Dr. Barry Willis

Barry Willis: Breaking the Code
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Barry Willis: Breaking the code

Barry Willis discusses how DNA diagnostics could revolutionize drug development and medicine

Barry Willis, the director of the Analytical/Medical Lab at HP Laboratories in Palo Alto, has a particular passion for the life sciences.It started during his graduate school days at Purdue, where he received his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry, and grew stronger when researchers began mapping the human genome, which Barry calls "an extraordinarily exciting watershed in human understanding."

As Barry puts it: "This is absolutely an exciting time to be alive -- to watch how biology and molecular biology are starting to converge.We're just at the threshold of reaping the medical benefits of this for humankind."

In this interview, Barry explores the code that determines our basic cellular make-up, how we are learning to read that code to see what disease propensities each of us has, how this knowledge will also speed the development of better drugs with fewer harmful side effects, how medicine could become preventive instead of reactive, and how society should resolve the difficult ethical issues this research raises.

Barry, a number of smart people believe that life sciences may be THE big thing in the next century.

Gary is one of those rare people who can synthesize seemingly unrelated capabilities to solve problems over an extraordinary range , says Barry Willis , director of the Analytical and Medical Laboratory.

Barry Willis wanted to break the boundaries of science.

So he started tinkering.The result?As a key scientist at Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and its spinoff, Agilent Technologies Inc. (A), he helped bridge the gap between traditional medical research and biochemistry.

Today, the industry Willis helped create is called biotech.

"In the old days, individual contributors could make serious advances in science," he said."But now it takes teams with diverse backgrounds to tackle tough problems."

As a young medical researcher at HP in the early 1970s, Willis learned that working smoothly in a group was key to achieving success.He used that approach to become director of research for HP's analytical medical lab.Before retiring in 2000, he took over the same role at Agilent.

In both posts, Willis headed up research and development for life sciences.That includes everything from general biotech products to food and all sorts of drugs.

"If you can find the potential behind what you're doing," said Willis, "it drives you to do things that you might've not thought were possible."

Assigned to work with several other talented inventors early in his career, he helped design a diode array spectrophotometer.That's a machine that allows scientists to measure the entire spectrum of a chemical's composition.

Before that, scientists had to look at compounds in more of a piecemeal fashion."It was one of the first major interdisciplinary projects we did at HP," he said."We brought together computer programmers, physicists, chemists and semiconductor engineers."

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"That let me explain much better the significance of chemical or biological analysis to other departments," said Willis."I also started becoming more aware of the pressures and demands people outside of the scientific realm face."

In the mid-'80s, he became a department manager at HP's central lab.That meant he was now in charge of multiple sets of projects.Before, he was largely limited to overseeing one at a time.

Rather than look at the change in terms of added workload, Willis decided to focus on the positive."I took it as a challenge and a wonderful opportunity," he said.

For more than a decade, Willis worked hard to inspire a greater sense of purpose among his fellow scientists.

"A lot of people are great innovators within their own fields," said Darlene Solomon, a technology manager at Agilent who worked with Willis for 12 years.
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Barry was always trying to step back and get others to look at the bigger picture."

One of the concepts he pushed was to bridge the gap between what business executives and scientists saw as significant areas of focus.

"In the late 1980s, we were getting to the point where we could take an understanding of medicine and combine it with lessons from biochemistry to develop more analytical tools," said Willis.

The importance of applying new biotech devices to measure DNA, in particular, became a prime concern.

"We started putting together a team with the kinds of specialties we needed to make very precise observations of DNA in the body," said Willis."We had to pull together a team with even a greater level of disparate backgrounds."

In 1992, Willis and his cohorts got clearance for HP's top leadership to form a specialized crew.It was called the DNA Project.

"We were finally at the point in biochemistry where we could actually put together the body's functions and predict how it would react with different drugs and different genes," said Willis.

Some of the biotech devices he helped create wound up being used by scientists to crack the body's DNA code."We were able to work on developing instruments needed to do this type of research because we were able to describe what a team like this could accomplish in terms that everyone could understand," said Willis.

At Agilent, life sciences has become one of its five main operating groups.It's a $1 billion-plus business for Agilent now.

"Not only did Barry know everything about the science involved in making discoveries," said Tom Saponas, Agilent's senior vice president and chief technology officer, "but he kept up with what everyone else in his fields (was) doing.
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Barry was well attuned to everything from cardiac ultrasound advancements to DNA research."

Willis says he emphasized to other scientists the value of networking.Keeping up with the latest developments in their field, as well as others, is an important way to generate new ideas.He also says he encouraged his co-workers to visit and study scientific advances firsthand.

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A big part of making sure R&D is based in reality, says Willis, is not letting anyone set up false barriers."Even when people say no, you've got to keep at it.Keep explaining things until they understand what you're trying to accomplish.You can't afford to be passive when you feel strongly about something."

Willis hardly considered himself the cheerleader type of manager.Still, he says, a sense of enthusiasm is critical."It tends to spread your message in a more interesting manner," said Willis."You've got to catch other people's attention, and you've got to do it on their terms."

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