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Fred was smiling as he said, "Thank you, Rachel. You're too kind. But please, tell me a little about yourself. Where did you go to school?"
"Northwestern. You?"
"Wisconsin. Where are you practicing?"
"Chicago."
"Milwaukee."
"Wow, we're practically neighbors," Rachel said, interrupting him.
Returning her smile, "Yes, I suppose we are. Cubs or Sox?"
"Sox."
"Hometown?" he asked.
"Aurora."
"Madison."
"My turn. How did you end up on the speakers list?" Rachel asked, tired of trivial questions.
"Good question, but perhaps you don't think I deserved to speak?" he said, teasing her for the first time.
"Well, that's not exactly what I said. I've reserved judgement for now; I think you have potential."
"Potential, huh? High praise if I've ever heard it," he said flatly. He made sure she saw the half smile that let her know he was only joking.
"You should hear what I have to say about people I don't like. I would say I'm being downright civil, flattering almost."
"Civil! Why I think you are right, I don't think I would enjoy being on your bad side if you consider this flattery. Although I do wonder if any side of you could be fairly called bad. A daisy may close with the setting of the sun, but I would never call it ugly for having done so," Fred said.
"Is that so?"
"It is."
"Well, now who's guilty of flattery?" Rachel replied, trying to get back on offense.
"Guilty as charged. I'll admit that, but don't blame me. I saw well you wore flattery and..."
"Yeah, yeah, I see where you're going with this and you never answered my question."
"It's just that the story is boring and it probably wouldn't impress you anyway," he said. He wasn't going to give up on the flirting just yet.
"Perhaps it won't. But I would like to decide that for myself."
"Fine. During school I worked with some leading researchers in gene therapy. We studied the subtleties of blood type and visceral phenotype, and we found some patterns in organ rejection where conventional wisdom didn't expect any problems. This led to clinical studies involving a handful of specialized immunosuppressants. We found strong correlations between each of the drugs and phenotypes, which led to drastic reductions in recovery time and complications.
"Following graduation, I initiated a transplant study that better paired donors with recipients. My method balanced recipient need with genetic compatibility with a donors genetics. This led to patients with a great match receiving an organ despite being lower on the list. There was a problem initially with patients who had to wait despite being near the top of the list, but the study showed that over time there was an overall reduction in average time on the transplant list. The reduced time was attributed to fewer patients needing a second organ because of rejections.
"The study just finished its third year and I'm attempting to expand the method across the country. I approached the organizers of this event with my results and they offered me a time slot. I'm hoping that it will gain some traction and gain acceptance with the FDA."
Rachel had been at his presentation, but that was mostly the data and drug interactions. She found herself more impressed having heard the story first hand. Now she was hoping that he didn't ask how she got her time slot, because she hadn't had very much to do with the research that had won over the selection committee. "Well I am impressed, and I'm sorry that I doubted you. And if I can be any help in getting your plan approval, just let me know."
"Thanks. I don't feel I deserve all of the credit. I'm generally reluctant to take any, but my mentors were more interested in drug development than the clinical applications."
"I guess I should ask another question," Rachel said.
"I guess so," Fred agreed. Sure his questions had been quick and to the point and hers was a little more involved and one side, but Rachel seemed too nice for him to argue the point with her.
"So does a handsome, successful doctor like you have girlfriend waiting for him back home?"
"A girlfriend? No, I don't have one of those," Fred answered. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I wouldn't want her to be jealous if I asked you out to dinner tonight."
"Yes, that wouldn't be good. But dinner, dinner sounds perfect," Fred replied.
"It's a date then," Rachel said resolutely. "I think the seminar is about to end for the day and the bar could be pretty crowded in a minute or two. How about we meet back here in two hours?"
"I can't wait."
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