Life & Wisdom Quote by Alastair Wood

There is a quiet power move tucked into this seemingly modest mission statement: Wood casts “bureaucracy” not as governance but as an obstacle course, and himself as the person clearing hurdles so the real work can begin. The intent is practical and strategic. By framing his job as “facilitate,” he signals service to the scientific core of an institution without sounding like a meddling manager. Clinical researchers get the heroic verb - “productive” - while administration becomes the villainous fog that slows discovery.

The subtext is a familiar tension inside medicine and academia: innovation is celebrated, but it runs on systems that are risk-averse for good reasons. Clinical research touches patients, money, reputations, and liability. Ethics boards, compliance rules, contracts, data governance - these aren’t ornamental red tape; they’re guardrails. Wood’s phrasing acknowledges that necessity while still giving voice to the frustration researchers feel when timelines balloon and approvals ricochet between offices. “Trying to keep” is tellingly modest: he can’t abolish bureaucracy, only negotiate with it, redirect it, or translate it.

Context matters because clinical research productivity is not just a metric; it’s lives, grants, and institutional status. The line reads like an administrator’s promise to be a shield: someone who understands that the most expensive failure isn’t a delayed form, it’s a delayed trial. In an era when science is asked to move faster than its infrastructure, Wood’s stance is less anti-bureaucracy than pro-momentum.