August 6, 2025 • 22 mins
Learn more about: Atara Biotherapeutics
Featured on Tomorrow's World Today: S5E3 – Healing Heroes
What happens when science meets creativity at the frontier of medicine? Dr. Kristin Yarema, former Chief Commercial Officer at Atara Biotherapeutics, takes us on a journey through the world of cell therapy and its potential to transform treatment for cancer and multiple sclerosis. 🧬
Dr. Yarema shares the touching origin story of Atara, founded by Dr. Isaac Chichenover in memory of his mother, who passed away from ovarian cancer. This personal connection serves as the company's "North Star," keeping its focus on developing innovative therapies for patients with serious illnesses.
With her unique background combining chemical engineering and English, Dr. Yarema bridges the gap between complex scientific innovations and clear communication for physicians, patients, and stakeholders. 🔬
The conversation explores how mentorship shaped her career path and offers valuable advice for those interested in entering the biopharma field. "Making a new medicine is a total team sport," she explains, highlighting opportunities for people with diverse skills and interests. 🥼
Dr. Yarema passionately discusses neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis, which she describes as "one of the great remaining frontiers in medicine." Atara's work on investigational therapies for progressive MS represents a push toward addressing these devastating conditions that currently have limited treatment options.
Whether you're fascinated by medical innovation, considering a career in STEM, or simply curious about the future of healthcare, this episode offers insights into how science, creativity, and communication come together to solve some of medicine's most challenging problems. 💊
For more information about the innovations that are shaping tomorrow's world, head to https://tomorrowsworldtoday.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steven Ruffing (00:01):
Welcome to the Tomorrow's World Today podcast.
We sit down with experts,world-changing innovators,
creators and makers to explorehow they're taking action to
make tomorrow's world a betterplace for technology, science,
innovation, sustainability, thearts and more.
On this archive episode, hostGeorge Davison, who is also the
(00:22):
host of the TV series,tomorrow's World Today
interviews Dr Kristen Yerima,former chief commercial officer
at Atara Biotherapeutics.
Dr Yerima shares her personaljourney, blending science and
creativity, and the company'smission to transform treatment
for serious diseases like cancerand multiple sclerosis.
She emphasizes the importanceof communication, mentorship and
(00:45):
passion in biopharma, whilehighlighting the industry's
potential to revolutionize carefor neurodegenerative diseases.
George M. Davison (00:55):
Thanks for coming, kristen.
We were hoping to have aconversation with you today for
our audience, to learn a littlemore about the organization that
you're working with and how yougot to where you are in the
world today.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (01:09):
Absolutely Looking forward to our
conversation.
George M. Davison (01:12):
All right.
So can you tell us how wasAtara formed?
Was there a founder back in theday?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (01:19):
Oh yes, yes, there was.
So Atara Biotherapeutics wasfounded in 2012 by Dr Isaac
Chichenover, and he named thecompany for his mother.
His mother's name was Atara andshe had, at the time, recently
passed away from ovarian cancer,so he named the company in her
(01:40):
memory.
George M. Davison (01:41):
That's wonderful.
That's very meaningful.
I could see why he was sopassionate as to what he was
working on.
Thank you.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (01:49):
Yeah, and I think it helps us really stay
focused on patients.
At Atara, our mission is reallyto transform the lives of
patients with serious grievousillnesses like cancer, multiple
sclerosis, and so, you know,just having our company be named
(02:09):
in honor of a patient whoneeded more therapeutic options
than she had, you know, justkeeps that very front and center
for us.
It's really our North Star.
George M. Davison (02:22):
That's wonderful.
You know as sad as that can befor him having a North Star that
can move through time withstaff as the company continues
to grow.
That's very helpful forstartups.
So can you tell us a littleabout your position at the
(02:45):
organization?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (02:46):
Yes, absolutely so.
I am ATARA's chief commercialofficer.
I also oversee corporatecommunications and public
affairs, so what I do is reallya couple things.
So I focus on how do we takethe therapies that we are
developing in clinical trialsand how do we make them ready as
(03:09):
medicines to really meet theneeds of patients.
So, you know, how is it goingto be handled by insurance?
How are we going to communicateabout the therapy to physicians
, to patients, to anyone who youknow, who needs to know about
it?
And so, in a way, I would saycommunication is really at the
(03:30):
heart of what I do.
George M. Davison (03:33):
Wonderful.
