In the latest series of the Get Science podcast, we’re talking to Pfizer researchers about how pursuing rule-breaking science can lead to new discoveries. Our next guest, Mike Vincent, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Inflammation and Immunology Research Unit offers a new twist on our theme. Being open to counterintuitive science is vital, says Vincent, but so is having “good instincts to know when to poke further into something that’s often the initial lead to something important.”
Vincent, who began his career as a physician and academic researcher, had the instincts to specialize in the rheumatology and immunology when he saw how autoimmune diseases offered enough “clues” about what may be driving these conditions. “I thought If I spend a lifetime here, I can make some progress and figure things out,” he says.
And indeed, he has. At Pfizer, he’s leading teams of scientists to better understand the immune system to develop new medicines for dermatologic conditions with critical unmet need such a atopic dermatitis, alopecia areata and vitiligo.
Listen here to follow our full conversation.