Podcast, News & Publications

Peace in strength. Like the mighty oak that has survived some 600 years in what is now my back yard, we engage with experience and resilience. Whether the winds blow hard or the sun shines bright, we go on, deeply rooted and stretching for the heavens.
Strength in peace. Many challenges of the world, and Pharmaceutical R&D, grow out of mere misunderstandings. We seek to enhance mutual understanding and peaceful cooperation toward shared objectives.
- Peace and Strength by Kevin Freiert
Salem Oaks Presents: a podcast sharing the human stories behind the medicines
004 Donald Kirsch: Getting to Know a Drug Hunter
We’ve all been there. You are at a party and someone asks, “So, what do you do?” Dr. Kirsch always found it hard to explain his career as a discovery scientist. He decided to write a book about it. The Drug Hunters: An Improbable Quest to Discover New Medicines is a colorful, fact-filled narrative history of…
Read MoreEpisode 3: Hope Can Be Curative.
David Pearce Ph.D., Sanford Research Leader Today we hear from David Pearce, PhD, President of Innovation and Research, Sanford Health and Vice Chair, Consortium Assembly, International Rare Disease Research Consortium (IRDiRC) Dr. Pearce’s rare disease background emanates from publishing over 100 research papers on Batten Disease. David talks to us about…
Read MoreEpisode 2: Kyle Bryant: Remember Why We Are Doing All This
We welcome Kyle Bryant of the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) to discuss his journey as a patient with Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA), as an active patient leader, and in his job as a liaison between the FA community and researchers. After being diagnosed with FA when only 17 years old,…
Read MoreEpisode 1: David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSC, FCPP
Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope Into Action We are honored to have Dr. David Fajgenbaum as our first guest on Improbable Developments. His story is intense. Before he even earned is medical degree, he was faced by a rare life-threatening illness for which there was no…
Read MoreWelcome to Improbable Developments!
In this, our first episode, Kevin lays out the objectives and plan for the Improbable Developments podcast. He also shares a personal story about a medicine he worked on earlier in his career.
Read MoreNews & Publications
Patient Engagement Strategies Lack Patient Voice, Consumer Input
I found this quite ironic. “Physician, first heal thyself…” http://bit.ly/2Gv2Oj6
Read MoreHow many blessings can be squeezed into 20 years?
Twenty years ago, today, I woke up and had cancer. I had no idea what the day would bring. It had been about two months since I was diagnosed with myxoid liposarcoma in my left thigh.
Read MoreEducating Patients: Taking Action to Refocus and Accelerate
Over the past weeks, I have discussed several barriers that make it difficult to involve patients in developing new medicines as much as everyone involved would like. My theory is that we need to do a better job educating patients. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Some of these barriers…
Read MoreAre We on the Right Track?
Choices. Have you ever found yourself in an unfamiliar city trying to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible? Taxi? Bus? Subway? Traffic scares you, so the subway it is. You stare at the nicely designed kaleidoscope of a map and try to make sense of which…
Read MoreNo One is Truly Objective
As the winter approaches here in New England, the picture above caught my eye. What do you see? Is the sun setting… or rising? What’s up? What’s down? Where was the picture taken? When? How can you be sure? Did my opening line influence you? Introduction There seems to be a consensus from all…
Read MoreFellow Travelers on a Long, Cold Road
The journey to a new medicine is a challenging, uphill, and winding road. Whenever a patient gets involved in medicines development, they are likely to face a roller coaster of hopefulness and despair like they have never experienced. Since only about 5% of the compounds and proteins put into advanced testing a…
Read MoreLeveling the Playing Field
“A champion named Goliath…came out from the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing [125 pounds]; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His…
Read MoreThe Language of Drug Development
Let’s do a quick word association exercise. What is the first word that comes to mind when you read each of the terms below? Trial Investigator Subject Attrition Arms Targets Chances are your responses were somehow affected by your level of familiarity with medicines development. Introduction Patients are the most important…
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