An Interview with Matt Quinn, a Research Consultant for Womble's Medical and Scientific Solutions

As a Research Consultant for Womble Bond Dickinson in Medical and Scientific Solutions, Matt focuses on distilling complex medical literature to aid attorneys with their defense against medical claims. Additionally, Matt aids attorneys in developing scientific strategies for defense as well as challenging the scientific basis of plaintiff’s claims.

About Matt

About MSS

About WBD Advance

Transcript

Welcome to Womble Perspectives, where we explore a wide range of topics, from the latest legal updates to industry trends to the business of law. Our team of lawyers, professionals and occasional outside guests will take you through the most pressing issues facing businesses today and provide practical and actionable advice to help you navigate the ever-changing legal landscape. 

With a focus on innovation, collaboration and client service, we are committed to delivering exceptional value to our clients and to the communities we serve. And now our latest episode. 

HOST:
Welcome to Womble Perspectives. Today we're joined by Matt Quinn from our medical and science solutions team. During our conversation, Matt will share insights into his background and experience, and he'll dive into the services our medical science team offers to our attorneys. Matt, let's begin with your experience. You have a rich background in science and medicine. Could you share how you developed an interest in these fields and outline your career and academic journey leading to your role at Womble? 

MATT QUINN:
Sure. So, I'm from Texas originally. I did my Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Texas Tech. And after that a friend of mine actually helped me get a job as a technician in a biomedical research lab. So, I worked there for a year as a technician and really enjoyed the subject matter, really enjoyed the hands-on experimental work that I was doing. So, after a year of working there, I actually applied a PhD program and got my PhD and molecular cellular biology from Texas A and M University in 2013. 

Then I moved to Raleigh Durham area, actually, after that to do my postdoctoral fellowship that I did at the National Institute of Health and Triangle Park, North Carolina. There I really focused on really molecular mechanisms underlying inflammation and metabolism and I used a variety of preclinical models of infection, obesity, diabetes reproduction and so I did that for six years. 

So, after finishing my fellowship, I was recruited to Wake Forest University School of Medicine just down the road from RTP. I started as a tenure track assistant professor in their pathology and internal medicine departments and I worked there for five years. This led to an independent research program in my postdoctoral work, really understanding once again the molecular mechanisms of inflammation, metabolism, using sepsis as a model system. That was very apropos at the time because about a year after I opened my lab Covid hit, we underwent the pandemic. 

And so I kind of shifted my intellectual curiosities to really understanding the ramifications of severe infection and really the long term consequences of that. And as part of that, I had about 15 different people that worked within my lab and these ranged anywhere from high school and undergrad interns all the way up to master's level students. I had a PhD student do her dissertation work within my lab, and she actually graduated last June. I also had a postdoctoral fellow from South Korea come and do his fellowship within my lab as well. So, after doing that for about five years I had the opportunity to mentor a lot of junior scientists. Also, the opportunity to teach at the graduate level and the medical level. There were still some, I would say, intellectual curiosities that weren't being fulfilled. And one of my interests after leaving undergrad was always law school. 

I ended up going down the scientist route and you know, inertia sets in and kind of you get on a path, you kind of stick on that path. And actually, I have a good friend that's a partner here at Womble that knew I was undergoing an intellectual crisis, if you will. And he kind of me about some of the work that Womble does in the sense of representing Fortune 500 clients from product liability claims that typically have a medical or scientific component to them. That really piqued my interest and that's really what got me here, to Womble. 

HOST:
Yeah. You know, it's always interesting that when people think of a law firm, they think of just attorneys and paralegals, but there are so many people here at Womble with other types of backgrounds. Speaking of backgrounds, how do you apply the skills you gained as a researcher, a team leader, an academic? How do you apply those to what you do as part of the medical and scientific solutions team, and what is your role in the process? 

MQ:
Sure. Yes, I think whenever someone is a PhD level scientist, they kind of get pigeonholed as a scientist. And I think when we go through the graduate education process, we pick up a lot of what's known as these soft skills which make us effective communicators both written and orally. It equips us with skills to critically read things and interpret things and analyze things from an objective lens. And those are skills that actually can be applied to any field, if you think about it. 

