Almost across the thrre month line

I'm posting this while sipping a Sam Adams Seasonal brew at Newark airport and waiting for the flight back to Seattle, hoping my flight gets out before the sultry weather turns to thunderstorms. It's been quite a day, actually quite a week. We are racing to make a sizeable investment in a vaccine and I was honored to be trusted to be part of the negotiating team to make the deal on Global Access, which is a commitment by the manufacturer to supply a certain number of vaccine doses at a specified affordable price to developing countries in return for getting Gates Foundation funding. My negotiating partner is an incredibly experienced and accomplished former Baxter executive who heads up the foundation's Life Sciences Partnerships group, which is our version of Business Development.


I've been working hard all week to pull together numbers with our internal team, who could not have been more accommodating. It was difficult to get everyone in the same place, as so many people are on the road traveling. Anyway we managed to get everything together just in time and I hopped on a red -eye flight to New York last night, got to the meeting place a couple of hours early to prepare, had a very successful negotiation with the prospective grantee and am now heading back to Seattle. It feels like a great culmination of the last three months work.


Tomorrow I have several meetings, an 'au revoir' celebration, then I have to return my rented cello to the music shop and hope that all my clothes and accumulated 'stuff' will fit in my suitcase as I vacate my apartment to fly home on Saturday.

Beautiful Bellevue

Today Jonathan and I headed over to the Eastside to explore the delights of Bellevue. We started with a walk around Kelsey Creek Farm, a lovely spot with a salmon ladder (although the salmon don't run until September), a wooded ravine with winding paths and wooden bridges, and a 1930s dairy farm, now an educational center. Bellevue Botanical Garden was close by - formerly a private home, its gardens have now expanded from 7 to 53 acres. Lots of Japanese architecture and planting, very lovely.

Our next stop was Bellevue Brewing, which has only been open for two years. We were impressed with the clean tasting beers, especially their signature oatmeal stout, and I loved the seafood Louie salad with house smoked salmon and shrimp. After lunch we caught the bus to Bellevue Square for some retail therapy at the high-end mall. We were intrigued to see the Microsoft store, just across from Apple. We strolled across the park to Old Bellevue and stopped at Fran's chocolates before catching the express bus all the way back to Capitol Hill in downtown Seattle. We swung by the Starbucks Roastery and watched while a batch of Vietnamese beans was roasted to perfection, and then stopped for dinner at The Pine Box before walking home. We walked nine miles today!

Fremont Summer Sostice

After breakfasting on croissants and mimosas, Jonathan and I set off on foot to the Fremont Summer Solstice celebration. We bought some hopped cold pressed coffee at a street market on the way and then enjoyed a stroll up the west shore of Lake Union, past the houseboats and across the blue and orange painted bridge to Fremont. We wandered through the craft fair - an explosion of hippiness at which the stalls included atheists, nudists and a doggie kissing booth.  After dropping into the Brouwers Cafe for a liquid lunch, we found our spot to watch the Solstice Parade. The parade is famously preceded by about 1000 naked cyclists wearing only body paint. What a spectacle! Unless you looked closely it was as if they were wearing skin-tight brightly colored Lycra costumes. The cyclists were having so much fun, doubling back and wheeling around as the crowd cheered them on. It must be a very liberating feeling. We retreated to the Outlander pub for the rest of the parade, which couldn't really match the cyclists although everyone performed exuberantly. After the parade passed by we caught the bus to Holy Mountain brewing for a few more tastes of beer and then walked home.

Dinner at the Space Needle

After a 6:30am Friday teleconference with a Thai partner and a run of back to back meetings (including second and third breakfasts) from 8:30 am through 2:30pm, I was just able to finish writing my meeting notes before flying out of the door at 4 to get ready for an early dinner at the Space Needle. The view was every bit as spectacular as I'd hoped - the floor of the restaurant rotates past the windows once every 47 minutes, so we completed two revolutions during our meal. Taking an idea from the book 'Where'd you go, Bernadette' I put a birthday card and pen on the window sill and by the end of dinner had birthday greetings from as far afield as Canada, Bulgaria and California!

Birthday week

So far this week I've been enjoying a rare respite from meetings.  I've been catching up on various activities including what is known at the foundation as 'Unison archaeology' - or mining our grants database for recent grant reports and correspondence. Unison is not the easiest database to search but there is a wealth of information that is helpful in setting the context for the grants I am working on.  I've also been completing the outstanding online training on my list - including tips on traveling to high risk countries as well as an inspiring commencement speech given by foundation CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann to graduates from the University of Washington School of Public Health.

