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THE NAI PROFILE 221

they play in making sure that research has a real and to help others. What motivates that? Did you have
measurable impact? any early experiences or role models that ignited your
Langer: I think that what MIT does and Stanford does passion for service?
is close to ideal. In other words, I think that research Langer: I don’t know if I’m on a mission, but I’ve
goes on in the universities, but when research gets past always gotten a lot of satisfaction out of teaching,
a certain point, when it gets to be more development, out of helping people get educated. It’s just who I
when a lot of the things involve manufacturing issues, am. Why I am that way? I don’t know. I think again
clinical trial issues in our case, I think then it does those things probably come down to your parents.
make sense to have a company, and I think it’s also You asked about people, and I’d say a couple of people
been a great career for the people in the lab who have made a big impact on me. My mom and dad were
spent a lot of their graduate student or postdoctoral probably the biggest influences, but there was also
lives working on these things. So, it’s kind of like a Judah Folkman, who was my postdoctoral mentor.
hand-off. And yet, I don’t think the things that the He was a terrific scientist, he was a surgeon, and he
company does are what you’d want to see done in the definitely wanted to do a lot of good for the world
university or vice versa. I think that what happens in and did do a lot of good. Also, he was the kind of
Kendall Square and what happens in Silicon Valley person who had all kinds of far-reaching ideas and
is terrific. was criticized for them. And yet, he persevered, and
T&I: How is that hand-off connected to the mission he certainly was a great role model in a lot of ways.
of each type of entity? That is, why isn’t the university And the other person I would say is George Scheele.
the ideal place to develop businesses? I was his teaching assistant at Cornell when I was a
senior, and I loved that. That was a great experience
Langer: Well, I think that the university can do it, but for me to teach young students. In that case, it was
the problem is that it is not really something that the heat and mass transfer. I really enjoyed the experience,
university is skilled at, and it’s not really something and I think that got me excited about teaching. So,
the professors are skilled at either, or the students. I those would be some of the people who made an
mean, we can help, but I think it’s a business kind of impact on me.
thing—it’s really production, development, clinical
trials, so I think that it is not a classical skill of the
university. Could it be some day? I suppose it could
be. I mean, I think that would be a big change, but
that’s not impossible. But I think people would be also
concerned about conflicts of interest and things like
that if that were to happen. I think people already are
concerned about some conflicts of interest. My feel-
ing is that what we and Stanford are doing gives you
the best of both worlds. It gives you the opportunity
to do research and yet not just the opportunity to
do research but the opportunity to see that research
benefit mankind and even benefit the economy too.
So I think that’s good.
T&I: Moving beyond your research, you have a clear
dedication to service. From your early work writing a
math and science curriculum for inner city students
to your current projects with the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation to your daily meetings, phone calls, and
emails to offer advice and help to students, colleagues,
and business associates, you are a man on a mission (photo courtesy of Robert Langer)