And within the legal arena, the way we apply that is specifically within MSS is that we represent a lot of clients, as mentioned earlier, that have some kind of medical or scientific claim associated with their suit. A lot of times that could be the form of an environmental exposure that a company is being claimed against. There could be a variety of different diseases that are being claimed or a byproduct of that exposure. Well once again, I apply those kinds of soft skills of communicating effectively what’s known in the science. 

But really, my background in molecular biology allows me to assess the scientific literature critically. It gives me that background knowledge to really put it in the context of human health. My academic background has equipped me to once again educate people on particular medical issues that may not have that background knowledge already existing. 

And so that's really where we fit in, or where I fit in within MSS. A lot of our communications can come in the form of just emailing simple responses to a question or drafting formal responses with a full literature analysis attached. And we also do work on corporate white papers for some of our clients as well, helping summarize kind of the state of knowledge, of the science of their product 

HOST:
Absolutely. And it's clear how that would be helpful in a litigation setting. You have to work with people who don't have a top tier scientific background, especially at the PhD level. But you still have to communicate, whether it's to a jury, attorneys, executives, or the client. Everyone has to know what's going on, and it sounds like taking this complex knowledge and translating it so that everyone can understand it is a big part of what you do here. 

MQ:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think a big part of our job is being almost like a scientific quality check for the attorneys. A lot of attorneys or plaintiffs may make claims, right, that may not be actually supported by scientific literature. Well, we actually go one step further. 

We don't only challenge that, but we have the ability to actually challenge other scientists to say, are the claims that you are making within this scientific manuscript or report, are they actually substantiated by the data you're showing me? And what we're finding a lot of times is that authors of scientific papers will bolster their claims and inflate the outcomes. 

When you actually look at the raw data that they're presenting within their manuscript, the data doesn't support the scientific claims that they're making. So, we help highlight that to the attorneys. 

And once again, coming from my academic and scientific background, I'm very well equipped to do that because I've published over 40 peer reviewed scientific manuscripts. I’ve served as an, and I currently still serve as an editor on several peer reviewed journals. And so that always makes me look at science through a critical lens and always make sure that any scientific claim is supported by actual data that is being presented. 

HOST:
It sounds like without that sort of scientific quality check, a lot of these claims could potentially go unchallenged through the litigation process. 

MQ:
Yeah. And a big part of what do as well is plaintiffs will call experts and they will make scientific claims. We have the expertise to actually challenge the plaintiff's experts and say, actually that statement you just made is not scientifically sound. And here is why. And here, scientific manuscripts that actually say, counter to what you're saying right now, or if they do make a claim that there's not scientific literature that is counted for, that we have the ability to critically analyze the study design. And say, well, here are some confounders that you did not control. Here are biases and limitations to the study design that actually limit you making these claims. 

And in line with that, we work to support experts as well, making sure that any claim that they're making is actually scientifically sound supported by scientific literature and not just anecdotal evidence. 

HOST:
One thing you mentioned was that you led a research project, and obviously that required a great deal of teamwork. It sounds like that would translate really well into what you're doing now.

MQ:
Yeah. And what a lot of people don't realize about the academic setting, particularly out of medical school, is that when you are running a research program in essence, you're almost a small business. almost like a startup. 

And so you will have some seed funding, whether it comes from grants or from the university. In my case, I got a budget of almost $2 million from the university to kind of start my business, if you will, of my program. And as part of that, you're kind of tasked with hiring, firing, strategic direction training, HR, personnel management, conflict management. All of that is under your purview. 

But interestingly enough, we do not undergo any training for that throughout our academic career. So not only has that experience taught me those type of skills, but I think more overarching, it's taught me to keep a learning mindset I go. It's taught me how to think on my feet and how to improvise. Also how to reach out to my resources when they're not explicitly given to you 

HOST:
Great. That's all extremely helpful. And now let's shift to the fun part of the interview, sort of the more personal side. What do you like to do when you're not at work? What are some of your interests? 

