SCP News 2006

Top Secret news from Paediatric AIDS Team

Nothing to see here, move it along folks... Actually, not being cheeky at all, there is not much to say about our project because our sponsor wants us to keep it on the down-low. Pharma is a funny industry, rife with secrets and outmaneuvering and half-information, so we are trying to play the game, too. But I did sign up to blog so I am contributing...with 9 working days to go.

From the outside, this looks like a pretty tame project. Lots of desk research, lots of skype use, lots of learning how to say things like tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and viral load testing until it sounds like you know what you're talking about, and wake up at night with the phrases running through your head.

I'm based in London, along with Josh (most of the time), whilst Marty and Rebecca are mostly in Oxford, except for their glamorous tour of Toronto for the world's largest HIV/AIDS conference. My day consists of a lot of confusion, stress, and worry that we don't know what we're doing, plus excitement about working on something as important as getting treatment to the 2million+ kids in the world with HIV (half of whom will die before their 2nd birthday). Josh and I are bunkered in borrowed office space at the Young Foundation in Bethnal Green, east London... a neighborhood that is half gentrified, half not, so you get a mix of yuppies and women in burqas on the street. It is a great neighborhood.

And that is pretty much it, I think, in order to stay kosher with our client's wishes. On a personal note, I am very much enjoying living with my husband, in all 290 square feet of splendour (30 square metres) in Notting Hill. All are welcome, but only two at a time, due to space constraints. If you do come to visit, you will be invited to play a thrilling game of "find the shower"--a game which is challenging because the ingenious/hilarious placement of the shower in our flat bewilders most guests for minutes on end. See you then.

posted by Jessica Shortall @ 4:00 pm