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People and Culture

Creative Sparks: The Art and Science of United Therapeutics

Aug 28, 2024

10 Min Read

The Biowall, Silver Spring, Md.

The music is almost imperceptible – “atmospheric” is how some might describe it. Not the typical background music you might hear at some public establishments, this music draws you in to contemplate, and the sculptural seating elements, or “padestals”, installed nearby are designed for that purpose.

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.
 
The space is purposeful, different, and representative of the blend of art and science that infuses UT spaces.

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

In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of the word “create” is to bring into existence, to cause, or to produce through imaginative skill.2

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.
 
From the beginning, it was clear that the arts were also important to the company’s vision. “I connected with the Rothblatts when I did an art show in DC,” Bill Rock explained. “I was invited later to support UT’s artistic evolution, including for the development of the plaza at the center of its Silver Spring Campus. That project eventually led to UT offering me a job as creative director.”

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.”

 

Bill Rock

Executive Creative Director

“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.”

 

Bill Rock

Executive Creative Director

The treprostinil sculpture in Silver Spring, Md.

Bill brought Randy into UT to work on special projects before Randy also joined the company full-time. “One of my first jobs was to execute the treprostinil sculpture in the rotunda [Silver Spring],” Randy explained. Treprostinil is a molecule and an analog of a vasodilator called prostacyclin; in the 1990s, it showed promise for the treatment of PAH, but with room temperature stability and a longer half-life than the only existing therapy at the time, it enables more accessible treatment options for patients. It forms the basis of UT’s core therapeutic solutions today.3
Randy then was engaged to support development of The Biowall. In addition to the video and sound, the artistic elements on the campus grounds are educational. “Click the QR codes on the padestals or on the Biowalk of Fame featuring six scientists from Maryland, and you will learn more than you expect,” Randy said.

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

Listening to music, singing together, or experiencing other works of art can help people experience social closeness.

“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

Not all art needs to be serious work. In fact, as Bill Rock noted, “humor is very important.” Emily Beck agrees. “In R&D, we are trying to create something that hasn’t been created before,” she shared. “Sometimes it’s challenging because it doesn’t go as anticipated. Other times, it’s incredibly rewarding when we push past a major scientific barrier. I like to use my creativity to connect with others and provide meaningful inspiration through these ups and downs of development. I write parodies about our work, including one that I redo annually using the cadence of Dr. Seuss’s Oh the Places We Go as the framing piece. It is goofy, but it puts a smile on people’s faces.”

Still image from a film by Joel Brittain

TRANSFORMING

Despite the growing number of studies linking academic achievement and the arts—and between positive physiological and psychological health outcomes and art-based interventions—modern society tends to silo the domains of science and the humanities.

“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

“It’s a struggle to let my artistic side run free because my role requires a degree of rigidity,” Bill Baskerville said. “But working with stained glass means you break a lot as you go. It’s an adventure, every time. And when I can gift what I made to someone, well that makes me happy to make them happy.”

Gina Psallidas

Gina Psallidas agreed. “Yeah, you don’t need an SOP [standard operating procedure] to do art! My art has made me a better employee. I get comfortable breaking through the unknown,” she said. “For me, photography helps me see the imperfections of what makes something or someone beautiful, and this helps me get used to not trying to achieve perfection.”

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

Joel Brittain

Associate Director, Regulatory Affairs, Miromatrix

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

Joel Brittain

Associate Director, Regulatory Affairs, Miromatrix

Stained glass sculpture by Bill Baskerville

The reality is that scientists have long engaged with the arts. Through his philosophical poem On the Nature of Things, the ancient Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius exposed Roman leaders to Epicureanism, which includes atomism and an early naturalistic cosmology.

“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

Hitesh Batra explained his view of the links between his poetry and his work as a scientist. “There is poetry in science. Being a chemist, I like to talk to molecules—to see how they interact. They dance together,” he said. “The molecules we create, when delivered through our therapies—they make people happier. There is also science in poetry. Poetry is expression, but it follows a meter, a rhythm. You use specific words and number of words per stanza that together gives you a positive feeling, as a writer and a reader.”

Banff - a photo by Gina Psallidas

THE ARTS AND SCIENCES OF CREATING PUBLIC BENEFITS

Not everyone identifies as a creator. Yet, the act of creating is a shared trait across our species.

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