Focuses for the Upcoming Term

This tide marsh is located behind the building I where I work Monday through Thursday, on the east side of the San Francisco bay. It is close enough to walk to, and it has long flat dirt paths to run on when I feel energetic. On a clear day, such as we had this week, you can identify individual buildings in the downtown San Francisco skyline. Most days there is a haze on the water that precludes even seeing the mountains of the peninsula on the other side. I like to go out there during the day to clear my head or to think. Sometimes if I don't have early morning calls I stop by the marsh before heading into the office to watch the great white herons, snowy egrets, mallard ducks and other shorebirds make their living. I find the movement of the tides calming. The water of the bay has a different personality every day; sometimes calm, flat and glassy, sometimes grey and choppy. But the water in the marsh, seen here at high tide, is always smooth and tranquil.

The focus of this week has been building my network of experts in the field of clinical trials in emerging markets. I'm starting to do some research into the area of informed consent in emerging markets: what does signing a form mean to the patient, why are we shoving 15+ page consents down people's throats, and why do the ethics committees let us? I will be contacting my Indian, Eastern European and other connections in the developing world (although they don't know it yet) in the coming weeks to get their perspectives for the next iteration of the emerging markets course, to be offered in the spring term.

The winter term at UC Santa Cruz starts for me next week. It's been about an 8 week break since the fall term ended. Good Clinical Practices, my flagship class, begins Wednesday evening Jan 21 from 6-9pm, and runs for 10 weeks. I've improved (I hope) the curriculum for this term, updating some older information and including references to recent events in the NY Times, NPR, and other sources.

Looking for a Silver Lining

My notes for this week's entry carried a theme of relationship. As I get older I've learned to recognize that companies don't do business with each other - people and relationships do. Sometimes when I go back to a company that I enjoyed working with before, I find that the next experience can be markedly different - and sometimes poorer - and it is all because of the people. More and more in recent years I've invested in relationships with the people with whom I do business, relationships that in my younger days I would have taken for granted, because I find it is those relationships that not only make the job more enjoyable, but also get you through the tough times. I have been in the clinical research business a long time - there is not much exciting about doing new studies anymore. On the other hand, building relationships and networks with great people makes doing the same job more interesting.

None of us is irreplaceable; whenever someone leaves, it almost always creates an opportunity for someone else to grow into their own potential. And I have always believed that people should do what they need to do and are never indebted to their employer or me or anyone else. Still it is hard to say goodbye sometimes.