The previous month in California, I had an intense but fulfilling week connecting with inspiring professionals and organizations that share a dedication to improving lives through healthcare. It started with a flight from North Carolina and unfolded into a series of impactful speeches and meetings from October 22 to 25, including in-person events at Gilead Sciences and valuable meetings with a CRO client and their pharma partners. I had:

• • One in-person speech at Gilead Sciences to their PDM QC team.

• • In-person meetings with one of my consulting clients, a small CRO, plus their pharma clients. 

• • One remote speech to Cromos Pharma to celebrate their 20th Anniversary. 

My first speech on October 22 was to a QC Conference at Gilead. They hired me to align with their theme of Stronger Together, something that is highlighted in chapter 8 of my book. The talk went really well, but then the Q&A that was supposed to be 30 minutes lasted 50 minutes because they had such good questions and ideas. It's worth noting that I worked at Gilead for 9 years, loved it there, and loved being back. 

The meetings with my clients and their clients--those went really well. It was the first time meeting my client’s primary client. I felt like the strength of my consulting paid off when everyone in the room started using the language I had used to describe the situation we all wanted to solve. When everyone starts using your analogy to describe the problem you have analyzed, and they enthusiastically ask more questions about it, you know you did the right research, analysis, and have proposed a good approach to solving their issues. 

The second speech of the week was for Cromos Pharma, a great CRO based in Washington state, but located broadly across the eastern bloc of nations of Europe, plus the Ukraine and Russia. At a company where colleagues have to reach across time zones, cultures, countries, and languages to support patients worldwide, it is impressive that they are celebrating 20 years of success stories where they have helped patients across the globe. 

While travel can potentially feel draining, it felt satisfying—almost soulful—to be working with so many impressive pharma and CRO organizations. They work tirelessly, trying to bring therapeutics to people who desperately need them, helping them live longer, healthier lives. Seeing how driven these organizations are to support patients is profoundly inspiring and reaffirms my belief that kindness—at both individual and systemic levels—can drive real change in the healthcare world and beyond.