The weather continues hot and sunny, so I have been continuing my stairway walks after work - yesterday I explored southwest Queen Anne which has more lovely views of Seattle across downtown to Mount Rainier in the south as well as across Elliott Bay to Alki Point, Bainbridge Island and Magnolia.  I treated myself to a happy hour glass of vinho verde and tapenade at the conveniently located 'Sitting Room' on the walk home. This evening I have a three mile loop planned in northwest Queen Anne finishing at the Holy Mountain brewing company for a pre-birthday celebration and to stock up on supplies for Jonathan's visit at the weekend.

Despite the paucity of meetings there has been no lack of food at the foundation - both today and yesterday I enjoyed free bacon and bagel brunches, and this evening there is a happy hour. A nice way to gear up for my birthday weekend!

Bainbridge Island

I took advantage of another sunny Saturday to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island. First stop was the farmers' market to buy some eggs and local strawberries, just in season, small and flavorful, followed by the Blackbird bakery, where the goodies fully justified the long line. I tried a lavender sugar cookie and a rhubarb cream scone, both of which were excellent - tasty, moist and crumbly.

Next I took the shuttle to the northern tip of the island to the Bloedel Reserve, a beautiful estate surrounded by tranquil gardens. It was lovely to walk along the paths under the trees and hear only the sound of my footsteps crunching on the cedar chips and the birds calling. There were beautiful vistas across lawns and ponds as well as Puget Sound.

Back in Winslow (the main town on the island) I went to the Historical Museum, which had an amazing amount of exhibits crowded in a tiny space. It was very informative, particularly telling the story of the Japanese American community who were unjustly expelled from the island after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1942 to be detained in POW camps in California and Idaho, documented by photographer Ansel Adams. The first generation Japanese immigrants or Issei moved to the island in the 1880s to work in the lumber mills. It was the second generation or Nissei that were interned.

My last stop was the Harbor House pub. My timing was perfect as I got the best table in the house, out on the deck overlooking the marina. The docents at the museum recommended the smoked salmon chowder, promising me I would find six gods in my bowl. They were right - it was fabulous, smoky, creamy and buttery, washed down with a foaming pint of Port Townsend IPA. After lunch I strolled along the boardwalk and jetties. The water was so clear that I could see all kinds of sea creatures - fat pink starfish, dark red and white anemones and even moon jellyfish, as well as shoals and shoals of tiny fish.

Unsung Heroes

The last of many meetings today provided fascinating insights into the work that the foundation's Security team does behind the scenes. Not only do they protect employees in Seattle and wherever they travel to some of the most dangerous countries in the world but they also screen crank calls and emails and have extensive video surveillance to monitor the campus perimeter. Security is very proud of its record of protecting employees with no injuries from traffic accidents, kidnappings or deaths on foundation business in the 15 years we have been in existence. Their intelligence gathering also kept one employee from visiting Afghanistan when a bomb went off the day he would have arrived, and prevented Melinda from getting stuck in a sux hour traffic jam in India!

Twitter, Cloud Computing and Sustainability

Two training sessions yesterday opened my eyes to the power of some of the new technologies available on our desktops. I've been dabbling in Twitter for a few years now and a training course from our Communications rep in how we can use Twitter to amplify the voice of the foundation was illuminating. Later the same day I attended a training on our new cloud computing based file sharing platform based on Windows 365. I'd seen the various square buttons that appear when I accidentally click in the top corner of the screen but had no idea what they were for or how to use them. Now I know - these are apps that let you access and work on your documents on any device (phone, iPad) without needing a local copy of either the file or the software. Very exciting. It was so helpful to have someone explain all this new technology rather than try and fail to figure it out on your own.

I had another 'aha' moment after participating in a couple of meetings related to grants. Part of our role is to encourage our grantees to diversify their funding sources so that they can sustain their work longer term without being dependent on the foundation for a majority of their funding. It's part of our mission to catalyze change to maximize and amplify the impact if our funding which I've seen described several times recently as 'a drop in the bucket' compared with the needs out there.