You know that's communication.
We refer to that around here asstorytelling and trying to
figure out a way to communicatenew innovations and technologies
to the general public that hasall sorts of different
upbringings and understandings.
And how do we communicate?
(03:53):
If you create something, youneed to learn how to communicate
in a way that your audiencewill understand.
So that makes sense.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (04:02):
Ideas have no power if we can't communicate
them.
You know it's like the treefalling in the forest right.
Does it happen if no one hearsit?
George M. Davison (04:11):
Exactly, exactly.
Well, that's so.
Let's take it back, then let's.
How did that?
How did you figure out that wassomething you'd like to do?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (04:21):
Oh, it's a great question.
So you know, I guess growing upI always had, actually I felt a
very strong tension between thearts and a creative side and
the sciences and engineering,and my family had a number of
doctors and scientists in it.
(04:43):
So I saw that, you know, sawthem growing up and I was very
inspired.
Both my uncle and mygrandfather were doctors.
My aunt was the head nurse inthe ER really challenging job.
My mother was a science teacherand my father was a researcher
at one of the national labs, sothe STEM genes were very strong,
(05:05):
but also really passionateabout art and music and doing
things with visual or creativearts, and so the idea of
creating, innovating, makingsomething new was also always
very strong for me.
So you know, I got to the point.
(05:26):
What do I do with that?
Right?
Steven Ruffing (05:28):
What does that where?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (05:28):
does that take you?
So I ended up in college with areally bizarre double major of
chemical engineering and Englishand and then I thought, well,
you know, where do?
Where do I go from here?
How do I apply that?
And then I thought, well, wheredo I go from here, how do I
apply that?
And so I thought I want to makea difference.
I want to research and work onand bring to market new
(05:54):
medicines and I want to makesure that people really
understand the power ofinnovation.
And that kind of led me intoroles like what I'm doing now,
and I just love being an ATARand I love what I do.
George M. Davison (06:09):
Well, that comes across.
So I'm thrilled that you foundsomething that you love to do
and that, because that's thekind of passion that you know,
moves you into life and to chasebigger goals.
I don't know how I'd do life ifI didn't love what I did.
So how about mentors?
(06:29):
Did you have a mentor in highschool that might have helped to
steer you into the field ofscience?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (06:38):
Yes, so I would say you know teachers and
family.
So I had some amazing scienceteachers in high school and they
all kind of fit the bill in away of the you know the portrait
of the mad scientist and theywere just zany and you know.
So we did very creative labwork and you know, and I loved
(07:02):
chemistry, I loved watchingchemical reactions and seeing
things happen.
So, you know, I would say my.
You know, my science teachersin high school really put me on
that path and I continued towatch my family too, so I would
have the opportunity to go intosome of the medical offices.
You know of my grandfather anduncle and you know, hear and see
(07:27):
what they did for patient careand how important that is.
So I would say, you know thoseexamples, learning from all of
those people was really, youknow, really formative for me.
George M. Davison (07:42):
You know, most high school experiences
aren't perfect.
So let's if we could sharesomething in the world of you
know, around here we, we referto it as we like to fail our way
forward.
We learn from our mistakes.
If there was a mistake thatyou'd like to forget about, or
maybe that you'd like to forgetabout, or maybe you know that
(08:02):
you might share with our, justso we, the people, know this.
You can move past mistakes,can't you?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (08:18):
Yeah, absolutely Gosh.
There's so many, I guess, forme, and maybe a lot of this
would be in the realm of cooking.
I, you know, I like to, you know, I like to create things, and
so I was always kind ofexperimenting in the kitchen and
some of those things turned outreally well.
So I make an amazing chocolatechip apricot cookie and any
flavor of pie you want to thinkabout.
But some of them were alsoquite spectacular failures, Like
(08:43):
the time that I invited friendsover for coffee but I didn't
know the first thing aboutmaking coffee and I boiled whole
beans in you know, in a pot andyou know that just didn't go
over so well.
Fortunately I still had thefriends after that failed
experiment.
Fortunately I still had thefriends after that failed
experiment.
But you know it's you just, ifyou don't experiment, if you
(09:08):
don't take the risks, thenyou're not going to know when
those you know, those happyaccidents come out Right.
You know, they used to watchthat painter Bob Ross.
George M. Davison (09:21):
Mm, hmm.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (09:22):
And he always described his paintings
as happy accidents.
