Dr. Randy Goldsmith: Building Bridges from Academia to Industry
In a small business building, not far from the backyard of the Health Science Center, Dr. Randy Goldsmith has created the perfect environment for scientific discoveries to move to the next level. Upon entering the Texas Technology Development Center (T3DC) office space, I was surprised to find everything one would need to run basic science experiments; from a cell culture facility to western blotting. The vision for an environment like this one comes from Dr. Goldsmith’s extensive experience in the business sector. I was empowered by his passion for bringing people together and facilitating the advancement of science.
Several of the businesses he has helped to build have stemmed from research completed here at the Health Science Center, for example, Rapamycin Holdings, a company focused on the initial studies conducted by Randy Strong, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Dave Sharp, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Medicine in the School of Medicine at the Health Science Center.
“Dr. Strong led a pivotal research study under the National Institute on Aging Interventions Testing Program. Investigators at three U.S. sites worked independently, including Dr. Strong and a team at the Health Science Center’s Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies, located in the Texas Research Park. In the study, reported in Nature in 2009, the base drug proved to be the first pharmaceutical intervention to successfully extend life span in laboratory mice.” (South Texas Medical Center Archives)
At the close of our meeting, I asked Dr. Goldsmith what he enjoyed doing for fun. He informed us that he still had a passion for construction and that the one thing he did not get to build and wished that he had the opportunity to, was a BRIDGE. Well, Dr. Goldsmith, I believe that you are building bridges every day between the scientific community and that of the business sector. The city of San Antonio is lucky to have such a passionate contractor of innovation.
For more insights from Dr. Goldsmith, please take the time to view his Tedx talk here.
The Bridge Builder
BY WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE
An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head;
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”