March-ing Forward: Celebrating IWD & Brain Awareness

This month, we are celebrating both International Women’s Day (March 8) and Brain Awareness Week (March 11-17), two initiatives we enthusiastically support. 

We had the opportunity this past week to meet an extraordinary woman at an event sponsored by our law firm, Duane Morris. Although the firm is based in Philly, they have an international reach and are ranked as one of the best. They are also expensive and not what an emerging company like ours could afford. But, I met one of their new lawyers in the 80’s and she became a good friend. She’s now a senior partner, and every time I start a new company, we are on an “easy pay” plan. The firm puts on some great events such as a series on the legal ramifications of AI that we follow. 

Last week, we were invited to hear a talk by Katalin Karikó, the winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The prize had actually been announced at the very same time we were in Szeged, Hungary, a small European town where she started her education. We were at a spreading depolarization meeting at the time, and the town went crazy after the announcement. 

Dr. Karikó won the prize along with Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. 

In the lecture room with around fifty people, who were mostly attorneys, Dr. Karikó opened her talk quite humorously, stating how she doesn’t like talking to attorneys, and we learned that it took many months for her to answer repeated emails inviting her to the event. This feistiness and a huge dose of persistence has followed her throughout her career from very humble beginnings to the Nobel Prize. 

Her life was not easy. One university kicked her out for not getting enough grants, some professors bad-mouthed her, and one wanted to deport her. But after repeated awards for her work, a New York Times article on her role in the COVID vaccine development, and with the encouragement of friends, she decided to write a book: Breaking Through, My Life in Science. 

Her story is one of never giving up and never giving in. It’s an inspiration for anyone with a mission. The book came out a week after the Prize was announced and, thus, doesn’t mention it. But compared to her lifesaving work and numerous accolades, the Prize was just icing on the cake. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, especially if you are a woman in science, do it.