Going Global: Discovering the World

(Continued from Going Digital: Cameras Calling)

Featured Photo: “Strasbourg Cathedral, Rose Window Façade” Strasbourg, France—2015

I want to return to my career summary, detailed in an earlier post; I need to tell more about my job in Compendial Affairs, where I worked for nearly half of my 32 years in the pharmaceutical industry, and which—like I say—showed me the world.

My move into Compendial Affairs, in 2003, happened by accident or sheer luck—a chance remark from a former colleague, who had stopped by my office just to say, “hi.” As he left, he told me there was an opening in his area, but if I was interested, I had to hurry because applications were due that day. I was interested, so I applied and a few weeks later, I started my new position in Compendial Affairs. I stayed there the rest of my career.

Without going into too much detail, my Compendial Affairs job at Merck focused on public testing standards that are used to help ensure consistent quality between different manufacturers of the same pharmaceutical products, whether the manufacturer is an innovator company—like Merck—or one of tens of thousands of generic companies in the world. These quality testing standards are established through collaboration between the pharmaceutical industry and governmental organizations—usually existing within the drug regulatory agencies around the world—to confirm the identity, strength, and purity of the medicines used in a particular country.

The quality standards are published in books called pharmacopoeias—also known as compendia—hence the job title: Compendial Affairs. There are currently more than 20 separate pharmacopoeias around the world. The following photo, taken outside my office in 2015, shows some of the major compendia: those of the US, UK, Europe, Japan, China, India, and Korea.

The work to develop and maintain these quality standards occurs globally, but despite some degree of international cooperation, the standards in the different pharmacopoeias are not always the same. Still, medicines today are global: pharmaceutical manufacturing occurs around the world, and the medicines produced in one country could be used by patients in many other countries. While I was Director of Compendial Affairs at Merck, we understood the importance of trying to establish globally harmonized testing criteria for our products—one consistent quality standard to benefit patients around the world—and we devoted resources and energy toward this goal.

We were fairly successful in our efforts. In fact, in 2019—a year after I retired from Merck—the United States Pharmacopeia recognized our accomplishments…

…presenting me with a beautifully framed copy of one of our harmonized quality standards…

…with a close-up showing the details, in case you’re interested.

Collaborating to develop these standards required travel, so we could meet face-to-face with representatives from the pharmacopoeias. Initially, this travel was limited to the US, but due to our focus on global harmonization, the destinations became international, creating the opportunity for me to see the world. Whenever I made travel arrangements for these meetings, I always scheduled a few vacation days as well, reminding myself, “I may never be back again.” On these trips, after the work was over, I took time to see all the sights I could see—with camera in hand.

Toward the end of my Compendial Affairs work, I placed small flag stickers on my car bumper for all the countries I had visited—not to boast, but because it made me smile when I walked toward my car, reminding me of my good fortune to see so many wonderful places.

Shown again (above) is the Featured Photo from the earlier post about my career. In case you’re curious, the flags correspond to the following countries (starting at the upper left and proceeding down, then to the right): Japan and South Korea; China and India; Canada, Ireland, and Luxembourg; the European Union (okay, that’s not one individual country, but there is a European Pharmacopoeia), Sweden, Finland, and Denmark…(then, continuing to the right of the license plate)…the United States, United Kingdom, Jamaica, and Switzerland; Germany, France, and Estonia; Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain; the Czech Republic (now known as Czechia) and Austria. My work took me to all these places—except for Spain and Jamaica, which I had visited on vacations many years before.

My very first business trip overseas for Compendial Affairs was in 2007—to meet with the European Pharmacopoeia at their headquarters in Strasbourg, France. I traveled first to Brussels, Belgium and was so excited to land at the airport that my first photo was the sign welcoming me to “Belgium…The heart of Europe,” as I walked toward the main terminal.

