Main description:

In Sight is a memoir about how a love of science and discovery drove Julia Levy, a celebrated scholar and biotech CEO, to work her way through gender bias in order to achieve academic and professional recognition. Her story traces the unconventional invention of a breakthrough drug treatment from its development from laboratory research to its application as a medical treatment for vision loss.

Told from a female perspective, In Sight is a unique and personal story covering Levy's early years as a refugee, her university training in the UK, and her appointment as professor at the University of British Columbia. Years spent as an academic led the author to unexpected exposure to the biotechnology industry and a chance meeting with colleagues that led to the formation of a lucrative biotechnology company, known today as QLT Inc. The bulk of the book covers the years spent building the company, and Levy's surprising transition from chief scientific officer to CEO. In Sight is an honest description of the trials of drug development, the tensions inherent in the commercialization of health innovations, and the truly remarkable hurdles faced by women in the scientific community.

Contents:

Foreword by Molly Shoichet

1. Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
2. Does Your Dog Always Sit in the Front Seat?
3. Where I Wanted to Be
4. Life in Bed-Sits
5. Woefully Outclassed
6. Whose Lab Do You Work In?
7. Earning My Stripes
8. Seeing the Light
9. Becoming Part of a Biotech Start-Up
10. Positioning QLT as a Photodynamic Therapy Company
11. Colleagues at American Cyanamid Come to Our Rescue
12. The Nation's Blood Supply
13. PDT Is Different from Other Cancer Drugs
14. I Was Surprised and Not at All Pleased
15. Splitting Up
16. Failure Was Never an Option
17. Nothing Can Prepare You for the Torture of ODAC
18. Taking Big Steps in Our AMD Clinical Trials
19. An Open and Respectful Relationship
20. Our Work on Age-Related Macular Degeneration Is Her Legacy
21. We at QLT Were on Pins and Needles
22. People Couldn't Stop Smiling
23. More Than a One-Trick Pony
24. Launching the Product and Hoping for No Unpleasant Surprises
25. Growing the Company
26. Time to Reflect
27. An Enormous Rush of Relief
28. A Biotech Company with a Lot of Money Is in Danger
29. I Thought These Problems Would Be Transient
30. Ongoing Headaches
31. He Felt Thoroughly Betrayed
32. Problems with Activist Shareholders
33. New Opportunity

Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index