From his early years of curiosity to leading the innovative R&D company 20/15 Visioneers, Chief Visioneer Officer John Conway has always driven his career with an unwavering love of math and science.
Conway acquired the skill of independence early on by growing up in a large family. His early years were filled with science, technology, and outdoor experiences, along with a strong work ethic. Moreover, he always had jobs as a kid to earn money. His hands-on upbringing sparked his creative spirit, leading him to build everything from a basement laboratory and aquariums for tropical and brackish water fish to go-karts, all driven by pure curiosity and a sense of fun.
“When I was a kid, I wanted to listen to the planes flying overhead. First, I had to figure out their frequencies, then modify an old FM radio — adjusting the crystals — so I could tune in and hear them talking to the tower,” Conway explained. “I probably ruined a lot of things trying to figure out how they worked. Nowadays, we can film the process on our phones and sometimes even manage to put everything back together!”
As Conway grew older, his career path shifted from becoming a physician to discovering that his true calling was in research and discovery. He worked as an analytical biochemist, deputy coroner, forensic scientist, vaccine researcher, bio-assay developer, computational chemist, and scientific methods developer after earning a degree in biochemistry from Penn State in 1990. It was during a decade-long tenure at Merck and Co., Inc. that Conway truly felt he was unlocking his full potential and embracing his true calling.
“You go to school to learn, but you don’t truly learn things until you’re immersed in a project or job as part of your career after your initial education,” said Conway, who also earned a Master of Science in molecular biology from Lehigh University. “Merck was a special place; it taught me a lot. It was a combination of science and technology experiences with a growth in emotional intelligence and customer skills that was powerful for me.”
At Merck, Conway dove deeper into computational chemistry and scientific data, expanding his expertise in drug discovery and machine learning while being surrounded by brilliant, hardworking scientists. His department grew into one of the leading computational chemistry and machine-learning groups in the pharmaceutical industry. Conway’s journey into machine learning was one of perseverance. Starting with no prior knowledge, he faced setbacks and learned through trial and error. Over time, he mastered some skills which would help shape the rest of his career. His biggest lesson learned was that the world has a massive scientific data problem, both in quality and quantity.
After departing Merck in 2005, Conway ventured into roles at prestigious firms like GlaxoSmithKline, Accelrys, Schrodinger, LabAnswer, and AstraZeneca. His sometimes-unorthodox leadership skills flourished as he spearheaded innovative projects, from biological entity registration to integrated molecular design environments. After executive roles in informatics, IT, and AI/data science at what Conway calls the “great” AstraZeneca, he realized that his future as a leader and advocate for curiosity would be better pursued outside the realm of large corporations.
“I’ve spent much of my career at large organizations, building scientific software and developing machine learning approaches that pushed science forward,” Conway shared. “I was always fortunate to be surrounded by incredibly smart people who played a huge role in my growth. But eventually, I knew it was time to chase my passion for entrepreneurship and try to build something from nothing and make a real difference in the world.”
His drive for innovation inspired him to create 20/15 Visioneers, an R&D Strategy Management Consulting company built around a strong culture and values where employees thrive and achieve their full potential. One of their achievements has been helping organizations clean up their scientific data environments, ensuring they achieve FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data, streamlined processes, automation, and reproducible science.
Tapping into his creative side, Conway launched a successful vodcast, Rockstars of R&D, to boost the company’s visibility during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, realizing that external marketing firms lacked a deep understanding of the R&D field, he formed an in-house marketing team at 20/15 Visioneers. In addition to its core R&D services, the company offers 15 marketing services, including content writing, virtual events, and event planning. In less than four and a half years, it has grown to serve over 250 clients.
Recently, 20/15 Visioneers launched an AI and gen AI practice that has already produced a product called Pythia AI, a virtual research assistant. This tool is designed to help science and technology companies augment decision-making with supporting data and information. The agentic LLM framework is tailored to specific scientific domains, which will not only validate scientific thinking but also anticipate the next steps a scientist might take in their research. Conway believes that this forward-thinking approach is set to further transform human scientific understanding and discovery. Enhancing the ideation process and generating new ideas will be central to this exciting initiative.
Conway frequently comes back to the notion of constant learning and continual growth when thinking back on his career and personal life. His mindset of constantly trying to learn and broaden his understanding, no matter what obstacles lay ahead, is shaped by his belief in “magnifying the details” to make better decisions. This belief extends beyond his professional pursuits.
“There are only a few times in life when we take a real leap into the unknown, and that’s exactly where we are right now with AI. It’s helping us zero in on the details, allowing us to make smarter, more efficient decisions,” said Conway. “There is no magic; it’s strictly based on data quality and quantity. We will always need humans to experiment, which will produce successful and failed outcomes; that’s how we learn.”
Improving data culture in the sciences is critical, as it will lead to “model quality data” and greatly enhance the future of AI. 20/15 Visioneers is positioned at the cutting edge of scientific informatics and artificial intelligence, eager to continue pushing boundaries and making a lasting impact in the industry.