People and Culture
Creative Sparks: The Art and Science of United Therapeutics
Aug 28, 2024
10 Min Read

The Biowall, Silver Spring, Md.
This plaza at the corner of Spring and Cameron Streets is part of the United Therapeutics (UT) downtown Silver Spring, Md. co-headquarters. If you have a chance to visit—and we recommend that you do—you will notice immediately that everything here is not typical of most public art installations. For example, the plaza features a 16 feet by 9 feet video display—The Biowall—which, year-round, runs a continuous loop of about 50 hours of soundless, original, non-commercial two-minute clips featuring life science, educational, and artistic videos created by artists, educators, scientists, and others from around the world. If you sit for a moment, you also will notice that the images seem in kinship with the music, which is itself is a collection of original compositions by musicians from around the world.

There is a rich historical overlap between the sciences and art—think of the engineering and design skills required to build the Great Pyramid of Giza, or the golden ratio1, a number that shows up in nature in the description of fractals and that has inspired mathematicians, scientists, philosophers, artists, and musicians alike.
We spoke with Bill Rock, UT’s Executive Creative Director, and Randy Scope, UT’s 2D-3D Media Specialist and Producer about the importance of artistic creation and enjoyment to UT’s culture and purpose. We also invited several employees, whom we call Unitherians, to talk about their creative passions, reflect on how their creative efforts inform their jobs at UT (and vice versa), and discuss the art that surrounds us every day to understand better: what is Art to UT?

Terrazo collage featuring Unitherians at work at UT’s co-headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS ART
Biotechnology is an inherently creative industry. It requires integration of natural and engineering sciences to translate scientific ideas into commercially viable solutions. Intrepid creativity is one of the defining characteristics of UT.
Our company was established by parents trying to save the life of their child who had been diagnosed with a rare and terminal disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), for which there were limited therapies and no known cure, except a lung transplant. They challenged themselves and the medical profession in launching UT, which is now on the cusp of bringing its grandest vision to fruition: the unlimited supply of tolerable transplantable organs.
We are honored that the following Unitherians, in addition to Bill Rock and Randy Scope, were willing to share their stories and their creative passions for this article.
Bill Baskerville, Lead Validation Engineer, Equipment
Start date: February 2012
Stained glass artist
Earl Butler, Quality Control Biochemist
State date: June 2021
Creative writer, musician, and fashion designer
Emily Beck, Ph.D., Director, Upstream at Miromatrix Medical (Miromatrix), a UT subsidiary
Start date: February 2019
Musician
Gina Psallidas, PHR, Talent Acquisition Specialist
Start date: January 2019
Photographer
Hitesh Batra, Ph.D., Associate VP, Chemical R&D and Production
Start Date: March 2001
Poet
Joel Brittain, Ph.D., Associate Director, Regulatory Affairs, Miromatrix
Start date: November 2021
Improvisor and filmmaker
Mike Camp, Senior VP, Manufacturing and Operations
Start date: September 2007
Musician
The work Bill facilitates plays on ideas of the sciences, production, innovation, and invention. “I ask myself, what kind of work would resonate with what is going on here? So, I focus on abstractions that touch on macro- and micro-level concepts, lots of color, lots of fundamental geometry,” Bill said. “The purpose is not necessarily to directly inspire people to get right back to work, but rather to help create an atmosphere that is conducive to new ideas.”
“The purpose is not necessarily to directly inspire people to get right back to work, but rather to help create an atmosphere that is conducive to new ideas.”
“The purpose is not necessarily to directly inspire people to get right back to work, but rather to help create an atmosphere that is conducive to new ideas.”

The treprostinil sculpture in Silver Spring, Md.
When we spoke with several other Unitherian creators about how they experience creativity at work and in their personal lives, some themes emerged: their art is immersive, yet helps them connect with others, and their art helps transform how they think.

Mike Camp (center) and other Unitherians in the music room, Research Triangle Park, N.C.
MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS
“Back when we were constructing our manufacturing facility in Research Triangle Park, N.C., I met a few guys at lunch who happened to be musicians, like me,” Mike Camp explained. “We decided to start playing over lunch in a garage that was not yet finished. I got funding to create a music room, and now we jam every day during lunch. I get so much out of it. People are at different skill levels; I teach people, they teach me. And I may not have otherwise met some people who now show up to play.”

Emily Beck

Still image from a film by Joel Brittain
TRANSFORMING
“When I was growing up, I didn’t realize you could be a scientist and do artistic things,” Joel Brittain shared. “I wanted to be a movie director when I was a kid, but I went into science because it was more practical. But in college, I completed a film studies minor and realized the logic of science and free-form creativity of the arts can make you better at both. In my experience, the lack of boundaries in improvisational acting can help you think out of the box, which helps me in my work.”
Sometimes the growth we experience when we engage in art, like the growth we experience when we surpass challenges at work, is not always easy.

Bill Baskerville

Gina Psallidas
“… [I] realized the logic of science and free-form creativity of the arts can make you better at both.”
“… [I] realized the logic of science and free-form creativity of the arts can make you better at both.”

Stained glass sculpture by Bill Baskerville
“I created a story that called on principles of chemistry and biology, and I incorporated some of the lab tests we do at UT,” Earl Butler shared. “I have sometimes even sketched from memory scenes from the lab in my free time.”

Hitesh Batra

Banff - a photo by Gina Psallidas
THE ARTS AND SCIENCES OF CREATING PUBLIC BENEFITS
Undoubtedly, the art surrounding Unitherians in our workplaces affects each of us, though that impact may vary. For example, Randy and Hitesh share a favorite piece. “The treprostinil sculpture remains one of my favorites, and not just because it was the first I worked on at UT,” Randy said. “At different times of the day, the light hits it differently and it has a totally different effect.” Hitesh sees the same sculpture and is reminded of our purpose. “When I see that 3D treprostinil sculpture, I think that whether we are building small molecules or organs, we are all creative. Art is an expression of creativity. Science is an expression of creativity.” As Earl noted: “People can be artistic in so many ways. It’s expression. It’s a human thing.”
You don’t need to think of yourself as an artist to be a creative person. Unitherians have been sharing the inspiring intersection of the arts and sciences with each other and the communities in which we work since our founding and will continue to share our creative efforts to achieve our public benefit goals while fostering enjoyment and growth.
1 The golden ratio (Φ) is approximately 1.618, or x = (1 + √5)/2). It is the ratio of a line segment cut into two pieces of different lengths such that the ratio of the whole segment to that of the longer segment is equal to the ratio of the longer segment to the shorter segment. Ancient Greeks observed that this ratio provided an aesthetically pleasing proportion of the sides of a rectangle; it is still used by many artists in arranging their compositions.
2 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/create
3 See the “Cracking the Code” impact story featuring three Unitherians who were part of the early efforts to identify the synthesis pathway for treprostinil to enable commercial scale manufacturing. https://corporateresponsibility.unither.com/impact-stories/cracking-the-code