Adam Schayowitz and Liping Liu grew up enamored with
medical science; so much so, they both
knew from an early age that they wanted to make it their
life's work. What they didn't expect was the
rendezvous with the business world that's enabling them to
realize their dreams.
Both Schayowitz and Liu are students in the Carey Business School's new
MBA in the Life
Sciences program, which teaches medical professionals the
business and entrepreneurial skills needed
to bring promising therapies and treatments to market.
Schayowitz, who concentrated in neuroscience as an
undergraduate, says he was always
fascinated by the fields of psychology and biology. He
credits his parents' careers in the
pharmaceutical industry with helping him merge those
interests, as he earned a doctorate in
pharmacology and experimental therapeutics from the
University of Maryland. While a student there,
he worked in the areas of new drug development and the
latest treatments for breast and prostate
cancer.
"I gained some experience with clinical trial
protocols along the way," Schayowitz said. "I also
learned that it was easier to teach a science guy business
than a business guy science."
That realization and Schayowitz's growing interest in
developing new cancer treatments led him
to seek a program "at the intersection of science and
business" that could impart the business skills
needed to move research from the lab to the marketplace. He
applied to the MBA in the Life Sciences
program upon its launch and is due to be part of its first
graduating class, in 2009.
Schayowitz now works for BioMarker Strategies as
director of research and development. The
small start-up, which is due to relocate to the Science +
Technology Park at Johns Hopkins, in East
Baltimore, concentrates on tissue-based biomarker
technologies that enable physicians to detect and
diagnose cases of cancer faster and more accurately. The
company's co-founders, he said, were
initially intrigued by Schayowitz's business and scientific
background.
"My responsibilities with the company are twofold: to
communicate the science clearly and
effectively to investors, while explaining the development
component to our scientists working in the
lab," said Schayowitz, who runs the company's lab and
manages its staff.
The company's newest technological development is
called the SnapPath, a tumor cellÐprocessing
system that standardizes and automates tissue processing
and sample preparation, facilitating
molecular analysis of suspected cancer cases. A prototype
is due out shortly, with a manufacturer to
be identified in 2009.
Since joining BioMarker, Schayowitz has been at the
forefront in raising more than $1 million,
capital that made possible the development of the SnapPath
as well as the new offices in East
Baltimore, a move that is designed to foster strategic
collaborations with like-minded enterprises that
could benefit along with the company's intellectual
property.
Schayowitz's classmate Liu says she is eager to see
the fruits of her scientific labors. "The
application of the science has always been more fun for me
than the fundamental research," said Liu,
who earned her doctorate in biochemistry from Nankai
University in China and also is due to graduate
from the Life Sciences program next year.
After postdoctoral work in Toronto, Liu joined a
biotech start-up seeking to develop cancer
vaccines. "It was my first reality check, seeing business
decisions made over science," she
remembered. "I often saw battles between scientists and
business people, with the scientists wanting
perfection and the business folks needing to meet financial
milestones."
Liu worked over the next few years in developing
biological therapeutics along with conducting
biomarker research. During that time, she established a
biomarker discovery program for diabetes
and cancer, and an antigen discovery program for
cancer/infectious disease vaccine development, and
led preclinical programs through required investigational
new-drug filings with the Food and Drug
Administration.
Within the past year, Liu was recruited as the head of
research and development for Stealth
Peptides, a Rockville, Md.Ðbased company with global
operations developing peptide therapeutics for
age-related illnesses. There, she's teaching scientists
trained in analyzing data and focused on
perfection and protocol how business strategies can
ultimately help them capitalize on their research.
"I can talk to the company's founder and CEO, extrapolating
the data for them while understanding
their needs and what has to be generated by R & D," she
said.
At its core, the Johns Hopkins program emphasizes the
critical need for scientists and business
people to speak--and understand--the languages of two often
disparate worlds.
"I've seen so many PhDs and clinicians put into
management positions without training, and this
program addresses that issue," said Cherie Nichols,
director of the MBA in the Life Sciences. "In
addition, there are a lot of scientists who won't make a
lifelong career out of science. This program
will also open other doors," she said.
Designed for current and future strategic decision
makers in such fields as biotechnology,
genomics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics,
the program includes as its students
physicians, researchers, lab technicians and other medical
professionals and administrators. Program
participants progress through the two-year, part-time
degree as a cohort, or group, engaging a series
of real world, program-based learning modules bringing
together medicine and the marketplace.
Along the way, students experience the lifecycle
development of a typical life sciences
organization. The modules explore areas ranging from the
language of business, such as accounting,
finance, ethics and leadership; to creating a business plan
and securing funding; to establishing a
sustainable company and delineating leadership roles and
responsibilities; to managing and guiding a
business through all phases of development.
"The strength of the MBA in the Life Sciences lies in
the strength of Johns Hopkins," Nichols
said. "The university's medicine, public health and
biotechnology programs are world-renowned, and
combining the scientific expertise with the dynamic
business teachings and standout faculty of Johns
Hopkins' new Carey Business School is a win-win," she said.
"Indeed, one of the keys to the program's
success is that so many Hopkins faculty are out there,
every day, effectively merging science and
business."
Both Schayowitz and Liu have visions of someday
running their own biotech companies. If that
happens, they say they'll look back to their days as
students in the program as a major component in
their success.
"I wouldn't have my current position without this
program," said Schayowitz. "It contains all the
tools necessary to understand financial issues. Now I
understand cash flows and balance sheets, and
I'm a little surprised I like business so much."
"I'm seeing things from both sides," Liu said. "I can
talk both languages [science and business]
much more fluently, plus I'm learning a lot about
management and leadership skills. I'm also able to
better embrace the people affected by decisions; I can see
why so many conflicts might arise."
Beyond promoting a better understanding and respect
between science and business (and the
subsequent ability to work together more effectively), the
program has raised deeper issues for its
participants. Explains Schayowitz, "You're introduced to
issues involving humanity and
commercialization, of the need to find a niche, a way to
make a better life for many feasible and
possible. In that sense, business means nothing without
science, and science alone can't drive the
business end."