“What we announced that day was that we have identified a lead candidate for COVID-19 vaccine…. This is a bit of a moonshot for us.”

That’s Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky talking about the $1 billion partnership his company formed with BARDA, the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. The company is ramping up so that if the accelerated clinical trials are successful, J&J will be prepared to produce and ship by early 2021.

Gorsky spoke with Mike Milken about lessons the company learned from its Ebola vaccine, how to keep a global workforce safe and healthy, and how his training at West Point and as a lieutenant and captain in the U.S. Army shapes his mission-driven leadership. The company recently approved a policy for its physicians and healthcare providers to take 14 weeks of paid leave to serve on the front lines of the crisis, helping them achieve the intensive-care credo that no patient dies alone.