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Arizona Bioscience Week honors leaders of state’s growing and innovative bio sector

September 27, 2018

By Matt Ellsworth

 

Arizona’s growing and innovative bioscience sector will be in the spotlight during the Arizona Bioindustry Association’s annual Arizona Bioscience Week.

The celebration of Arizona’s bioscience industry, from Sept. 30 through Oct. 6, assembles and highlights the researchers, educators, companies, public servants, and institutions advancing the sector, and provides a forum for investors to intersect with emerging firms.

The annual AZBio Awards Ceremony—described by AZBio as the high point of Arizona Bioscience Week—honors bioscience leaders and innovators in research, education, business, and public service. Ron Shoopman, who will be honored during the ceremony with the Public Service Award, is the chair of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee, a group of more than 100 bioscience leaders in science, health care, business, academia, and policy which oversees the Roadmap’s progress.

The people and companies that will be honored at Wednesday’s 2018 AZBio Awards are:

2018 AZBio Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement:
Daniel D. Von Hoff M.D., F.A.C.P.

2018 Arizona Bioscience Company of the Year:
Calimmune (now part of CSL Limited)

Jon W. McGarity Bioscience Leader of the Year:
Michael Berens, Ph.D., Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)

2018 Public Service Award Honoree:
Ron Shoopman, Chair, Arizona Board of Regents

2018 Arizona Bioscience Researcher of the Year:
Clara N. Curiel-Lewandrowski, M.D., University of Arizona

Michael A. Cusanovich Bioscience Educator of the Year:
Heather Bimonte-Nelson, Ph.D., Arizona State University

AZBio Fast Lane Award Honorees:
AdviNow Medical
bioSyntagma
NeoLight

Another major annual event is the White Hat Life Science Investors Conference, an event showcasing companies from the Rocky Mountain and Southwest region which present before biotech and health care investors.

More than 30 companies are scheduled to present on Thursday from the fields of diagnostics, therapeutics, medical devices, health IT, telemedicine and mHealth. Angel investors, venture capital firms, institutional investors, and strategic investors have been encouraged to attend.

The major Arizona Bioscience Week events include:

Monday, Oct. 1: Leading Women: Biotech and Beyond, Perkins Coie, Phoenix office
Tuesday, Oct. 2: Family Office Forum, Phoenix Biomedical Campus
Wednesday, Oct. 3: AZBio Awards, Phoenix Convention Center
Thursday, Oct. 4: White Hat Life Science Investors Conference, Phoenix Convention Center
Friday, Oct. 5: Bioscience Family Night, Arizona Science Center

The week’s events are closely aligned with the goals of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap, a long-term strategic plan commissioned by the Phoenix-based Flinn Foundation in 2002 and updated in 2014 with the goal of Arizona becoming globally competitive and a national leader in select areas of the biosciences by 2025.

The Roadmap’s goals include forming an entrepreneurial hub, turning research into practice, developing talent and enhancing the state’s “collaborative gene” reputation.

For more information about Arizona Bioscience Week and its events, visit azbio.org/azbw2018.

To learn more about Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap, visit flinn.org/bioscience.