If the field of medicine had a Nancy Drew super sleuth, it would be Dr. Joan Fallon. Fallon is the CEO and Founder of Curemark, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies to treat serious diseases such as Schizophrenia, Parkinson’s Disease, addiction and most specifically Autism. Fallon began digging into the mystery behind this particular spectrum disease in the late-80s and early 1990s to ultimately discover a possible connection between Autism and a specific enzyme that digests protein. Since founding Curemark in 2007, Fallon and her team have been pioneers in leading the way through clinical trials and drug testing to help bring new, critical life-changing pharmaceuticals to people living with Autism. When Fallon isn't busy untying the knots of the next medical mystery, she makes sure to recharge by spending time with family and friends and enjoying one of her favorite passions outside the lab and the boardroom: baseball. Carrie Hammer: How would you describe the relationship between creativity and science/medicine? Why is it important to nurture creativity in your field of bioresearch and medicine? Joan Fallon: I think that something many people do not know or do not understand is that medicine is both an art and a science. The science in many cases is quite clear cut; however, how that science is actually applied is an art. So while we have medical tools that we can apply to certain diagnostic or treatment paradigms, the employment of those tools--who, what, when where and why--is important. The traditional (allopathic) model of medicine is inductive in nature. A group of observations or symptoms is aggregated into a disease or syndrome diagnosis and a subsequent treatment is decided upon and applied. This model has been effectively used for quite some time. The deductive model, or top down model, is also useful and indeed may lead to more creative type solutions to problems. Physicians use both inductive and deductive reasoning every day in their work, and yet the deductive aspect has long been ignored by classical scientists. Observations and relationships of those observations can create and nurture more creative solutions. While looking at an object gives information, the relationship, or juxtaposition of that object to other objects may reveal much greater information. Having multiple coordinates can pinpoint and outline the relationship of those observations. Hammer: What were some of the personal challenges you encountered in establishing Curemark, how did you tackle them, and what did you discover about yourself in the process? Fallon: Entrepreneurship is a personal journey for the founder. If anyone tells you that entrepreneurship is about business, they are mistaken. A startup can only grow as you do. The purpose of a startup / entrepreneurial venture is to change a narrative, to change the way things have been done in the past or to create something completely new. Putting new ideas together, creating new pathways and new tools and employing, in some cases, unproven things in “uncharted” areas means that one must take a risk. Risk is a necessary part of entrepreneurship. Taking risks is a little like playing a sport. One must be physically able to play, and to play well one needs to apply the many aspects of the game: offense, defense, knowing your opponent’s weaknesses and strengths as well as your own. Without taking risks a startup will not grow. If you look at startups that stumble or fail, look to the founder, at their growth and their willingness to take risks and to pivot when necessary. While certain aspects of an entrepreneurial venture are shaped by outside forces such as a regulatory body in biotech, the journey still remains in the hands of the entrepreneur. Curemark was one of the first virtual biotech companies. Today they are spun out of universities every day of the week. There have been many challenges in forming and growing Curemark over time. Bringing a drug through clinical trials and to market takes significant time and financing. Raising money and tackling things like manufacturing, finding and employing talent and recruiting subjects for a clinical trial is a challenge. Curemark was founded on the concept that there is a real relationship between the gut and the brain. When Curemark was first formed the thought of giving a drug whose mechanism of action is in the gut could affect the brain was far from commonplace. Today, there is significant research from all quarters into the microbiome and other gut gut related mechanisms which may underlie a myriad of diseases. Hammer: As you know, it can take many years to make even the smallest impacts and inroads in developing new health technologies and medicine. How do you stay inspired, optimistic, and energized for the long haul? Fallon: When I started Curemark I did so because I thought I had discovered something that may help patients. For me it was “all about the kids.” I had very little understanding when I started Curemark that it would take this long to move our drug technology through clinical trials. Our whole team is on a mission: to bring our drug to the kids who need it. There continues to be very few treatment options for individuals with autism and therefore our mission continues to be an important part of the autism landscape. When there are down times or setbacks, reminding myself and the team that we have a mission is critical to our remaining optimistic, energized and excited every day. We have made some incredible discoveries about autism and other diseases which will be critical contributions to science and medicine and ultimately to benefit patients in the future. Hammer: Why is it important for you to be a role model and what’s a role model to you? Fallon: I think that there are many types of role models, and my role models have not been in my own