He didn't quite know how theywere going to turn out.
He just put paint all over thecanvas, but it always turned out
well Right kept at it.
George M. Davison (09:34):
He had a good eye and creative mind.
You get back up off the groundand try again or keep working on
it.
He made those happy littletrees.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (09:45):
Exactly the happy little trees, that's it.
George M. Davison (09:49):
How about?
So it sounds like you like tocook.
Is that a hobby?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (09:54):
Yeah, so you know everything that's.
I like working with my handsand also just visual and
creative arts.
So I love to cook, I love tomake things, crafting things,
but I also really love music andliterature.
So all those things, I wouldsay are kind of what keep me
(10:18):
going when I'm not at work.
George M. Davison (10:22):
So it's a work-life balance right.
So sometimes we have to reallythink hard and work hard, and we
need that relaxation time tolet it all go loose Around here.
When we work really hard, wethink of it as our mind is
working on a problem, and themore we work on it, our mind
gets tighter and tighter andtighter, to the point where we
(10:42):
can't get any ideas out of it.
As our mind is working on aproblem, and the more we work on
it, our mind gets tighter andtighter and tighter, to the
point where we can't get anyideas out of it.
And so we hey, it's time totake a break and relax and bring
that mind to an open stateagain, and it's amazing how many
ideas actually come in once wego into that other state of mind
.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (11:00):
You are absolutely right.
In fact, you know, I think oneof the challenges in, you know,
in our busy professional livesand something that I'm really
very have to be very mindfulabout is making time to just
step back and let thingspercolate, let the juices flow
(11:21):
and you know, step away from theproblem at hand for a couple
hours, maybe even a couple ofdays, and at least for me, you
know, sometimes that's when theideas really pop and I've
learned and it took a long time,but I've learned to really
respect my own personal creativeprocess in that way and just
trust that it will come and itusually comes.
(11:41):
But making that space you know,for those, for those ideas to
flow.
George M. Davison (11:47):
All right.
So, knowing what you know today, what advice would you give
someone interested in enteringinto your industry?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (11:56):
Yeah, great question.
So, first of all, I would Iencourage people to enter my
industry.
I think there's never been abetter time to be in biopharma
and what we're doing at Ataraand soul therapy in particular.
This is a frontier, and weexpect that this technology and
(12:18):
this area of medicine is justgoing to grow for, you know,
years and decades to come.
And so what I would say topeople who are interested is,
first and foremost, be open, domake sure that it aligns with
your personal passions andvalues.
You know life is too short tobe, you know, stuck doing
(12:40):
something that you're like.
You know this just isn't theright fit for me, so you know.
So dive in with both feet ifit's the thing that suits you,
and then try to learn frompeople around you.
So seek out those mentors.
Talk to you know, talk to a lotof people.
I think, you know I wish I hadtalked to more people when I was
(13:01):
early on in my career.
I think that's something that Idid not do enough of, and I
would definitely counsel, youknow, younger, younger folks to
do that, because there are somany different perspectives,
there are so many differentpaths, so many different
opportunities.
It's really about understandingwhat's out there and what's
(13:22):
going to play to your uniquestrengths and passions and be
open to the opportunities thatcome along.
Some of the greatestexperiences I've had in my
professional career were thingsI didn't see coming, things that
when the idea was pitched to meor the opportunity was
presented, I was like I'm notreally sure that's what I want
(13:44):
to do, that's for me.
But I listened, I tried tolisten and I did listen to the
advice of others and you knowthose times led me into spaces
where I learned so much, took onyou know, new tasks, learn new
skills that I never thought Iwould have and that wouldn't
(14:06):
have been possible, you know, if, if I hadn't listened and taken
advantage of you know, some ofthe unusual things that were
offered up to me so the audienceunderstands this emerging
industry, biopharma.
George M. Davison (14:25):
Can you maybe describe a little bit of what
that means, if they may not haveheard that term before?
What do you do in the field ofbiopharma?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (14:35):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Biopharma is really theindustry where we discover,
develop, manufacture andultimately bring to physicians
and patients new medicines.
And, of course, you know, wehave a lot of medicines already.
So someone might say, well, doyou know, do we really need more
(14:58):
medicines?
Well, there are so manydiseases and conditions today
where we really have no goodtherapeutic options at all, or
we can always do better.
So think about, you know, wework a lot in the area of cancer
and some people may have heardabout President Joe Biden's
(15:18):
moonshot initiative for cancer.
