Six Degrees of Innovation

Six Degrees of Innovation

With medicines, often, it’s personal. They’ve helped us come through illnesses, sometimes serious ones. Or someone close to us, a friend of a family member, has found hope because a treatment works really well. Or, as we live with the pandemic, we can do the things we used to do because we’re vaccinated. Or we know someone who works in the industry, in research, in manufacturing or in commercial operations, where our impact is felt in Ireland and around the world. Or we pass a stranger on the street, in the shops or in a park and, unknowingly, we share things in common. Whatever the connection, innovation is closer than we think. We call it #SixDegreesOfInnovation.

Who’s In Our Film?

Lorraine has worked in the biopharmaceutical industry for more than six years. She has an academic background in applied chemistry and microbiology. She knows how important innovation is in finding answers to diseases that affect so many of us.

LORRAINE

LEONIE

Leonie's son was diagnosed with leukaemia when he was four. But the treatment he got meant he could go into remission. Leonie keeps an eye on breakthroughs in science. She is encouraged by the pace of innovation, with improvements in leukaemia treatments coming all the time.

KATIE

Both of Katie’s parents are battling cancer. In Ireland, almost 45,000 people get cancer every year. But treatments are improving. For Katie, and for others facing cancer, there is hope for better survival rates and more time with family and friends.

RICHARD

Richard is a registered nurse specialising in paediatric care. His experience in radiology gave him practical insight into the importance of innovation in the treatment of cancer. He sees every day the importance of vaccination in the fight against Covid-19.

THATIANE

Thatiane’s family was affected by HIV. She knows how hard it is to deal with the stigma that surrounds the disease. But, with continued innovation in the treatment of HIV, the disease can be suppressed to undetectable and untransmissible levels. That gives her hope.