Hi, it's Bob Safian. You've been hearing me as the host of rapid response in this feed for a few years now,

with short newsy interviews alongside the deeper dives of Masters of Scale. Well, I'm excited to share that rapid response is expanding into its own feed.

We'll be putting out shows twice a week, focusing on the urgent issues that business leaders are dealing with in real time.

So search for rapid response in your podcast player

and subscribe to make sure you get all our episodes.

I'll see you on the other side.

I'm in the South of France with my family and as every morning of my life I get up I go

forward I come back I turn on my iPad and I read the Wall Street Journal.

And there's a one page on the iPad article that there is a new virus or bacteria causing pneumonia-like

symptom in Wuan. That's Stefan Bonsel, CEO of Moderna, recalling the January morning in 2020 when he first

learned of a mysterious illness in Wuhan, China.

For most people, the news out of Wuhan got lost in the holiday season wind down.

But for Stephan, who had spent the past decade working with some of the world's leading experts

in epidemics, it set alarm bells ringing. He immediately

tapped into his global network of scientists to get their take. He sent his first email to

Barney Graham, a virologist working with Dr. Anthony Fauchy, the Director of the National

Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the time.

I email, and say, hey Barney, what's that bug in China and when he wakes up because of

time difference he sent me an email exactly yeah we just thought about it we

don't know yet that keep you informed.

Barney was one of the many scientists and Stefan's planets spanning network. And as each awoke to the story story the network lit up with information, speculation

and theories.

...