field. For me, a role model is someone who lives an authentic life and takes that authenticity and does something positive to better the lives of others. That could range from being an inventor to running a not for profit. Very often, the best role models are not the ones that popular culture chooses to call a role model. Role models are important because if at the heart of a role model is authenticity, then having authentic people out there for young people to model can make our whole world a much better place and the future so much brighter. Hammer: What makes for a strong mentor? How might women working in these types of field approaching finding a positive mentor? Fallon: I believe that a strong mentor is someone who has a significant amount of empathy and who can put herself in a position of understanding what an entrepreneur is feeling, thinking and what she needs to move forward. Often times young people pick mentors that do not fit their needs. A mentor is not a cheerleader. While cheerleading is important, a mentor needs to be someone who can call out a mentees issues and shortcomings. They must be able to challenge the entrepreneur, discuss where changes are needed and what if anything is needed to make those changes effective. The best way to look for a mentor is to find someone who you think has grown in their own lives. Pick someone who is comfortable in their own skin, who owns their journey and who is willing without hesitation or restraint to share what they have learned. Growth, especially personal growth, is a necessary part of moving a company forward into a successful venture. As I said before, without personal growth, there will be no company growth. Hammer: Entrepreneurship wasn’t your original goal, you are a physician and you started with your own practice. How did that work inspire Curemark? Fallon: I started seeing children in my office with autism in the late 1980’s early 1990’s. The incidence of autism has been growing in the United States since then from 1/300 to today 1/59. Once I discovered the enzyme deficiency in many of the children with autism, it was almost inevitable for me to start Curemark. From 2007 when Curemark began to today, there is still no new drug treatment beyond antipsychotics. The need for other drug treatments, and treatments for autism in general, is huge. I felt before Curemark's founding that if what I had discovered could help even some children with autism, I had to find out, I had to do clinical trials, I had to know. The struggles of the children with autism, and the families that are affected, compelled me, inspired me and allowed me to step away from a private practice that I so loved to begin Curemark. Our tagline for the company is #ItsAllAboutTheKids and that is what we have focused on and it inspires us every day. Hammer: What brings you joy? Fallon: My work brings me great joy. The specter of being able to help millions of children globally brings me unending joy every day. My employees, those who share the mission, bring me great joy. My family and friends bring me great joy. Right now, I have a 17-year-old nephew and a 3-and-a-half-year-old goddaughter who bring me unending joy and a level of wisdom that lands them on my “personal board of directors.” I am also a huge baseball person. Baseball brings me great joy as it affords me a place to retreat to when I need to recharge. Hammer: What role does empathy play in your work as a physician and entrepreneurship? Fallon: I believe that all of life is about empathy, and empathy is important in being a physician as well as in being an entrepreneur. To me, empathy is a form of communication. In my own writings, and as I have mentioned before, I speak about juxtaposition, where everything is just a moment in time or an object in space until it is related to another object. That relationship gives an object definition and meaning. The same is true about empathy. Until you understand what another person is thinking, feeling or staring at in their lives, one can not fully understand how to relate to others or how to be of service. It becomes a form of communication. It relates in business because one cannot negotiate fully unless you understand what the other person is facing or needs from the negotiation. Before I begin any negotiation I put myself in the other CEO’s shoes, and say what is it that they may need from the deal that is being contemplated. Is it a timing issue, a monetary one or even a case of securing a contract that will mean the most to them? While I may not know the answer to that fully, I often find myself in the throws of a negotiation actually saying: “What is it that you need the most here?” Empathy also plays a huge role in understanding the problem one is trying to solve as an entrepreneur. Often entrepreneurs try to solve problems that do not have as much relevance to their audience as they originally thought. This is taught quite well at Stanford’s d.school where empathy is the leading value that must be embraced when trying to determine what important problems need to be solved. At the d.school they teach design thinking which is a methodology whose focus is to unlock creativity. They speak about this methodology as it is reflected through empathy in their statement: “empathizing with and embracing diverse viewpoints, testing new ideas with others, and observing and learning from unfamiliar contexts.” Hammer: What is one thing that continues to surprise you about the work you’re doing? Fallon: That there remains a total dearth of treatment for autism, which makes what we are doing extremely important, even more important than when we started as the autism rate in the US is now 1/59. Hammer: What is one piece of indispensable wisdom you want all women in this field to have? Fallon: Do not let anyone mistake your kindness for weakness. Source
