When the Impact of Medical Products Hits Home

The only way to do meaningful work is to love what you do. This belief guides Wendy Cheng, a principal engineer and lab leader at Baxter's R&D center in Suzhou, China.

Wendy joined Baxter seven years ago, in part because of the company's significant presence in China, where access to important treatments and therapies is increasingly important.

In her role, Wendy helps to plan, organize and evaluate activities in the laboratory. She manages tests to ensure they are completed efficiently, secures a safe and accountable working environment and strives for the high quality development and safety of Baxter's medical products. Wendy is truly inspired, however, by the company's mission to save and sustain lives.

"I visit local hospitals from time to time and it feels good to see the faces of patients who have recovered or greatly improved their health in part by using Baxter's medical products," says Wendy, who has aspirations to one day be an expert in pharmaceutical packaging. "It really touches my heart and gives me a sense of pride."

Although she gets to regularly interact with patients who benefit from Baxter's products, it wasn't until a couple of years ago that she felt an even deeper personal connection to her work.

One day in 2014, Wendy's two children had come down with pneumonia, battling a high fever and a severe cough. She took them to the hospital where they were admitted for treatment. As her kids lay in their hospital beds, Wendy, like any concerned parent, was a nervous wreck - then she spotted Baxter's logo on the infusion bags, which were being used as part of the children's treatment.

"Seeing my kids connected to IV bags was scary. But, as I watched them get better, I really understood how our essential medical products improve patients' lives, because I was witnessing them help my own children recover," she said. "In this moment, I realized the importance of my own efforts to produce high-quality medical products because they truly do save lives."