So that's the idea there is.
You know, can we cure 50% ofcancers?
Well, that sounds pretty good.
It'd be a lot better than whatwe're doing today.
But 50%, that means one out oftwo people is going to have a
cancer that isn't cured.
We need to do better than that.
And so, you know, if you're thekind of person who loves
(15:43):
helping people, loves innovation, you know, wants to do
something that's really going tohave an impact, then I think
you know, biopharma is, you know, is just an amazing, is just an
amazing field to work in.
George M. Davison (15:58):
And it's like , I think, all industries
there's no stopping point.
Eventually you get to the pointwhere you're doing more
innovations and maybe there areincremental improvements Around.
Here we refer to it as thereare incremental improvements,
which are small, incrementalstepping stones forward, and
then there's the dramatic, thebrand new creation which has
(16:24):
never been seen before, and thenthat leads to the birth of a
new industry.
So, yeah, I don't ever see anyindustry not going through
incremental.
So I think there'll be a lot ofjobs in this area for quite a
long time.
That's for sure.
Let's see here.
So let's, if we were talkingabout this, people in general
(16:47):
and with your life experiencesso far and all the different
people you've met, do you thinkjust about anybody can be
successful today?
And you can define successfulas personally successful, let's
say financially successful?
You could take that word a lotof different ways, but do you
think anyone can be successful?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (17:07):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, I think the
number one thing is beinginterested, you know, being
involved, and if it's somethingthat you know excites you and
you want to do, then absolutely.
You know there's some training,there's getting advice from you
(17:29):
know, like I said, othersaround you.
But you know, in my field thereare also so many different
things that can be done, soeveryone can contribute in some
way.
So, making a new medicine is atotal team sport.
It takes the whole village.
You've got people who are doingresearch on the bench.
(17:50):
You've got people who are outinteracting with doctors in
hospitals and helping design andrun clinical trials.
You've got people like myselfwho are thinking about you know
how do we set up arrangementswith insurance or how do we make
communications.
And then you've got you knowpeople who IT is huge, right, so
(18:16):
you know.
You might think you know if I'man IT person, am I working in
medicine?
Yeah, absolutely.
We crunch huge amounts of data.
We, you know we make it allhappen.
So I think it's deciding thatit's an interest that you have
and you know, then stepping inand trying it out.
George M. Davison (18:36):
Yes.
So basically, success isdefined in such a broad way that
if you're happy and you havefound something that intrigues
you and a company or a person'swilling to pay you for that, you
know you've been successful inat least the commercial form of
the word, and so hopefully youcan find your passion out there.
(18:58):
So can we focus on, let's say,one project that you can think
of in your industry that youthink would elevate humankind
the most?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (19:12):
Oh, wow, that's a really good question.
Well, I mean there are two thatjump to mind.
I mean the first is definitely,you know, changing the curve,
you know reaching that moonshotwith cancer that we talked about
you know already a little bit,but we already mentioned that
one, so I'm going to give youanother, which is
(19:35):
neurodegenerative diseases.
So neuroscience is, in a way,one of the great remaining
frontiers in medicine.
Think about diseases likeAlzheimer's or ALS, or a disease
that we're working oninvestigating new therapies for,
(19:57):
which is multiple sclerosis.
So all of these are diseasesthat are chronic deterioration,
long-term degradation of thenerves, and they affect millions
of people in total know arejust disastrous, horrible and
often deadly diseases, andthey've been very difficult nuts
(20:21):
to crack.
So I think if we could reallybegin to find effective novel
therapies for neurodegenerativediseases, you know, the public
impact, the public health impact, the impact on millions of
patients and their families,their caregivers, would be
(20:43):
simply enormous.
And so that's what we're tryingto do a little bit with therapy
that we have, investigationaltherapy that we have in
development for multiplesclerosis.
We're starting with studies inprogressive forms of multiple
sclerosis, which is, just to putit very simply, where someone,
(21:09):
just you- know progresses withtheir disease.
It never gets any better, itonly gets you know worse over
time and the question is howquickly and how much?
And we really need effectivenew therapies that can address
progression for that disease.
George M. Davison (21:25):
That's a noble cause and that sounds like
something that we need.
A lot of work on that subject.
So well, this has been veryeye-opening and I want to thank
you very much for coming in andtalking with us about your
background and your company andsome of the things you're
working on in the future.
