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Mari Paul is at Life Science Leaders, San Francisco, California, USA. e-mail: mari@lifescienceleaders.com.

Achieving better healthcare through diverse leadershipMari Paul

Meeting the challenges of the new healthcare landscape requires new ways of thinking.

As the impact of healthcare reform legis-lation in the United States begins to be

felt, the questions now being asked are: How do we achieve better health for all under the new policies? How do we maintain progress and maximize results in our current environ-ment? How do we attain the best benchmarks, information and experience for the future?

Whatever the strategy developed in Congress, executing it well and efficiently is more than half of the battle. Similar to the chef who focuses on being opportunistic with ingredients and streamlines kitchen systems and processes to produce a meal of great value no matter what’s on the menu, drug develop-ers and healthcare providers bring varied skill sets, superior critical paths and diverse experiences to communicate effectively with a broader spectrum of coworkers and advance the standard of treatment and care for all patients. Increasingly, skills learned in the biotech industry are being put to good use in academic and translational research set-tings. One such chef who is pioneering new connections between cure and care is Preveen Ramamoorthy, director of the molecular diagnostics laboratory and assistant profes-sor in the department of medicine at National Jewish Health (Denver, CO, USA).

Mari Paul: You transitioned from a biotech company to a research and teaching hospital. How did that come about?Preveen Ramamoorthy: Ever since I was in high school I had dreamt of becoming a medical researcher and working with patients as well. As my education progressed into my Master’s in medical microbiology I was already in a translational research environ-ment, studying and working with MDs. I found that to be very satisfying and engag-ing, and continued on to my PhD in cancer

therapeutics, where my lab was literally across a bridge from cancer patients at the Greenville Hospital System. This firmed up my desire to continue to work in a translational research setting. My post-doc toral fel-lowship in genomics at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research gave me a glimpse of the power of using gene chips to diagnose illnesses with a genomic

stethoscope. My interest in translating research findings into tangible products led me to MedImmune. As I be came involved in developing vaccines and biologic drugs I wanted to apply biomarkers in characteriz-ing and stratifying patients in clinical trials but was disappointed that the resources for drug development far exceeded the resources to work on diagnostic markers. Missing the feel of interacting with patients and physi-cians and feeling a call to work for a nonprofit with a social entrepreneurial mission landed me at National Jewish Health. The institu-tion’s unique translational research ecosystem and the passion to implement personalized medicine into routine clinical practice led me to believe that this was the place to carry out my vision of being a social entrepreneur in personalized medicine.

MP: Were there surprises along the way in your career path?PR: My career path was predictably progress-ing until I reached MedImmune. My stay in the Bay Area inspired me to think out of the box, follow my heart and take chances. During this time, I dreamt of starting my own

little outfit in an academic/medical-entrepre-neurial setting in personalized medicine and diagnostics. There were numerous occasions that I thought that this was near impossible and I should continue in the biotech industry. However, I didn’t give up and continued to dream until I visited National Jewish Health. The next big surprise was when I was invited to join the faculty. I had given up on being a professor when I joined industry and here I am!

MP: What success have you had so far?PR: Since our lab’s establishment in the first quarter of 2008, we’ve launched about 13 high-complexity molecular diagnostic tests spanning pathogen diagnostics, genetic tests, prognostic testing, companion diagnostics and environmental monitoring. I also take pride in the fact that we’ve established numer-ous partnerships with diagnostics companies in custom assay development, product devel-opment, technology development, validation and clinical trials. And most importantly, my entrepreneurial dream of establishing a self-sufficient operation that contributes to the bottom line of National Jewish Health has been achieved as well. All in all, my dream of making personalized medicine accessible, implementable and useful to patients through molecular diagnostics has had a good begin-ning.

MP: What attributes did you develop in bio-tech that helped?PR: I learned how to be creative, entrepre-neurial, quick on my feet, product-driven and deadline-driven—all at the same time!

MP: So you’ve been at it for a couple of years now. Can you tell yet if the ‘bench-to-clinic’ transition really happens?PR: In an environment such as National Jewish Health where bench and clinical researchers, physician-scientists and diagnos-tics folks like me co-mingle and collaborate

Preveen Ramamoorthy says his stint in the biotech industry taught him how to be creative, entrepreneurial, product-driven and deadline-driven, all at the same time.

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666 volume 29 number 7 july 2011 nature biotechnology

be tackled by innovations in rapid pathogen diagnosis, early detection and prognosis of disease and companion diagnostic tests to stratify patients for toxicity and efficacy. All of these innovations must be driven by out-of-the-box business models like public-private partnerships. In my view, institutions such as National Jewish Health bring to the table the clinical and disease expertise and patient samples that no technology, diag-nostic or drug development company has, but we don’t have the regulatory expertise, diagnostic technologies or drug molecules. Hence, a synergistic collaborative model will contribute enormously to lowering the cost of innovation; all of which will lead to cost avoidance and lowering of healthcare costs while providing value to the patients and the entire healthcare ecosystem.

MP: Thank you, Preveen. That sounds like a good goal for all of us to pursue.

COMPETING FINANCIAL INTERESTSThe author declares no competing financial interests.

more resources towards further research and innovation.

MP: As you build your group inside a research institute, what types of people would you look for from biotech (at what level, in what functions, etc.) and how would you train and advise them?PR: Most of the people that I hire from biotech already get it and need very little training. It’s more an issue of passion and commitment than training individuals for this role. I look for people who share the vision of translat-ing research into tangible products such as molecular diagnostic tests, who are interested in constantly innovating, and who crave serv-ing patients.

MP: Where do you hope this will lead in addressing future needs in medical care?PR: The age of genomic medicine has dawned and molecular diagnostics is going to need plenty of bioinformatics integration. I’m in the process of building that capability in our institution. Rising healthcare costs can only

in a collegial environment, it happens organi-cally. The key is to establish a translational research environment such as ours with a robust patient population, top-notch basic and clinical researchers, a biorepository and all of the cutting-edge diagnostics facilities—imaging and minimally invasive diagnosis, advanced clinical diagnostics capabilities, genomics, proteomics and metabolomics discovery capabilities.

MP: Could you shed some more light on any shift in thinking you’ve experienced: parts that fit and those that didn’t; any new drivers you have adopted; as well as what skills you brought from biotech that have been effective?PR: The skills that I brought from biotech would be innovation, product development and experience in an FDA-regulated environ-ment, but I’ve always seen harmony between translational research, medicine and busi-ness. I believe innovating and creating value for my customers (physicians, patients and health maintenance organizations) are driv-ers to financial success, which in turn drives

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