All the sevens

I was complaining to Jonathan today, another glorious summer day, that my Seattle apartment doesn't have air conditioning. "Well, you're only there another two and a half weeks" he replied. I have accomplished a lot while I've been here - I've learned the elements of my job and met a good many colleagues. Outside work I've completed 7 stairway walks, the most recent this evening in Madrona with beautiful views across Lake Washington to Bellevue, the floating bridge to Mercer Island, and Mount Rainier towering in the South. I've read 14 books, some about Seattle, others about global health, novels and research for my own next novel. I also finally reached the 21st and final cello étude in the set by Duport that I set myself as a musical challenge to work on these last few months. I returned my walking boot to the clinic today and am starting to whittle down my small pantry here and plan what to store in Seattle, ship home, and give away or give back before I return to San Diego.

Just Another Manic Monday

Monday marked the start of 'Home Week' when the population at the foundation campus swells so that meeting rooms and office space become highly sought after.  My work day was very varied; in the morning I wrote a presentation for a meeting later in the week, had a call with a prospective grantee to go over the details of their proposed budget, and then spent some time working on my diagnostics 'process project'. In the afternoon I met with a colleague in the 'Life Sciences Partnerships' group who is the foundation's primary contact with in vitro diagnostics manufacturers, attended a steering committee meeting for another 'process project' which included a very impressive modeling software demonstration, and then went to toast a departing colleague who is leaving the foundation to join a start-up consulting firm.  In the evening I joined what be the most complex teleconference I've ever been on, with people joining from across the US, Canada, Australia and Thailand.  The technology worked flawlessly!

A very social Seattle weekend

Temperatures soared into the eighties this weekend as summer arrived full blast in Seattle.  It's been a full weekend of socializing too. On Friday evening colleague Charlie invited me to join him at the Jazz Alley club where Spyro Gyra was playing. I must confess I had to Google the band as I am not very up on jazz but most people's reaction to the name is "So they are still around?"  The music was very enjoyable with solos for guitar, sax, keyboards, bass guitar and drums - always my favorite.

On Saturday I met for the first time with Miriam Shames, who is Director of the Carlsen Cello Foundation, and a wonderful cellist, teacher and person.  We tried out some of the Foundation's cellos that had been overhauled by local dealer Rafael Carrabba and then had a great cello conversation over iced tea.

On Saturday evening I met with a group of colleagues for the closing event and celebration of the Black Box Film Festival.  The films were shown at the Cornish College of the Arts and the after-party was held in a derelict school building slated for demolition (how hip is that?).  My favorite piece was Double Play, an installation with a cats cradle of fluorescent tubes that flashed on and off above a video by Tivon Rice with images of similar tubes and very powerful poetry by Hannah Sanghee Park. It was mesmerizing.

I got up bright and early on Sunday and went out in the brilliant sunshine to participate in the Susan G. Komen Puget Sound 5K walk with a joint team from NGO PATH and the Gates Foundation. Our team name was the Pink Catalysts (taken from the foundation's strategy of catalyzing improvements in healthcare). Seattle Center overflowed with runners and walkers (and dogs) in wacky pink costumes, as well as stalls with give-aways; water, healthy snacks, beads and tiaras.  I walked the five km route which went down 4th Avenue and back again, amid a sea of pink.

After the race was over I walked down to Lake Union and took the 'Icecream Cruise'. It was lovely to stand up on deck in the refreshing breeze.  We sailed past the many houseboats that are built on rafts made of the original Douglas fir and cedar logs that supported loggers' waterside shacks when the lumber industry was at its height, which are laid out along watery streets, some with wooden piers that serve as boardwalks.  Many had boats moored outside and kayakers and paddleboarders milled around on the water just beyond the decks and verandahs.  I also got to see the houseboat featured in 'Sleepless in Seattle' which has been on my list for a while.

Lake Union is full of history, from the shipyards and dry docks to historic boats including tugs, fireboats, lightships and even a Russian spy ship.  We passed the site where Boeing first began manufacturing boats, before it diversified into the earliest wood and canvas planes, and where now only a willow tree stands at the water's edge. We also passed the Boeing corporate yacht 'Daedalus' - perhaps an unfortunate choice of name? There's now a lovely green park (think Teletubbies) where the old gas works stood, and no fewer than four swing bridges.  A couple of other landmarks were Ivar's Salmon House, which is one of the best known (if tourist trap) fish restaurants, and right next door to it, the home of glassblower Dale Chihuly.

