The Measure of Success
“Saving Grace” worked wonders on my throat, I got through my lecture without needing to take any break other than for a few sips of water.
As a guest lecturer, my talk was part of NC State’s Green Chemistry and Engineering course. I was very excited to share our experience in Green Chemistry, however around halfway through I noticed some students in the back of the room talking to one another, and another student in the middle row struggling, mostly unsuccessfully, to stay awake. The professor’s stream of questions still kept me going: I had at least one person interested in my company’s effort to make Medicinal Chemistry more sustainable.
When I was done, the professor thanked me, then invited the students to ask questions. One hand shut up and I anticipated a challenging inquiry. The student with the raised hand stopped chewing her gum for a moment and yelled out her question.
“Homework?”
“No, there is no homework,” replied the professor with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
The students packed up and started streaming out of the classroom. One guy, who had been sitting in the first row to my left and mostly out of my vision during my talk, stood up and stepped forward.
“I wanted to thank you for coming and talking to us about your work,” he started, “I always had this opinion of ‘Evil Pharma’, but today you helped me change my mind.”
I have a friend in Hungary,” I answered, “her name is Andrea. She was diagnosed with leukemia 10 years ago. She is still alive because of a drug she takes every day. It is called Gleevec, made by Novartis. My father had leukemia over 30 years ago. All they could do for him was blood transfusions and painkillers.”
“We are really trying to do good, help people, save lives,” I added.
The student looked me in the eye, quietly nodded once, then slowly stepped away.
