This LBS Student Is Using An MBA To Expand Stem Cell Therapy

LEADING A RESEARCH TEAM AND A $30 MILLION PROJECT

About the same time, in 2012, Japanese researcher, Shinya Yamanaka was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for joint research he conducted with John Gurden that found mature stem cells can be “reprogrammed” into immature cells–like embryonic stem cells–and then can be regenerated into any tissue in the human body. Now physicians and surgeons could use “consenting adult stem cells” and, in the right environment, can potentially change any cell in the body.

“The argument around use of embryonic stem cells was completely gone–or at least mostly abolished,” says Ruff, noting the stem cells can come from a person’s own skin cells, also significantly reducing donor match issues found in bone marrow transplants. It was essentially one of the biggest game changers in modern medicine. It also opened the door for researchers like Ruff and Fehlings to more widely examine the use of stem cell therapy. And Fehlings approached Ruff with an idea and a ton of money, to boot.

“He said to me, we’ve got this data that looks very promising in the spinal cord and I want you to build the animal aspect of a multi-million dollar grant,” remembers Ruff. “I want you to link everybody across the country and look at whether or not we can use these stem cells to help in childhood models of brain injuries. And it turns out, we could.”

Ruff and her team took $30 million from NeuroDevNet and the Ontario Brain Institute and created animal studies. They found the modified stem cell therapy could functionally double the signal speed time in animals. The team then moved to pre-clinical trials where they had “very successful pre-clinical results” that suggested even a small amount of stem cell mediated repair could double the signal speed in neurons. Meaning, “if you can double the speed of a signal in a wire, you can get the message fast to the other side,” explains Ruff.

‘THAT’S NOT A SCIENCE QUESTION, THAT’S A BUSINESS QUESTION’

In addition to assisting in disorders like cerebral palsy, stem cell therapy may also be used to repair neuro issues found in traumatic injuries, Ruff says. “Most of the time when you get a brain injury, stem cells die as a result,” Ruff explains. “If you cut your arm, it will heal. But the brain doesn’t naturally do that. Now, we can replace the cells that are missing to take the place of cells that have died.”

But that requires fast action. Right now, stem cells expire in a maximum of eight hours but can be of no use in as little as four. “How am I going to logistically get stem cells to everyone in the U.K. within eight hours before they expire?,” asks Ruff. “That’s not a science question, that’s a business question.”

And it’s a question Ruff believes will need to be answered quickly. “In the next five to ten years we are likely to have these therapies for people,” Ruff insists. “We are getting to the point where it’s going to be ready. And it’s going to be very important to prepare.”

Ruff likens stem cell therapy’s potential influence on medicine to the internet’s radical alteration of communication. “Stem cells are the new internet,” Ruff insists. “If you imagine the days with snail mail and big telephones and stuff, think about how the internet completely changed the way we communicate. I can send 100 emails in a day, which is completely different from the mail system. And regenerative medicine is like that.”

A TRULY INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

And akin to the internet, stem cell therapy has business influences. Ever the scholar, Ruff decided to prepare for those changes by gaining some elite business education. “This is a very specialized, hybrid area and I realized I could be one of those people to span the two areas of stem cell therapy and business,” Ruff explains.

So she started looking at top-shelf business schools. With the nature of her medical work, Ruff needed to be in a large urban area, which quickly whittled her list down to schools in Toronto, New York City and London.

“It’s important in deciding on a business school what kind of network you want to have,” believes Ruff. “And I wanted an international network.”

And at London Business School, an international network and experience is what Ruff got. She also got a hefty scholarship and mentorship via the Jeremy Asher Scholarship.

“Any country I ever want to visit, I have a friend there I can stay with,” Ruff says of her current LBS classmates, adding that she’s taking a ski trip to the Alps with classmates for the weekend.

NETWORKING GROWTH

Ruff also says being able to network with executives outside of business school walls has been an added and unexpected bonus. “We get to rub elbows and network and speak with these people who you can’t get appointments with,” says Ruff, noting her most recent experience was an “intimate presentation” to about 50 MBAs from Johnson & Johnson CEO, Alex Gorsky. “You can’t get appointments with them–their schedules are completely full and somehow they manage to make time.”

Ruff has also been able to expand her network in the healthcare community. Recently, her and a group of about 30 other MBAs were able to sit down and meet with Marc Harrison, the chief of international business development for the Cleveland Clinic. Ruff was also “fortunate enough to be selected a co-president of the healthcare club,” she says, which has allowed her to build a network of like-minded healthcare-oriented MBAs.

Moving forward, Ruff plans to see through the potential of stem cell therapy and health-tech. “If I could help even one person who’s otherwise going to live a life trapped in their body,” she begins, “if one child can go out and run and jump and play, because of the work I’ve spent my life doing, it’s absolutely worth it.”

DON’T MISS: MEET THE LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL MBA CLASS OF 2017 or LONDON MBA LANDS $260K YEAR-END BONUS