Spring Break
Alumni couple promotes pharmaceutical thriller on campus
Authors, with backgrounds in criminal justice and science, answer question of 'what if?'
Rob Hanson
Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: News
Matt and Erin Smith, co-authors of "Trials: The Risk/benefit Ratio," held the first of a series of book talks Thursday night at The Cabin in the Davies Center.
A small audience provided for a conversational and intimate experience with the authors in the dimly lit lounge, as the UW-Eau Claire alumni and Newport, Minn. residents discussed their professions and the process of writing the book.
"It's purely fiction," said Erin Smith, who graduated from Eau Claire in 1996 with degrees in criminal justice and Spanish. "We both grew up reading mysteries and really enjoying thriller-type movies, so we took our experiences and came up with a fictional hypothetical story.
"We asked ourselves, 'what if … a pharmaceutical company did this.'"
Both authors worked in death investigations after college, and Matt Smith now works as lead clinical trials manager for the pharmaceutical research company, PRA International. The couple decided to use their extensive knowledge of the topic and ask the reader the same question - "What if?"
The book, described as a pharmaceutical thriller, is set in St. Paul, Afton and Red Wing, Minn., as well as in Hudson.
The story involves a man whose daughter is diagnosed with a fatal disease, which may only be cured by a treatment on trial by a fictional pharmaceutical company. After discovering the perils of actually getting his daughter into the trials, the man decides she would have a better chance if he worked for the company.
After working for the company for a period of time, the man discovers unsettling things behind the scenes, including the power and means by which the company gets funding for the testing.
"I think one day we were out talking about what ifs," said Matt Smith, who graduated with a degree in biology and a topical minor in pre-forensic sciences. "One day we had an idea that was so intriguing that we didn't want to stop talking about it, and it turned out that every walk after that we were talking about that story.
A small audience provided for a conversational and intimate experience with the authors in the dimly lit lounge, as the UW-Eau Claire alumni and Newport, Minn. residents discussed their professions and the process of writing the book.
"It's purely fiction," said Erin Smith, who graduated from Eau Claire in 1996 with degrees in criminal justice and Spanish. "We both grew up reading mysteries and really enjoying thriller-type movies, so we took our experiences and came up with a fictional hypothetical story.
"We asked ourselves, 'what if … a pharmaceutical company did this.'"
Both authors worked in death investigations after college, and Matt Smith now works as lead clinical trials manager for the pharmaceutical research company, PRA International. The couple decided to use their extensive knowledge of the topic and ask the reader the same question - "What if?"
The book, described as a pharmaceutical thriller, is set in St. Paul, Afton and Red Wing, Minn., as well as in Hudson.
The story involves a man whose daughter is diagnosed with a fatal disease, which may only be cured by a treatment on trial by a fictional pharmaceutical company. After discovering the perils of actually getting his daughter into the trials, the man decides she would have a better chance if he worked for the company.
After working for the company for a period of time, the man discovers unsettling things behind the scenes, including the power and means by which the company gets funding for the testing.
"I think one day we were out talking about what ifs," said Matt Smith, who graduated with a degree in biology and a topical minor in pre-forensic sciences. "One day we had an idea that was so intriguing that we didn't want to stop talking about it, and it turned out that every walk after that we were talking about that story.
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