Virtually There

On the second Monday of 2021 I woke at 1.15 am - for the first time in 14 years - in my own bed rather than a small and over-priced room at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. This past year since the first hints of the C-19 pandemic has seen all of our worlds shaken and made uncertain. I am grateful to be in an industry that is truly making a difference in the face of the pandemic. This year’s “virtual” JP Morgan healthcare conference is, I hope, one of the last annual events to appear on our schedules while the pandemic still has us in its grip. We have all got used to Zoom, Teams and the virtual world, but at the same time I do miss the richness of the person-to-person meetings, impromptu conversations and bumping into old friends in the streets that are the stuff of the annual healthcare ritual (though I don’t miss walking uphill both ways to every meeting!) Like never-before this past year’s events have really shone a spotlight on how important our industry truly is to the health and well-being of all people and indeed to the global economy. Headlines flowing this week are about vaccination strategies and how ‘we’ are going to help bring economies back from the brink. Were it not for covid fatigue, this would be incredibly inspiring as science leads us out of this viral darkness. Beyond C-19 there are other health crises - the ever-growing number of difficult to treat cancers, more diseases of infection, the spread of neurodegeneration and, critically, the rise and rise of serious mental health conditions. Striving to meet these needs must continue to light our way as an industry, as entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors and professionals. Our social credit is high, let us spend it wisely and not disappoint a waiting world. 

Closer to home, F-star has had productive ‘meetings’ with investors and analysts who continue their interest in our story highlighting the tremendous progress we are making with our four clinical programs in next gen oncology. I’m honoured to be the one who gets to speak about the achievements of everyone back in our labs and offices.  

Post immunisation, in 12 short months, we’ll be back in San Francisco in person, joining the Press Club queue - and I’ll be able to rediscover my love of that Super Duper Burger (721 Market Street), and of course see many of you. Happy healthy 2021.