Embracing Change: A Very Personal Odyssey in the World of AI Drug Discovery

On January 31, 2024, it was my last official day working at Standigm. The journey that started in June 2019 came to an end after four and a half years. It is natural for everything to have a beginning and an end, so it was inevitable that my time at Standigm would come to a close. However, it was certainly not something that could be easily anticipated.

There were two reasons why I ventured into the field of artificial intelligence drug discovery when I somewhat fell into the realm of management while working at HK innoN, a Korean pharmaceutical company. First, through the research project I worked on with Dr. Shin (currently, he is the CEO of an AI drug discovery company), I realized that my experience and expertise often became obstacles to the success of the project. It made me realize the importance of bias-free decision-making by artificial intelligence. Second, at a conference held in San Francisco in February 2019, many researchers from big pharma companies acknowledged that artificial intelligence drug discovery was not just a future prospect but a reality. It was evident that choosing Standigm as the company to pursue my career in artificial intelligence drug discovery in South Korea in 2019 was the obvious choice, and even if I could go back to that time, I believe I would make the same decision.

After obtaining a PhD in organic chemistry, I taught myself the Ruby programming language and gained experience in developing commercial software in various institutions. These experiences in three different fields - chemistry, software engineering, and artificial intelligence - gave me the courage to tackle the challenging task of facilitating communication and efficient collaboration among these fields. Every experience I gained at Standigm was a constant test of whether I could succeed in this endeavor.

Like most startups, the company went through many changes, but amidst the continuous evolution of my role and responsibilities, I found myself facing situations where I had to take on tasks that I wasn't sure if I could handle. What I can confidently say is that I never hesitated or refused to embrace these changes and put in effort. 

The most gratifying aspect of this journey is that I had the opportunity to work with colleagues whom I could trust more than myself. When experts from different fields come together to work, effective communication becomes a crucial challenge. The reason why I never gave up on this tedious and seemingly endless task was because of the creative and positive energy shown by my colleagues. Knowing that we were all moving in the same direction made going to work an exciting prospect. While there may have been more failures than successes among my accomplishments, it was thanks to these colleagues who transformed even those failures into stepping stones for growth.

In Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes, it is written:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die
a time to plant and a time to unroot
a time to kill and a time to heal
a time to tear down and a time to build
a time to weep and a time to laugh
a time to mourn and a time to dance
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing
a time to search and a time to give up
a time to keep and a time to throw away
a time to tear and a time to mend
a time to be silent and a time to speak
a time to love and a time to hate
a time for war and a time for peace.

If one can accurately determine the right timing, mistakes can be minimized. Perhaps the feeling of "it's time to leave now" might prove to be a mistaken thought. 

Just like when I left the place four and a half years ago, thinking that "I will not leave," now I am leaving another place that I did not expect to leave. And this marks a new beginning for me. How many people have the courage and confidence to walk on unfamiliar paths? If the path I take is not one driven by the foolishness of "just going on familiar roads," if it is not a lonely path walked alone, and if it is not aimlessly wandering without purpose or direction, then it is the right path. Even if it is a slow-paced journey like that of an ox, as long as I continue walking without taking my eyes off the distant goal, I hope that someday I will be able to look back at myself and feel proud of how far I have come.