Who are you, and what do you do?
My name is Fanny Astruc Diaz, co-founder, and COO of DermaXon. At DermaXon, I direct all the drug delivery studies and our proprietary compounds preclinical development.
What has been one insight or lesson that has been most helpful in your career?
To always stay optimistic and flexible. To listen to advice, learn from successful or skilled people but make your own decisions which will keep you happy, motivated and which fits with your own expectations, skills, and goals.
What has been your favorite mistake? A mistake that in retrospect led to a great lesson and progress.
We have tried to do too many things at the beginning of DermaXon to generate revenues but it helped us broadening our knowledge.
Project forward ten years. How will your industry or field be fundamentally different then? What opportunities do you see?
There will be more drugs developed and approved by the FDA to treat rare diseases and for more personalized medicine. We already work on those fields in two of our programs. This trend will bring opportunities for small companies to develop innovative treatments to target rare diseases.
What are some bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
To move from Montana.
In the last two years, what have you become better at saying no to?
At the beginning of a business, we say yes to many small contracts to prove yourself and to show people how you work. When established you learn how to say no to some small contracts that would be too time-consuming and not really profitable/sustainable for the company.
We have become better at saying No to too risky, small and challenging projects, not really profitable/sustainable for DermaXon that often distract us from our own programs/priorities.
What is the one book you recommend most often and why?
I don’t. You can google anything today…
What advice would you give a smart and ambitious recent college graduate? What advice should they ignore?
Believe in yourself and just try it! Don’t listen to negative advice.
It is too difficult to…
What is your favorite quote, one you aim to live by?
Let’s do it!