Have Passport, Will Travel: Evangelizing, With Evidence

Authored by Christopher C. Conway, Chief Philanthropy Officer & Executive Vice President of Strategic Communications

Today we live in an era when the rate of discovery and technological advances are accelerating rapidly—as the global population ages at an unprecedented rate. We’re kind of obsessed—and that’s a good thing. In the life sciences, the daily assignment is grappling with stubborn disease questions, while facing a future with millions more old people on the planet. 

So, it is enormously exciting to convene conversations with donors and potential supporters around the world about what we do, how we do it, and how impact-minded foundations and philanthropists can push projects ever closer toward patient access.  

In the coming months, a high-profile senior scientist joining Indiana Biosciences Research Institute (IBRI) will travel with me to Detroit, Dublin, and Dubai to have some of those conversations; I’ve already begun in California. What we say in each of these conversations matters greatly; we need to tell a compelling story accompanied by good data, and, fortunately, that’s exactly what we must share. The very real documentation and impacts are all the evidence we need that our work is essential. 

At IBRI, our innovative model and scope allow us to attract and retain scientists who are determined to stay on mission in a drug discovery ecosystem that presents myriad challenges beyond the lab. Because sometimes when the scientific breakthroughs are clear, the path to market is not. IBRI exists to help illuminate and navigate the roads less taken. 

I’m confident the story we bring into these conversations will continue to attract generous champions of our work at IBRI, in part because our outcomes are convincing, and, because everyone is counting on us.