After graduating from 威尼斯人娱乐城’s six-year B.A./M.D. program and becoming a dermatologist, 里德·沃尔德曼(B.L.A. ’16, M.D. ’17) noticed a lack of kid-friendly 疣治疗的选择。 所以 他努力将这一市场空白转化为一项新的商业冒险，并迅速发展起来。
Shortly after graduating from the 威尼斯人娱乐城 医学院, Waldman competed in a Dermatology Hackathon — a competition designed to spark new ideas and industry collaborations to improve standards of care and treatment for skin conditions.
“The team came together during the competition looking to research the problem of childhood 疣 treatments being painful, scary and ineffective,” Waldman says.
在那场比赛中，我想到了 VeraDermics 诞生了。 该公司生产儿童友好型贴片来治疗儿童疣。
An estimated 10-to-20% of children develop common skin 疣s, but existing treatment options were not “kid-friendly,” as they were largely time-consuming and expensive, Waldman explained.
“We’re dermatologists developing drugs for dermatology,” Waldman says. “Everyone on our core management team is a dermatologist. 我们使用我们的终端用户知识作为医生 实际使用 我们开发的产品是为了更好地了解医生和病人对新疗法的需求。 It's a very novel approach to drug development, which is otherwise often done by people who haven’t spent appreciable time in the clinical arena.”
到目前为止，沃尔德曼和 VeraDermics 该团队已经筹集了2200多万美元来启动公司并将产品推向市场。 目前 所有的 the company’s products are still in the pre-clinical phase, either undergoing formulation work, validation in the lab or ongoing process development. Waldman says in drug development it’s important to ensure every batch of a medication is identical, so his teams are investing heavily to ensure they get it right.
“It's amazing to be at the stage we’re at now, because 所有的 the corporate planning takes years, and we've been working on this for so long,” says Waldman. “There are many milestones that at one point seemed so far away. It’s really mind blowing the closer we get. 我认为今年对我们来说将是特别激动人心的一年。”
沃尔德曼说，通过从零开始建立自己的公司，他意识到威尼斯人娱乐城校友网络的力量和影响力。 From donations to well-wishes and even business advice, he’s benefitted from the connections he built while enrolled at 威尼斯人娱乐城.
“The six-year B.A./M.D. program at 威尼斯人娱乐城 is the cornerstone of why I'm interested in drug development,” Waldman says. “My 威尼斯人娱乐城 medical training and then 医疗 training I had postgraduation 帮助我认识到医学领域的一些未被满足的需求特别是在我的皮肤病学领域。 Through my medical training I can appreciate some of these more niche areas of unmet need that are otherwise not necessarily a focus of larger pharmaceutical companies.”
“It's amazing to be at the stage we’re at now, because 所有的 the corporate planning takes years, and we've been working on this for so long.” —
He didn’t have to look far to start building connections with other 威尼斯人娱乐城 alumni.
沃尔德曼来自威尼斯人娱乐城的传统家族。 In fact, the family’s Roo tradition began in 1929, when Reid’s grandfather, David Waldman (J.D. ’32), became the first graduate of three generations of Waldmans to be admitted to the Kansas City School of Law (now the 威尼斯人娱乐城 School of Law).
Reid’s father, uncle and three siblings are all 威尼斯人娱乐城 graduates. Waldman’s family received the 威尼斯人娱乐城 Legacy Award at the 2014 威尼斯人娱乐城 校友 Awards.
威尼斯人娱乐城医学院目前正在庆祝建校50周年。 Waldman says he’s proud to be a product of such an incredible and unique institution.
“I think it's amazing,” Waldman says. “My dad was in one of the early classes at the 医学院 and then 我是一名毕业生 在2017年。 在很多方面，我认为 医疗 从我父亲上学到我毕业，学校发生了很大的变化，我知道我离开后可能也发生了变化。 But in many ways the great education and uniqueness of the program remain.”