After all that I enjoyed a hearty Italian lunch at Buca di Beppo and then went back to the apartment for a long nap in the afternoon heat.

Starting Gates Days Two and Three

The second day of training started with a focus on partners / grantees. We were bussed down to visit the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, IHME, about whom I've blogged previously. They are affiliated with the University of Washington but housed in a swish office downtown. It was remarkable how young the employees were - the assistant professor who welcomed us was barely thirty years old. We left with bundles of health reports and other publications produced by IHME that will make fascinating reading and useful resources.

We spent the afternoon working on 'Ourcome Investing' which means working back from the results you want to achieve to set metrics and activities for grants. It's the way we naturally work in drug and vaccine development so nothing new to me, although colleagues that worked in more nebulous areas like advocacy or donor and founder relations found it a helpful framework to add more structure to the investments they make.

The third and final day of Starting Gates was all about the strategy and process of grant making. Once agIn none of this was new but it was helpful to get more context and I did learn some new tips and have a chance to reflect on what we do at a deeper level.

I've been working long days, catching up on grant proposal reviews after hours, as tomorrow and next week will be chock-a-block with meetings with precious little time for personal work. The weekend is shaping up to be very social, with invitations to a jazz concert, cello foundation, film festival closing event, fun run and boat ride. A nice reward to look forward to after such an intensive work week!

Starting Gates Day One

Today marked the start of my long awaited three-day orientation course at the Gates Foundation, Starting Gates'. My classmates were an interesting mix of Conmunications, Advocacy, U.S. schools Programs and Global folks, with very diverse backgrounds. Solomon is a former flight surgeon who has served on US Airforce One under two Presidents and is now working on Global Delivery in Ethiopia; Ryan works in London advocating with governments around the world to sustain their global aid funding, John used to run education for the state of Vermont and Lourdes is the daughter of Cuban émigrés and is willing to let me borrow her cello on future trips to Seattle!

The day was a good mix of learning opportunities that included panel discussions with senior foundation leaders from operations, Legal, Global Programs and U.S. Programs, as well as group activities, one of which was a game where we experienced what it felt like to be left behind in the US Education system. I don't usually have much day to day interaction with our U.S. schools program, whose goal is by 2025 for 80% of US kids to leave high school 'college ready'. So we have this year's third graders, the class of 2025, in our sights.

The course consolidated much of what I've picked up in two months on the job, although there are some 'Aha!' moments and I picked up some new tips and plugged a few gaps.

In the evening we were treated to a whistle stop tour of the Chuihuly a Glass Museum, full of fantastical Dr. Seuss - like blown glass flowers, creatures and sculptures assembled from thousands of individually created elements.

Lake Union Park

Sunday afternoon's walk was to Lake Union Park, to visit the Museum of History and Industry, MOHAI. The park by the lake is very pleasant, with fountains for children to run and play in, gravel beds, a pond with toy sailing boats, and the most purple flowerbeds I have ever seen!

The museum covered the history of Seattle up to the present day, bringing to life what I'd read in 'Skid Road'. My favorite was the exhibit on Prohibition. I had not appreciated what had to happen for the 18th Amendment to be passed, namely income taxes to replace lost tax revenue on liquor, and women's suffrage as the women's votes were needed to pass prohibition in 1919. It was also a very interesting lesson on political coalitions as all kinds if interest groups (nationalists, progressives, religious groups) saw it as a way to achieve their objectives. There was a wonderful reproduction of a speakeasy - did you know that prohibition drove the invention of nightclubs and cocktails - the flavora were to hide the taste of moonshine gin. I also didn't know how rare it was for a constitutional amendment to be repealed, and again this was driven by a shortfall in tax revenue after the Great Depression in 1933.

The lakefront was a hive of activity and I toured several historic boats - a tug, a light oat and a luxury houseboat on which you can stay the night, that are moored and open to the public on Sunday's. There is also the Center for Wooden Boats, a nonprofit that offers free rides on Sunday's in their extensive collection of small sailing and rowing boats. Seaplanes from Kenmore Air flew in and launched like dragonflies, taxiing across the surface of the water back to their terminus on the lakeshore.

I walked home through the hip neighborhood where Amazon.com and the Fred Hutchison Cancer Institute are based. It was full of urban parks with modern sculpture ( including a functional ping pong table!) and upscale coffee bars and restaurants. Too hip for me!