As an expert in infectious diseases, Jennifer Leeds could see the storm brewing. When COVID-19 began to emerge – first in Asia, then in Europe – she could see that its relative ease transmitting from person to person, along with the lack of tests and preventions or treatments for infection, made the virus a credible threat to humanity. Knowing that a pandemic was likely coming made watching the crisis unfold no less heartbreaking. Fortunately, as a member of the Novartis Business Development & Licensing (BD&L) department, she was in a position to try to help.