While preparing for this trip, I had no idea how many times I would travel to Brussels, or how many sights I might get to see there. So, for my first visit, I had planned a five-hour layover, and took a quick train ride from the airport to explore the Grand-Place (in French) or Grote Markt (in Flemish)—the historic city center of Brussels. This was the amazing view of the old guild houses that greeted me, when I arrived at that bustling place…

…along with a nice photo of the Au Brasseur Taverne, a short distance from the Grand-Place, where I ate a quick al fresco lunch…

…and a lousy photo to commemorate my first taste of a delicious Leffe Blonde, a Belgian abbey beer that has been brewed since the year 1240! You can see my reflection—intentionally done—in the tavern window, cradling my Canon EOS 10D digital SLR camera, to remind me of the wonderful discovery.

Returning to the Brussels airport from the Grand-Place, I boarded the short flight to Strasbourg, rented a car for some later sight-seeing, and drove to my hotel, just across from the Grande-Île (Large Island)—the historic city center of Strasbourg. I took the photo below—leaning precariously out of my hotel room window—as I looked toward the Grande-Île. The church on the far-right of the photo—glowing yellow-gold in the sunlight, framed above the flags in the shadows—is Église Saint-Pierre le Vieux (Old St. Peter’s Church).

But if you look closely, near the center of the picture—barely visible in the distance, beyond the dark buildings and chimney—is the ghostly, graceful silhouette of the tower and spire atop the Strasbourg Cathedral. It is the story of another photo—a much closer view of this stunning Cathedral—that I want to recount.

The Featured Photo, “Strasbourg Cathedral, Rose Window Façade,” is one I took toward the end of my career, during another trip—in 2015—to the beautiful, historic city of Strasbourg. Thanks to my work in Compendial Affairs, I was fortunate to travel several times to this enchanting place in the Alsace region of France. From my first visit in 2007, Strasbourg became one of the places I most loved to visit in all of Europe. I expect Strasbourg to be the subject of several of my travel blog posts—there was so much to see and experience there, and in the surrounding towns and countryside.

Every time I traveled there, I inevitably found myself standing in the Place de la Cathédrale, gazing up at the magnificent splendor of the centuries-old Cathedral Notre-Dame de Strasbourg. Occasionally, I would sit at a nearby restaurant or pub—fork or beer in hand—looking for that perfect photo of the Cathedral: the right framing, the right light, the critical moment when the endless parade of tourists cleared out long enough for me to capture a shot, without all the extra people in view.

It was during one of these moments: I was sitting at a table outside the pub, Aux Douze Apôtres (To the Twelve Apostles)…

…enjoying a beer from the Bavarian brewery, Weltenburger Kloster…

…at the end of a delightful mid-summer day. The late afternoon began to fade toward early evening, and I watched the daylight change with the declining sun. I was particularly struck by the golden light—cast by the sunset—on the pink sandstone of the Cathedral’s western façade. The “camera” I happened to have with me at the time was my Apple iPhone 5s. I opened the camera app on the iPhone screen and snapped my first photo, looking upward at the view along the Rue Mercière (Merchants Street), capturing the image of the soaring Cathedral, with its delicate, stone spire, and the surrounding buildings, without showing the street and nearby walkway, which were filled with people.

When I looked at the picture I had just taken, my eye was drawn to the brilliant glow around the Rose Window—accentuated by the inset shadows—above the Cathedral’s main entrance. I pointed my iPhone at the Cathedral again, then zoomed in on the shot I wanted—spreading my thumb and forefinger on the screen—until the only objects in the frame were the Rose Window, the pointed gable above the central portal, and the sculpture of the enthroned Virgin Mary with Child. Then I tapped the white circle “shutter release” on the face of the camera/phone, sat back in my chair, and looked at the image—the Featured Photo. I smiled and slowly finished sipping my beer, as I watched the people pass by.

As I wrote in my previous post, periodically, I have upgraded my iPhone to get the latest innovations, including improved camera features: better lenses, more pixels. My photo of the Cathedral façade has long been a favorite; I’ve used it for many years—through several iPhone models—as the wallpaper on my Lock Screen. Every time I pick up my phone—before unlocking it to make a call, check e-mail, search the internet, or take another photo—I glance at that image and find myself transported back to the magical moment, when I marveled at the Cathedral’s beauty in the setting summer sun in Strasbourg.

It is images like these that I want to share in this blog; I have so many pictures to show, so many stories to tell. But first, I need to continue my introduction and describe how—and why—I left Merck for the last time, and what that has meant for me.

(To be continued…)