Do you have anything else you'dlike to add?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (21:49):
No, just thank you so very much, george.
It's been fantastic to be here.
Just thank you so very much,george.
It's been fantastic to be here,and I would really encourage
any of you young people outthere to really think about
careers in STEM or STEAM.
It's all important and if itmakes you tick, there's so much
(22:09):
opportunity.
There's something new,something creative out there for
everyone.
So good luck.
George M. Davison (22:19):
Thank you, Kristen.
Steven Ruffing (22:20):
Thank you for listening to this episode of
Tomorrow's World Today podcast.
Join us next time as wecontinue to explore the worlds
of inspiration, creation,innovation and production.
Discover more attomorrowsworldtodaycom.
Connect with us on social mediaat TWT.
Explore and find us whereverpodcasts are available.
Welcome to the Tomorrow's World Today podcast.
We sit down with experts,world-changing innovators,
creators and makers to explorehow they're taking action to
make tomorrow's world a betterplace for technology, science,
innovation, sustainability, thearts and more.
On this archive episode, hostGeorge Davison, who is also the
(00:22):
host of the TV series,tomorrow's World Today
interviews Dr Kristen Yerima,former chief commercial officer
at Atara Biotherapeutics.
Dr Yerima shares her personaljourney, blending science and
creativity, and the company'smission to transform treatment
for serious diseases like cancerand multiple sclerosis.
She emphasizes the importanceof communication, mentorship and
(00:45):
passion in biopharma, whilehighlighting the industry's
potential to revolutionize carefor neurodegenerative diseases.
George M. Davison (00:55):
Thanks for coming, kristen.
We were hoping to have aconversation with you today for
our audience, to learn a littlemore about the organization that
you're working with and how yougot to where you are in the
world today.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (01:09):
Absolutely Looking forward to our
conversation.
George M. Davison (01:12):
All right.
So can you tell us how wasAtara formed?
Was there a founder back in theday?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (01:19):
Oh yes, yes, there was.
So Atara Biotherapeutics wasfounded in 2012 by Dr Isaac
Chichenover, and he named thecompany for his mother.
His mother's name was Atara andshe had, at the time, recently
passed away from ovarian cancer,so he named the company in her
(01:40):
memory.
George M. Davison (01:41):
That's wonderful.
That's very meaningful.
I could see why he was sopassionate as to what he was
working on.
Thank you.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (01:49):
Yeah, and I think it helps us really stay
focused on patients.
At Atara, our mission is reallyto transform the lives of
patients with serious grievousillnesses like cancer, multiple
sclerosis, and so, you know,just having our company be named
(02:09):
in honor of a patient whoneeded more therapeutic options
than she had, you know, justkeeps that very front and center
for us.
It's really our North Star.
George M. Davison (02:22):
That's wonderful.
You know as sad as that can befor him having a North Star that
can move through time withstaff as the company continues
to grow.
That's very helpful forstartups.
So can you tell us a littleabout your position at the
(02:45):
organization?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (02:46):
Yes, absolutely so.
I am ATARA's chief commercialofficer.
I also oversee corporatecommunications and public
affairs, so what I do is reallya couple things.
So I focus on how do we takethe therapies that we are
developing in clinical trialsand how do we make them ready as
(03:09):
medicines to really meet theneeds of patients.
So, you know, how is it goingto be handled by insurance?
How are we going to communicateabout the therapy to physicians
, to patients, to anyone who youknow, who needs to know about
it?
And so, in a way, I would saycommunication is really at the
(03:30):
heart of what I do.
George M. Davison (03:33):
Wonderful.
You know that's communication.
We refer to that around here asstorytelling and trying to
figure out a way to communicatenew innovations and technologies
to the general public that hasall sorts of different
upbringings and understandings.
And how do we communicate?
(03:53):
If you create something, youneed to learn how to communicate
in a way that your audiencewill understand.
So that makes sense.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (04:02):
Ideas have no power if we can't communicate
them.
You know it's like the treefalling in the forest right.
Does it happen if no one hearsit?
George M. Davison (04:11):
Exactly, exactly.
Well, that's so.
Let's take it back, then let's.
How did that?
How did you figure out that wassomething you'd like to do?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (04:21):
Oh, it's a great question.
So you know, I guess growing upI always had, actually I felt a
very strong tension between thearts and a creative side and
the sciences and engineering,and my family had a number of
doctors and scientists in it.
