Her Story
About Kimberly
Kimberly Oaks brings over two decades of expertise to her role in electrophysiology. With 21 years in the field as of July 11th, she focuses on physician-to-physician education while overseeing contracting with physicians and hospitals. She supports field teams across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America and takes pride in building and leading a strong team. Oaks earned her master's degree from Philadelphia University in 2005 after beginning her career as a clinical support specialist assisting with defibrillator implants. She attributes her success to a strong work ethic instilled by her family and the importance of supporting her team. Oaks values work-life balance, allowing her to succeed professionally while prioritizing time with her family. She advises young women entering the industry to embrace support networks, stay authentic, and listen actively.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kimberly
01What do you attribute your success to?
You know, a good work ethic. I think from the start, my family, my parents are extremely hard workers, and that kind of resonated with myself and my brother and my sister. And working hard, but also recognizing that you need a really good team underneath you and to make sure that they're feeling supported as well.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
For me specifically, I think it was just to kind of let your gut kind of guide you, and find someone that you trust as a mentor that you can bounce things off of, and really just kind of try to get rid of all the extra noise, whether it's political within your company, or just kind of focused on what you're doing well.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
There's a lot of women that are here to support you now. It wasn't the case when I started. With my job, it was a very man-centric. Just continue to be who you are, and don't try to modify based on what other people are saying. Also open your ears and keep yourself aware of everything that's going on, do a lot of listening, that'll help a ton with wherever it is you want to go.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The challenge for anyone in our field is it's a very niche thing, so it's not always easy to expand beyond this particular industry. It can be very difficult to explore other opportunities outside of electrophysiology. If you have an opportunity to expand, like I became a manager, that helped my resume to be able to go beyond. There's a lot of opportunity to do other things, and if you're young and have opportunities to maybe live in different areas, because if I were to want to move a little higher, I would have to be more open to moving to other areas. If you're young and have the opportunity, even for a temporary relocation, it's worth it to get the extra experience.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
From my perspective, it's the work-life balance. Being able to be successful, be an earner for my family, but also being able to spend enough time with them.
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