I know a guy. Well, it would be more accurate to say that I know of a guy, or that I used to know a guy. I didn’t request permission to identify this guy, so I won't. But this guy's story should be told. Why? Read on.
This guy, in his mid-teens in the 1980s, was at a crossroads. Grades were not that great in school. He had a very traumatic experience earlier in life. Kind of grew distant and quiet. But he picked the right friend, who had a great family that surely helped inspire him. He became a really good athlete in high school football. Got a summer job at a cheese factory but seemed to quickly figure out that was not what he wanted to do with his life.
Soon after, there was an amazing change when he hit the books in school and his grades came way up. After high school, he and his buddy went off to college. He received a Bachelor of Science Chemistry degree at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 1993 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1998 at the University of Utah. After earning his Ph.D., he accepted a Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Utah with Prof. Gary E. K**k.
While studying in Utah, this guy met his future wife, a great gal from Ohio, who also got her Ph.D in chemistry. They have successfully raised two daughters.
After his education, this guy was hired by Pfizer Pharmaceutical with he and his wife moving to Connecticut, where she was also hired. He began his industrial career as a Research Scientist at Pfizer Inc. and was promoted to Research Fellow in 2012. He then was promoted to Drug Discovery Design Lead. During his time at Pfizer he received numerous awards; the most notable was the W.E. Upjohn Award for innovation. He has over 90 patents, publications and external presentations including two most cited articles, one in the journal of ACS Chemical Neuroscience (2010-2014). He has authored nearly 40 scientific papers. Beyond developing new medicines targeting Alzheimer's disease, this guy has developed compounds to treat Schizophrenia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy and allergic rhinitis.
After Pfizer cut back funding of his department, he was hired away by a competitor, Aq****a Pharmaceutical, as Vice President of Research for a couple years. In 2020, this guy and a fellow Ph.D friend from Pfizer co-founded a new company R****a Therapeutics, Inc. with his title being Chief Scientific Officer and his partner Chief Executive Officer. They currently have a new drug, a potential treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in Phase 1 of a clinical trial.
Which brings me around to the point of this story. This doctor worked his way through advanced degrees on his own. Whatever grants, scholarships, loans he could get, he would also work. His education took him until he was close to 30 years old before he started making real money. I don't know how long it took him and his wife to pay off their debts.
The survival of their new company is dependent on investors paying to fund their research, which is ongoing. Research and development costs are enormous. With drugs in clinical trials, if successful, could be life saving to many. Researchers and scientists need to be paid for what they do. Their investors take risks and need to be compensated if and when their products get to market.
Drug companies? Of course, there’s bad actors out there, as there are in any business or profession. The opioid scandal involving some drug companies was shameful. But, also shameful, was the lack of oversight from the Federal Food & Drug Administration and their failure to safeguard the public. There needs to be oversight, but, come on, thank God for the good they also do.
The many thousands upon thousands of dedicated guys/gals that work hard every day trying to cure disease. Many spend a third of their lives before their education is complete, which it never is, as they have to continue to study throughout their working lives. Which is what they do, like this guy. And we should appreciate all the great work that these guys and gals do every day, for all of us.
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