Meet The Disruptors: Dr Gerald Horn Of Breinfuel On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Accept it. Change is necessary because choice is necessary. We’re born into a world where we must make fundamental choices every minute of every day. Essentially, choices are outside of our being, and we have to find a way to make choices that work best for us based on our current life situations.

As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Gerald Horn.

Dr. Gerald Horn is the Founder of Breinfuel — the cerebral, better-for-you beverage designed to fuel the brain to respond with focus, alertness, and productivity. Currently the Medical Director at LasikPlus Chicago, Dr. Gerald Horn’s background lies in ophthalmology, pharmaceutical science and disruptive drug development. Having committed his career to maximizing the health benefits of modern science and medicine, Dr. Horn among other pharmaceutical discoveries invented an eye-whitening drop licensed to a major pharmaceutical company that in one year became the industry leader and #1 doctor recommended. He also developed a disruptive eye drop “Liquid Vision” (PRX) to temporarily restore reading vision without glasses or contact lenses. Dr.Horn is an innovator in the ophthalmic drug development space, a four-time founder and pharmaceutical Chief Scientific Officer, and holder of over 80 patents.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

America gave my family a chance. My parents immigrated to the United States in 1950 from Poland. My mom named me Gerald because it would look good on my office door when I became a doctor. My sophomore year at Northwestern I told my mom that I had decided to become a lawyer and after pulling out all the stops, she could not change my mind. Or so I thought. I decided I would just take the MCAT test, and next thing I knew I was going to medical school.

Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?

To me, being disruptive is not a goal. It just means not being afraid to be wrong and not having any interest in making another version of someone else’s idea.

I think the future of health and nutrition breakthroughs will come increasingly from Consumer-Packaged Goods/Food and Bev products, and my product is a prime example. I developed Breinfuel, a different way to experience caffeine, initially for myself during long surgery days. I sought a solution using my science background and was able to look at caffeine as a molecule, reflect how it has been historically used by humanity, and apply it differently to Breinfuel. I believe the key behind Breinfuel, nutrition, aging, and health is preventing and reducing OXIDATIVE STRESS.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Fairly early in my pharmaceutical explorations, I developed a nasal spray that would not cause rebound congestion. Coincidentally, I had read a news blurb about how NASA just awarded a grant to a company that reconstructed the motion sickness drug, Scopolamine into a nasal spray. I ended up purchasing the spray and looked at data on doses. The dose would be two sprays in a single nostril for the equivalent to my version. A few weeks later, I went to a Halloween party dressed up as a devil, forgetting all about the nasal spray. After the party, my wife mentioned her nose was really congested and she couldn’t sleep. She was willing to try the new Scopolamine nasal spray, so we tried the combination. A few hours later, we woke up a bit disoriented and did not feel great. Out of an abundance of caution, we went to the emergency room. It’s the middle of the night, and I’m still dressed as a devil with red skin and ears looking look like I came from some wild all-night party. It turns out I neglected to notice that the dose was two sprays in only one nostril, and we took it in both — double the dose. We were fine, but it was a lesson learned and quite the spectacle in the ER.

We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?

I have been really lucky in life when it comes to mentors. My freshman biology teacher, Mr. Bernardi, deserves a shout-out. He inspired my generation to change the world through his passion for biology and excitement around new inventions and disruptions in the space. Mr. Bernardi was the one who sparked my interest in biology at such a young age.

World-renowned Ophthalmologist Dr. Lee Nordan is another one of my mentors. I first met Dr. Nordan as a young aspiring ophthalmologist when I saw him seated by himself, grabbing a quick bite at a meeting. I walked up to him and candidly shared my frustration in a 60-second pitch about how none of the strategics at the convention were interested in Luminesse, the eye whitening drop I invented. From there, we hit it off like two parts of the same brain. Dr. Nordan believed in Luminesse, and we did a phase 3 study to corroborate the benefits. Eventually, we got the product licensed.

Last but certainly not least, my mom and dad have always been incredible mentors. They gave my sister and me unconditional love, melded by my mother’s survival instincts and father’s strong moral code.

In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?

Being disruptive means thinking outside the box and coming up with new, completely unique ideas. There is no better example of a disruptive thinker than the most disruptive thinker of all time — Albert Einstein. He was the first theoretical physicist to conceptualize space and time as a continuum and a tangible building block of humanity. From there, Einstein presented his findings as an equation: E=mc2. While his physics equation describing the interchangeable relationship between energy and mass disrupted the world of physics and created a fundamental understanding of the science, his discovery also laid out the building blocks for atomic bombs and other deadly weapons. His findings that atoms can be triggered by fission or fusion were later incorporated into the making of atomic bombs, which tragically ended WWII, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Additionally, Tokamaks and stellarators are fusion reactors in their infancy that show greatly increasing promise and could one day solve our energy problems for billions of years.

Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.

The first I probably heard at home:

“Small lies are not worth telling — and big lies are too big.”

My parents taught me this basic lesson, particularly my father. One day my father came home quite upset after he went through a toll booth without change and owed the tollway authority $0.25. When he called the Illinois Tollway Authority and explained his situation, they expressed appreciation for his honesty, and I admired it. This seemingly minor instance has certainly stuck with me and made me realize what an amazing, straightforward, and honest father I was lucky enough to have.

The second is not exactly advice, but maybe more powerful than any advice I’ve heard:

“Hair will grow on the palm of my hands before you amount to anything.”

Ouch! This was said to me by my high school AP Biology teacher. He knew I was just going through the motions without putting in any extra effort and tried to galvanize me–and it worked. I realized why he said it, what he meant, and what he was trying to accomplish. This was a wake-up call. We are NOT our potential — we are only today’s reality. Ever since high school, that moment has stayed with me and has inspired me to go all out no matter what. Life flies by and there is only a nanosecond to possibly make a positive impact. Don’t waste it!

I’ve heard the third phrase said many different ways, but my version is: “The only constant is change.”

First, accept it. Change is necessary because choice is necessary. We’re born into a world where we must make fundamental choices every minute of every day. Essentially, choices are outside of our being, and we have to find a way to make choices that work best for us based on our current life situations. As we gain life experiences and learn more about ourselves, our choices will most likely change. At first, change can be uncomfortable, but without it, we become physical and mental sedentary fossils and do not evolve into vibrant human beings. The day we stop embracing change, we get old. I only half-joke that the year I stop learning something as a Lasik surgeon is the year the field starts passing me by. My daughter jokes that every day is my first day of life. I expect change every day and find that almost anything is possible if you’re open to it, and that revitalizes me.

We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?

I am very fortunate that my glass is more than half full. I have a great family. I have great grandchildren, and I have children — adults now — both in fantastic relationships, one about to get married. I learn from them now. I have pharmaceutical projects, some of which are potentially far reaching and could make a significant impact. And most fun, I’m writing a book on how to live longer with a greater quality of life, avoiding health land mines exploding almost literally “in our soup” as a serious metaphor. I should have added “Man plans, god laughs…” If I drop tomorrow that book won’t sell. Since it will take me years to write — I’m a horrible writer — the time I take working on it will prove or disprove it!

Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?

The Joe Rogan Experience podcast’s first interview with Paul Stamets has deeply resonated with me.

My son Colton turned me onto it. Paul is one of the great mycologists on this planet, and in my opinion, he is one of the most articulate and intelligent people I’ve ever had the privilege to listen to. Joe is a great interviewer. Most of my thoughts on the architecture of our brains, and what we can do to reconnect the ‘circuits’ as we get older came from Paul’s insights in that podcast episode.

Additionally, a book I recently read that had a significant impact is Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.

Harari’s work is articulated beautifully in Sapiens, where he analyzes the entire history of humanity and documents his findings as powerful, new insights.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“You only succeed if you fail.”

You have to fall down to learn to walk. You have to dust yourself off, get up, learn from it, and try again. You have to believe you can walk. You have to believe you will walk. You have to experience rejection over and over until it morphs, and there is no such thing as rejection. Just obstacles to overcome.

I believed I had a product that would make a difference, and that was Luminesse. The first time I brought it to pharma companies, I failed. The second, third, and fourth times I failed. But that last time, I succeeded. I was pitching Luminesse to a famous expert in the field with a room full of 13 people sitting at a round table. I asked everyone to put the product in their left eye, and then we all looked around the table. After all those years of failure, I saw an eerie yet beautiful sight — a roomful of pearly white left eyes. And Dr. Abelson — that was his name — looked around and said, “I’ve been thinking of this for 20 years. I used to call it ‘Twinkle!’”

Don’t ever give up on something you believe in.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

There is one thing I have come to believe has indeed been life changing for me.

There are people I have come across in everyday life, and among them are many that will transform my life in some way, whether it be large or small, only if I recognize who they are and engage with them.

It’s as if God or a higher power will place you before people who can change your life, but you have to strip yourself of ego and leave all preconceived notions behind. This individual may be from a completely different walk of life than you, with other priorities and experiences. If you make a real effort to connect with people, you may find yourself shocked by how many casual daily interactions expose you to “spiritual connectivity.” You might even live an amazingly exceptionally full life and feel connected to the universe in the most powerful way. Every day will become scrubbed, refreshed, and baggage free — waking up like it’s your first day!

How can our readers follow you online?

www.linkedin.com/in/geraldhornmd

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!