"We don't have an experimental system, we have a human being," says UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, referring to the unique circumstance that life science innovators must consider when measuring risks against rewards. She also explains why leaders must have an operating style that accommodates employees whose job functions require different schedules and tolerances for risk.

UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann explains the growing need to incentivize and reward team achievements. While principal investigators in scientific fields have historically been rewarded for solo achievements, many of the today's goals and projects facing science and technology require team efforts, says Desmond-Hellmann. Moreover, she believes the question of how to best encourage and reward team-supportive behavior is crucial for leaders in these fields.

Renowned oncologist and UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann articulates an example of innovation within academia, with a focus on rapid iteration. According to Desmond-Hellmann, UCSF is working across teams and departments to collaborate with many private sector firms, in an effort to develop a number of innovative products in the fight against breast cancer.

UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann describes her unique career path from being a student, to becoming a practicing oncologist, to becoming an innovator at private sector firms. According to Desmond-Hellmann, her varied path not only offered a wide variety of experiences, but also informs her current thinking about leadership and innovation.

UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann describes how she keeps her internal compass in the face of external commentary she receives as a public figure. She explains that when you represent an organization larger than yourself, you cannot be controlled by what is said about your public persona, and that you must realize the stakes are higher for what you do and say.

UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann is interested in bringing together the brightest minds from many fields to find ways to reduce costs in the health sciences through innovation. She describes a pioneering degree program at UCSF that seeks to build these connections between experts to examine possibilities. In this area, Desmond-Hellmann looks to the success of other high-technology sectors in bringing new product iterations to market, while also improving reliability and reducing costs.

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, chancellor of UCSF, has a big idea to change the drug approval process at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The current process is binary, allowing for only a yes or no from the reviewer for drug approval. Desmond-Hellmann suggests that a variable approval process, that can change status as greater evidence comes in over time, will encourage more innovative products and even investment funding, based on product confidence.

UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann shares a story to illustrate how innovation occurs in the field of biotechnology. She describes the development of an innovative cancer drug at Genentech, even in the face of great skepticism, and the team effort it took to gain regulatory approval.

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, chancellor of UCSF, identifies traits that appear over and over again in successful entrepreneurs. The first trait is a relentless tenacity mixed with optimism, a quality she describes as being like "a dog on a bone." The other critical trait is not being afraid to be embarrassed. According to Desmond-Hellmann, risk-taking entrepreneurs make choices others may find embarrassing, but entrepreneurs must continue to follow their own path.