MQ:
Yeah, so I hang out with my dog a lot. I have a german shepherd. Aside from that, I like to keep active by playing some intramural sports. So, I'm involved in a couple of volleyball leagues indoor, as well as sand volleyball, intramural sports kickball, as well as kickball. I try to hit up any new restaurant in the Winston Salem area when they arise. I’m not a big fan of just going to a gym and lifting a bunch of weight. So, it's a good way to still be active and tap into your inner child, if you will. 

HOST:
We also have a couple of follow up questions. Digging a little deeper, can you talk about what medical science can do, and specifically in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries?

MQ:

Yeah, absolutely. So, I brought up the regulatory and intellectual property arenas particularly within the life sciences. Both of those arenas have components of them that we already do such as literature analyses. So, if someone's going to file a patent or if they're going to file to the FDA that they want to put a new drug on the market, they're going to have to convey to either the patent office or to the FDA what is the current state of knowledge with this particular disease area? Why do we need a new drug? Are there already drugs out there that are doing this job? What is the potential of this drug over what is currently existing on the market? And what I think now more so than ever we have within the walls of MSS, is I bring the ability to look at clinical data and, and help clients experimental design to say, okay, well, if you want a patent on this and you want to make this into an intellectual claim, here are the experiments that you actually have to do to make that claim. And once again, if you're going to be submitting something to the FDA or to the United States trademark and postal or patent office, you're going to have to write that up as a report. 

And the strength that we have at MSS is we have three PhD levels that have years of experience in scientific and medical writing. So, we're very good at technical writing. So, helping draft either patent prosecution or once again, helping scientists put together investigation, new drug applications. We have the expertise to actually do that for them. 

HOST:
And the final thing, just going back to the personal side, aside from your very extensive scientific background and the strengths that you bring to our medical sciences team because of that, what do you think is another unique strength that differentiates your work and makes you even more valuable to clients? 

MQ:
I think of myself as a strategic thinker. I think outside the box. I've been here seven months. I am the one that has really spearheaded the idea of bringing in regulatory and intellectual property business, and really highlighting those capabilities of ours. I think more on a programmatic level. And really, what is the future of MSS? What are our capabilities? What are, where's the future of science moving? And where's the clientele really going to be heavy in the future? 

I think therapeutics is really a big sector that Womble has representation in. And in fact, I was talking to a partner about how there's so much interest in life sciences at Womble that we really should have some kind of life sciences interest group or affinity group to really bring together all people that are working in regulatory IP as well as in litigation as a common interest of anyone working in pharmaceuticals. 

And so, I think that's really what sets me aside from your everyday employee, is that I'm going to be thinking more big picture, the future, how do we get there? 

HOST:
And lastly, is there anything else you'd like to add that we didn't get to today? 

MQ:
I think there's one thing kind of emphasize is that I'm new to Womble and that medical and scientific solutions is not new. But I think what's exciting about the program is that we're actually looking to grow and expand. But we've actually historically have focused the majority of our work in the litigation and mass torts arenas, but we're looking to expand abilities our workload into the intellectual property and regulatory units, particularly within life sciences and the pharmaceutical industries. 

And we think this is the time to do that because we have this skillset in house. With me, I bring years of medical education in the life sciences. So, we have the skill set now to really help supplement the intellectual property and FDA regulatory kind of sectors within our within the walls of Womble now. And so, we're looking to expand into those arenas 

HOST:
Great. And thats what our clients are thinking about too. Thanks so much for taking the time to share more about your experience in your practice. 

That's it for today's episode. We hope you enjoyed learning more about Matt, his role here at Womble, and how our medical science team supports our attorneys. 

Thank you for listening to Womble Perspectives. If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, please visit the show notes where you can find links to related resources mentioned today. The show notes also have more information about our attorneys who provided today's insights, including ways to reach out to them. Don't forget to subscribe via your podcast player of choice so that you never miss an episode. Thank you again for listening.