions of dollars are spent on managing wounds around the world without consistent treatment protocols, and with clinicians using treatments that have little to no clinical evidence. Evidenced based protocols and standards not only reduce the cost of care, but improve patients’ lives. 3M is committed to bringing more science to the art of wound care.

Q: How exactly does your personal vision fit with the company’s goals?
A: 3M has been in business for over a hundred years. In it for the long run, we understand that over any meaningful period of time, we benefit only when our customers benefit. This plays out at multiple levels. At the highest level, the need for efficient and effective care has never been greater. At the scientific level, 3M is an active contributor in developing the technologies needed to keep medicine moving forward. And at the clinical level, we work hand in glove with doctors and nurses to develop products and protocols that are both efficacious and cost-effective. As healthcare grows, our customers grow. When our customers grow, we grow. And when we grow, opportunities open up for our partners and employees. It’s really an inter-connected, collaborative relationship. My goal, and the goal of our company, is to infuse energy and innovation into this positively reinforcing cycle.

Q: Please explain what must take place on a daily basis at 3M in order to accommodate patients, clinicians, and healthcare facilities:
A: 3M is proud to provide hundreds of products to thousands of health care facilities around the world. At any given moment in nearly any given country, someone is developing, manufacturing, delivering, or using one of our products. And only a small portion of this total effort takes place within the walls of 3M. We rely on the support and collaboration of countless partners and customers. So as you can imagine, a fair amount of coordination is required to pull all this off. Fortunately, 3M has been serving healthcare providers for a long time and much of the activity that goes on behind the scenes has become part of the everyday fabric of our organization.

Q: Looking ahead, what are some incentives or products the company is working on?
A: We’re in a period of accelerated change in our industry. The various tectonic demographic, social, and clinical trends are moving with profound momentum and force. The world’s population will grow by close to 1.5 billion people in the next 20 years, 70% of whom will be born in developing countries. The number of people over the age of 65 will expand to over 1 billion. And healthcare expenditure will continue to grow rapidly in both developed and emerging economies, more than doubling over the same period. We cannot forecast with certainty how all this will play out, but directionally we know that ever-better care with ever-improved efficiency is needed every day. 3M can help here. We take seriously the role we play in the global healthcare industry, in our communities, together with our customers, and for our own employees. Our industry will see plenty of ups and downs, twists and turns, and 3M will continue to navigate this path by orienting off the same poles that have guided thus far— ethics, innovation, and customer centricity.

For more information, visit www.3m.com.