(04:43):
So I saw that, you know, sawthem growing up and I was very
inspired.
Both my uncle and mygrandfather were doctors.
My aunt was the head nurse inthe ER really challenging job.
My mother was a science teacherand my father was a researcher
at one of the national labs, sothe STEM genes were very strong,
(05:05):
but also really passionateabout art and music and doing
things with visual or creativearts, and so the idea of
creating, innovating, makingsomething new was also always
very strong for me.
So you know, I got to the point.
(05:26):
What do I do with that?
Right?
Steven Ruffing (05:28):
What does that where?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (05:28):
does that take you?
So I ended up in college with areally bizarre double major of
chemical engineering and Englishand and then I thought, well,
you know, where do?
Where do I go from here?
How do I apply that?
And then I thought, well, wheredo I go from here, how do I
apply that?
And so I thought I want to makea difference.
I want to research and work onand bring to market new
(05:54):
medicines and I want to makesure that people really
understand the power ofinnovation.
And that kind of led me intoroles like what I'm doing now,
and I just love being an ATARand I love what I do.
George M. Davison (06:09):
Well, that comes across.
So I'm thrilled that you foundsomething that you love to do
and that, because that's thekind of passion that you know,
moves you into life and to chasebigger goals.
I don't know how I'd do life ifI didn't love what I did.
So how about mentors?
(06:29):
Did you have a mentor in highschool that might have helped to
steer you into the field ofscience?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (06:38):
Yes, so I would say you know teachers and
family.
So I had some amazing scienceteachers in high school and they
all kind of fit the bill in away of the you know the portrait
of the mad scientist and theywere just zany and you know.
So we did very creative labwork and you know, and I loved
(07:02):
chemistry, I loved watchingchemical reactions and seeing
things happen.
So, you know, I would say my.
You know, my science teachersin high school really put me on
that path and I continued towatch my family too, so I would
have the opportunity to go intosome of the medical offices.
You know of my grandfather anduncle and you know, hear and see
(07:27):
what they did for patient careand how important that is.
So I would say, you know thoseexamples, learning from all of
those people was really, youknow, really formative for me.
George M. Davison (07:42):
You know, most high school experiences
aren't perfect.
So let's if we could sharesomething in the world of you
know, around here we, we referto it as we like to fail our way
forward.
We learn from our mistakes.
If there was a mistake thatyou'd like to forget about, or
maybe that you'd like to forgetabout, or maybe you know that
(08:02):
you might share with our, justso we, the people, know this.
You can move past mistakes,can't you?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (08:18):
Yeah, absolutely Gosh.
There's so many, I guess, forme, and maybe a lot of this
would be in the realm of cooking.
I, you know, I like to, you know, I like to create things, and
so I was always kind ofexperimenting in the kitchen and
some of those things turned outreally well.
So I make an amazing chocolatechip apricot cookie and any
flavor of pie you want to thinkabout.
But some of them were alsoquite spectacular failures, Like
(08:43):
the time that I invited friendsover for coffee but I didn't
know the first thing aboutmaking coffee and I boiled whole
beans in you know, in a pot andyou know that just didn't go
over so well.
Fortunately I still had thefriends after that failed
experiment.
Fortunately I still had thefriends after that failed
experiment.
But you know it's you just, ifyou don't experiment, if you
(09:08):
don't take the risks, thenyou're not going to know when
those you know, those happyaccidents come out Right.
You know, they used to watchthat painter Bob Ross.
George M. Davison (09:21):
Mm, hmm.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (09:22):
And he always described his paintings
as happy accidents.
He didn't quite know how theywere going to turn out.
He just put paint all over thecanvas, but it always turned out
well Right kept at it.
George M. Davison (09:34):
He had a good eye and creative mind.
You get back up off the groundand try again or keep working on
it.
He made those happy littletrees.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (09:45):
Exactly the happy little trees, that's it.
George M. Davison (09:49):
How about?
So it sounds like you like tocook.
Is that a hobby?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (09:54):
Yeah, so you know everything that's.
I like working with my handsand also just visual and
creative arts.
So I love to cook, I love tomake things, crafting things,
but I also really love music andliterature.
So all those things, I wouldsay are kind of what keep me
(10:18):
going when I'm not at work.
George M. Davison (10:22):
So it's a work-life balance right.
