For the last decade, KAUST has been a central part of alumnus Johannes Fischer’s life. His first visit in 2010 was by invitation from Professors Jean Marie Basset and Jorg Eppinger as an individual exchange student for a couple of months. After graduating with his MS in Biochemistry from
Technical University Munich (TUM), Johannes hoped to do something different for his PhD. Engaging with a few professors, led to his enrollment in a joint PhD program with KAUST and TUM, making his wish a reality.
Studying at two universities appealed to Johannes, and in 2012 his student apartment in KAUST’s harbor area became his second home for the next few years. With a lab space at KAUST and a lab space in Munich, he spent half his time in the
Catalysis Center (KCC) under Professor Jorg Eppinger and Professor Stefan Arold (CBRC) working on artificial metalloenzymes. This is a field that lies somewhere between bio-chemistry, biology and inorganic chemistry that tries to scrutinize the mechanisms of catalysis for the use in synthetic biology, and investigates how to accelerate and control key reaction steps.
Johannes admits that at times the travel back and forth was disruptive, yet he thinks it forced him not to get too comfortable in his research which helped accelerate the process. After three years Johannes obtained his joint degree from KAUST and TUM. And yet, Johannes didn’t stop there, “I’m a biochemist, but I had also pursued a doctor of medicine in parallel. Those were the two subjects that were closest to me,” he explains referring to the Doctor of Medicine (2017) that he completed upon his return to Germany.
HungryCampus
During his last days at KAUST, but more intensively after he graduated, Johannes began consulting within the University, eventually setting up a small enterprise called Atinio as a pro-bono project. You may not have heard of Atinio, but these days
HungryCampus is well known to the KAUST community. This application platform is responsible for all the take-aways delivered to the front doors of the community from the campus restaurants.
Atinio was rebranded to HungryCampus in 2018, after KAUST became an official partner becoming a vital service to the community during this year’s lockdown period of the pandemic. How surprising then to discover that the HungryCampus team is actually dispersed around Germany, apart from one volunteer residing in the KAUST community! In April, the team onboarded the campus diner so that during curfew there were more food options for delivery.
Since March, Johannes has been on a learning curve after joining the venture capital firm
Wellington Partners - Life Sciences as a Senior Associate. Prior to this he had worked his way up the ladder from an Associate to a Project Leader role in the Life Sciences practice of
LEK Consulting, a global strategy consultancy. As a consultant, he found it challenging to sustain what he and his team had built with HungryCampus next to satisfying and delivering to demanding global clients with LEK. “But I’ve been the strongest advocate to keep HungryCampus going and that is not for any real profits…although that is changing.” Johannes is positive that HungryCampus will develop further in its path to becoming a bigger business, explaining that it was a key milestone when KAUST licensed the software for the community to support the local retailers.
Pivoting CareerAs a project leader for LEK Consulting Johannes worked long hours on Medtech and Pharma projects for the Munich and London offices, travelling frequently within Europe, and also to Indonesia and South Africa for his work. Much of this consulting work involved strategy such as which products to launch, how to launch them, as well as mergers and acquisitions. “That brought me ultimately closer to venture capital,” Johannes explained, because he soon realized his days at LEK were coming to an end. He was looking for a change from the intense work as a consultant, never mind taking care of HungryCampus in his spare time. So he pivoted into the start-up space and the world of venture capitalism joining Wellington Partners.
“My work has shifted from developing strategic pieces for one client at a time, and it is different from what I had expected. As a consultant you handle one project at a time and in those projects you juggle one or two fundamental questions for a client. But as a venture capitalist you have to get to an understanding of different markets, different business models and identify opportunities, all on a daily basis. So now I’m juggling a lot at one time. It requires a sound understanding of how business and science work. It’s the perfect symbiosis of what I’ve been doing before, but on the business side I’m still developing.”
What about Medicine?
Having completed the degree did he not want to practice medicine? This Johannes confesses was his personal dilemma. To practice was his reason for doing the degree in the first place. However, along the way, he learned it was more a constant appetite for new fields that had originally attracted him, but not really the job as a clinician. Eventually he began to realize that, “maybe practicing medicine wasn’t going to be it for now.” He also began to recognize that he rather wanted to be an expert in one thing than being good in many. “I realized if I kept starting over with new interests, I would never become the expert. So I asked myself, do I want to be a jack of all spades or be really good at one thing?” It was a profound realization that took him all of ten years.
He was definitely challenged to keep his focus, embarking on something and then finding other things would pique his interest along the way.
“I am a good example of not being able to just do one thing,” he says. “I’m sure my supervisors were at times also challenged by me. I was working on creating artificial enzymes and at the same time speaking out about wanting to be a doctor and starting a business”.
Through his job as a consultant he has gained confidence and recognized how much he enjoys the start-up scene, a good space for someone with a mind like his. Of course, his mother is not fully convinced and tells him there is still a backdoor to his original path. Like many mothers, perhaps she dreamt of a son who was a doctor.
Stress Relievers
It is a wonder that Johannes has any spare time at all, but when questioned about his interests outside work he says he paints and tries to grow cacti. “I got to like cactuses while in South Africa. I was intrigued by how slowly they grow so I bought a few.” Now he is attempting to grow them in his Munich apartment.
He’s also been painting for about 15 years using acrylic, charcoal, oils and wax. These days, he’s mainly using charcoal and acrylic, painting from the very big (2-3m) as well as tiny, but usually abstract in style. “It’s a way of compensating for stress.”
Johannes visited KAUST at the beginning of 2020. “Because of HungryCampus I try to come once a year,” he said. “I have had a very good time with KAUST. There was always so much support, I'm willing to give something back in whatever way I can.”
Johannes has this quotation on his online bio at
Wellington and Partners:
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt.Let’s keep an eye on Johannes' future because despite an impressive decade, it looks like he's just getting started.
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