How does one decide who to compile a list of “under 40”? After staff and readers have entered the final nominations, we have to sort out hundreds of names, without clear guidelines for how to do it. Do we want the basic scientist behind an important discovery, or should the executive work to translate it into medicine? The venture capitalist who devises half a dozen companies or the founder with one big idea? Leaders who have already brought drugs into the clinic, or leaders who look on the surface?
In the end, we are left with no hard and fast rules, except that they must be under 40 – and at least a few prospective names just seem to be over – and that their stories are crucial to understanding today’s industry. . Maybe their job, if successful, will change from medicine. Or perhaps they are starting to push the industry, which can sometimes satisfy the gray hair and pedigrees, into new areas, bringing new technologies to untested scientific fields and suggesting new ways of thinking about old problems.
This year, Endpoints News brought you leaders and thinkers with ambitious ideas from around the world and across a colorful cutting-edge area, people who could one day become household names: the CEO trying to resurrect psychedelics for depression and PTSD; the academic who came to the founder and pursues the most notorious disease in drug development; the son of the professor trying to build a Covid-19 vaccine for the world.
In some cases, we have decided that it is not enough to honor just one person. Science is an inseparable collaborative effort and as we reported, we realized that the stories of some people cannot be told without the story of the other young scientist working on it. So for the first time, we included two double profiles and consequently a 20-to-40 list that contains 21 people.
We’ll admit it’s a little weird, but these are two of the best stories in the project – stories of what two quick, hungry spirits can do when they meet at the right moment. You will not want to miss them or any of the others. And unlike the last two years, we included video excerpts from each of the interviews to really give an idea of who it is.
– Jason Mast
Premium subscription required
Unlock this article along with other benefits by subscribing to one of our paid plans.