So sometimes we have to reallythink hard and work hard, and we
need that relaxation time tolet it all go loose Around here.
When we work really hard, wethink of it as our mind is
working on a problem, and themore we work on it, our mind
gets tighter and tighter andtighter, to the point where we
(10:42):
can't get any ideas out of it.
As our mind is working on aproblem, and the more we work on
it, our mind gets tighter andtighter and tighter, to the
point where we can't get anyideas out of it.
And so we hey, it's time totake a break and relax and bring
that mind to an open stateagain, and it's amazing how many
ideas actually come in once wego into that other state of mind
.
Dr. Kristin Yarema (11:00):
You are absolutely right.
In fact, you know, I think oneof the challenges in, you know,
in our busy professional livesand something that I'm really
very have to be very mindfulabout is making time to just
step back and let thingspercolate, let the juices flow
(11:21):
and you know, step away from theproblem at hand for a couple
hours, maybe even a couple ofdays, and at least for me, you
know, sometimes that's when theideas really pop and I've
learned and it took a long time,but I've learned to really
respect my own personal creativeprocess in that way and just
trust that it will come and itusually comes.
(11:41):
But making that space you know,for those, for those ideas to
flow.
George M. Davison (11:47):
All right.
So, knowing what you know today, what advice would you give
someone interested in enteringinto your industry?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (11:56):
Yeah, great question.
So, first of all, I would Iencourage people to enter my
industry.
I think there's never been abetter time to be in biopharma
and what we're doing at Ataraand soul therapy in particular.
This is a frontier, and weexpect that this technology and
(12:18):
this area of medicine is justgoing to grow for, you know,
years and decades to come.
And so what I would say topeople who are interested is,
first and foremost, be open, domake sure that it aligns with
your personal passions andvalues.
You know life is too short tobe, you know, stuck doing
(12:40):
something that you're like.
You know this just isn't theright fit for me, so you know.
So dive in with both feet ifit's the thing that suits you,
and then try to learn frompeople around you.
So seek out those mentors.
Talk to you know, talk to a lotof people.
I think, you know I wish I hadtalked to more people when I was
(13:01):
early on in my career.
I think that's something that Idid not do enough of, and I
would definitely counsel, youknow, younger, younger folks to
do that, because there are somany different perspectives,
there are so many differentpaths, so many different
opportunities.
It's really about understandingwhat's out there and what's
(13:22):
going to play to your uniquestrengths and passions and be
open to the opportunities thatcome along.
Some of the greatestexperiences I've had in my
professional career were thingsI didn't see coming, things that
when the idea was pitched to meor the opportunity was
presented, I was like I'm notreally sure that's what I want
(13:44):
to do, that's for me.
But I listened, I tried tolisten and I did listen to the
advice of others and you knowthose times led me into spaces
where I learned so much, took onyou know, new tasks, learn new
skills that I never thought Iwould have and that wouldn't
(14:06):
have been possible, you know, if, if I hadn't listened and taken
advantage of you know, some ofthe unusual things that were
offered up to me so the audienceunderstands this emerging
industry, biopharma.
George M. Davison (14:25):
Can you maybe describe a little bit of what
that means, if they may not haveheard that term before?
What do you do in the field ofbiopharma?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (14:35):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Biopharma is really theindustry where we discover,
develop, manufacture andultimately bring to physicians
and patients new medicines.
And, of course, you know, wehave a lot of medicines already.
So someone might say, well, doyou know, do we really need more
(14:58):
medicines?
Well, there are so manydiseases and conditions today
where we really have no goodtherapeutic options at all, or
we can always do better.
So think about, you know, wework a lot in the area of cancer
and some people may have heardabout President Joe Biden's
(15:18):
moonshot initiative for cancer.
So that's the idea there is.
You know, can we cure 50% ofcancers?
Well, that sounds pretty good.
It'd be a lot better than whatwe're doing today.
But 50%, that means one out oftwo people is going to have a
cancer that isn't cured.
We need to do better than that.
And so, you know, if you're thekind of person who loves
(15:43):
helping people, loves innovation, you know, wants to do
something that's really going tohave an impact, then I think
you know, biopharma is, you know, is just an amazing, is just an
amazing field to work in.
George M. Davison (15:58):
And it's like , I think, all industries
there's no stopping point.
Eventually you get to the pointwhere you're doing more
innovations and maybe there areincremental improvements Around.
