July, 2025
July 2025
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  
Susanna Fletcher Greer: How Can We Help Brilliant Researchers Cross the Chasm Between Ideas and Impact?
Jul 19, 2025, 21:02

Susanna Fletcher Greer: How Can We Help Brilliant Researchers Cross the Chasm Between Ideas and Impact?

Susanna Fletcher Greer, Chief Scientific Officer at the V Foundation, shared on LinkedIn:

” ‘She doesn’t need millions. She needs a bridge.’

I had a call today that I can’t stop thinking about tonight. I’m not sure I was helpful, but I tried, I leaned in.

I was speaking with a researcher using nanoparticles who wants to adapt adult-approved cancer drugs for children. Her goal? Get safer, more effective therapies into pediatric patients, and much faster.

Her science is strong. Her goals are laser-focused. So what’s missing? About $75 to $150K. A modest amount to build critical preclinical data and move her ideas forward.

She’s beyond the startup grant phase, but this idea isn’t eligible for large, scale clinical funding. It’s that familiar no-person’s-land of late translational research: too applied for discovery dollars, too early for trials.

At the V Foundation our Scientific Advisory Committee and invited reviewers make funding decisions, and our calls are highly competitive. As Chief Scientific Officer, I don’t decide what gets funded, but I do get to talk to researchers like her.

And I do get to ask: How else can we help brilliant researchers cross the chasm between ideas and impact?

One simple idea we discussed: building a tight, reusable pitch package she can send to companies, foundations, and translational funders. Most scientists aren’t trained to do this efficiently, and it shows.

So no, I can’t fund her directly. But I can share what I know, connect where I can, and keep lifting up stories like hers. Because kids deserve more.”

More posts featuring Susanna Fletcher Greer.