Here we refer to it as thereare incremental improvements,
which are small, incrementalstepping stones forward, and
then there's the dramatic, thebrand new creation which has
(16:24):
never been seen before, and thenthat leads to the birth of a
new industry.
So, yeah, I don't ever see anyindustry not going through
incremental.
So I think there'll be a lot ofjobs in this area for quite a
long time.
That's for sure.
Let's see here.
So let's, if we were talkingabout this, people in general
(16:47):
and with your life experiencesso far and all the different
people you've met, do you thinkjust about anybody can be
successful today?
And you can define successfulas personally successful, let's
say financially successful?
You could take that word a lotof different ways, but do you
think anyone can be successful?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (17:07):
Oh, absolutely, yeah, I think the
number one thing is beinginterested, you know, being
involved, and if it's somethingthat you know excites you and
you want to do, then absolutely.
You know there's some training,there's getting advice from you
(17:29):
know, like I said, othersaround you.
But you know, in my field thereare also so many different
things that can be done, soeveryone can contribute in some
way.
So, making a new medicine is atotal team sport.
It takes the whole village.
You've got people who are doingresearch on the bench.
(17:50):
You've got people who are outinteracting with doctors in
hospitals and helping design andrun clinical trials.
You've got people like myselfwho are thinking about you know
how do we set up arrangementswith insurance or how do we make
communications.
And then you've got you knowpeople who IT is huge, right, so
(18:16):
you know.
You might think you know if I'man IT person, am I working in
medicine?
Yeah, absolutely.
We crunch huge amounts of data.
We, you know we make it allhappen.
So I think it's deciding thatit's an interest that you have
and you know, then stepping inand trying it out.
George M. Davison (18:36):
Yes.
So basically, success isdefined in such a broad way that
if you're happy and you havefound something that intrigues
you and a company or a person'swilling to pay you for that, you
know you've been successful inat least the commercial form of
the word, and so hopefully youcan find your passion out there.
(18:58):
So can we focus on, let's say,one project that you can think
of in your industry that youthink would elevate humankind
the most?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (19:12):
Oh, wow, that's a really good question.
Well, I mean there are two thatjump to mind.
I mean the first is definitely,you know, changing the curve,
you know reaching that moonshotwith cancer that we talked about
you know already a little bit,but we already mentioned that
one, so I'm going to give youanother, which is
(19:35):
neurodegenerative diseases.
So neuroscience is, in a way,one of the great remaining
frontiers in medicine.
Think about diseases likeAlzheimer's or ALS, or a disease
that we're working oninvestigating new therapies for,
(19:57):
which is multiple sclerosis.
So all of these are diseasesthat are chronic deterioration,
long-term degradation of thenerves, and they affect millions
of people in total know arejust disastrous, horrible and
often deadly diseases, andthey've been very difficult nuts
(20:21):
to crack.
So I think if we could reallybegin to find effective novel
therapies for neurodegenerativediseases, you know, the public
impact, the public health impact, the impact on millions of
patients and their families,their caregivers, would be
(20:43):
simply enormous.
And so that's what we're tryingto do a little bit with therapy
that we have, investigationaltherapy that we have in
development for multiplesclerosis.
We're starting with studies inprogressive forms of multiple
sclerosis, which is, just to putit very simply, where someone,
(21:09):
just you- know progresses withtheir disease.
It never gets any better, itonly gets you know worse over
time and the question is howquickly and how much?
And we really need effectivenew therapies that can address
progression for that disease.
George M. Davison (21:25):
That's a noble cause and that sounds like
something that we need.
A lot of work on that subject.
So well, this has been veryeye-opening and I want to thank
you very much for coming in andtalking with us about your
background and your company andsome of the things you're
working on in the future.
Do you have anything else you'dlike to add?
Dr. Kristin Yarema (21:49):
No, just thank you so very much, george.
It's been fantastic to be here.
Just thank you so very much,george.
It's been fantastic to be here,and I would really encourage
any of you young people outthere to really think about
careers in STEM or STEAM.
It's all important and if itmakes you tick, there's so much
(22:09):
opportunity.
There's something new,something creative out there for
everyone.
So good luck.
George M. Davison (22:19):
Thank you, Kristen.
Steven Ruffing (22:20):
Thank you for listening to this episode of
Tomorrow's World Today podcast.
Join us next time as wecontinue to explore the worlds
of inspiration, creation,innovation and production.
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