TBI Bioscan Newsletter - March 2008
Message From the President
TBI President’s Gala, a celebration of success
The Biotech Initiative’s annual Presidents Award Gala was a night of nostalgia and achievements as the who’s who of the industry, along with dignitaries, TBI members and esteemed guests converged on the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto to celebrate and honour four special people.
The Award winners named included Susan Smith for Community Service, John Goudey for Volunteer Recognition, David Lindsay for Public Service and Canadian biotech pioneer Alan Bernstein for Lifetime Achievement.
Bernstein’s work as the founding member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and his departure from the role this past year made him an obvious choice as recipient of the lifetime achievement award. Described by peers as a “leader among leaders,” Bernstein’s contributions to Canadian science and biotech and his capacity to “think big” helped propel Canadian innovation for over a decade.
Following a well put together video tribute, where colleagues and friends spoke glowingly about his achievements, Bernstein discussed the state of biotech in Canada, its successes and thanked those that helped over the years, while giving a salute to his fellow award winners.
“I’m honoured to be sharing the stage with three very distinguished Canadians, colleagues and friends, and those individuals which have preceded me in winning this award have all played a role in my career as mentors, and that is no accident,” he said.
“TBI has certainly grown since I first won a TBI award and that is to the great credit of the volunteers, and the people that have been the drivers of this organization, and to the great benefit of this community, ” he concluded.
Among the other winners, Susan Smith was recognized as a tireless supporter of innovative Canadian companies, helping to create specialized banking facilities at RBC to support knowledge-based companies emerging in key technology clusters across Canada. Likewise, John Goudey, an active participant in the industry for over 20 years, with the energy and passion he has brought to the industry as a key advisor to a number of technology based firms through his role as a senior partner in Ernst & Young’s technology communications and entertainment industry practice and as one of the founders of TBI was amazed at how the organization and the gala has grown.
“From when we first dreamt up the idea, TBI has exceeded our expectations. TBI has been a significant influence in my life, and it’s been a lot of fun too,” said Goudey.
David Lindsay, and his long distinguished career shaping public policy in this province and his outstanding contributions and dedication to the biotechnology community while in the public service was also recognized.
Minister of Research and Innovation for the Province of Ontario John Wilkinson headed up an impressive cast of dignitaries on hand that included, Deputy Minister Research and Innovation George Ross, Deputy Minister Ministry of Natural Resources Phillip Howe, and former Deputy Prime Minister, John Manley. The biggest surprise of the night was how funny John Manley was in introducing Susan Smith.
Wilkinson praised TBI for the event and had much to say about the recipients and their accomplishments in his keynote speech.
“It’s a great opportunity to recognize the considerable talent that we have here in Toronto, globally significant talent that we have in our province, particularly in a time when talent is becoming a very valuable commodity. For a province of 13,000,000 people, when it comes to talent, we are indeed punching well above our weight. And our government is committed to building on this strength,” he said.
He added that it was this kind of talent right across the spectrum, research talent, business acumen and visionary public policy that are propelling Ontario to the forefront of the innovation economy.
Wilkinson also discussed Ontario’s bigger and stronger presence at Bio 2008, and said it was his goal to communicate to the world all the fantastic initiatives taking place in the field of biotechnology in the province.
The gala also presented an opportunity to recognize this year’s winner of the BIOTECanada - Biogen Idec Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Danielle Gauci of Northern Secondary School Toronto was announced as the national winner of the $5,000 prize for her innovative ways of teaching high school students. The award promotes and recognizes the teaching of biotechnology at the secondary school level in Canada.
“It’s so important for these type of awards to continue to support programs for students,” said Gauci adding that more can still be done to foster scientific literacy in the province and across the country citing that in Ontario, no student has to take a science course after grade 10. She also pointed out the watering down of science with the termination of the Science Advisor role to the Prime Minister.
“We really need people like you to support people like me in fostering scientific literacy and love of science,” she told the audience.
Overall, TBI president Grant Tipler described the night as uplifting, and felt all parties did an exceptional job in making the event memorable.
Other announcements:
May 6 marks the start of Biofinance 2008. TBI members are invited to the hockey hall of fame for the opening reception at 6pm.
Also on May 6th there will be a free one-day seminar on the business of antivirals. Industry and Markets: the Influenza Drug Pipeline put on by International Consortia of Anti-virals at MaRS and will be open to the public.
Grant Tipler
President TBI
Up Coming Events
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"Building a Biotechnology Company: How to Leverage Partnership and Collaborations?"
TBI C-Level Meeting
Vaughan Estate, The Estates of Sunnybrook, Toronto Further details to follow; please contact chris@adamsrevers.com or yc.l@pharmeng.com |
News
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February 21 TBI Breakfast
This month’s TBI breakfast meeting marked yet another informative session.
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TCP comes to TBI
They say the dreams of cats are filled with mice. Well, the January TBI breakfast meeting was surely one that would have had the cat drooling.
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December 20th TBI breakfast
With six speakers and five presentations, December’s TBI breakfast session lived up to its ‘marathon billing’.
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Thursday November 15, 2007 TBI Breakfast
November's TBI breakfast meeting got off to a much calmer start, as this time around there were no false alarms to interrupt the session. Breakfast goers had the full two hours this time around to enjoy the presentations of the morning’s speakers.
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Member News
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BIOTECanada Gold Leaf Awards
As a celebration of Canadian innovation, BIOTECanada's Gold Leaf Awards program is your opportunity to recognize both companies and individuals that have made significant achievements to our industry. Launched in 2001, these prestigious awards are given annually by Canada’s national biotechnology industry association.
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Industry Events
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Biofinance
BioFinance 2008 is the Canadian Life Science industry's leading investor conference. The meeting brings together key industry players to consider investment opportunities and issues affecting companies in biotechnology, medical devices, diagnostics and research tools. Participants include senior life science executives, institutional and venture capital investors, industry analysts, corporate finance executives and experts from the scientific and medical communities in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. BioFinance 2008 will be held on May 6 - 8, 2008 at the Toronto Marriott Eaton Centre.
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BIO International Convention
June 17, 2008 San Diego
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Click here to view more events
www.ontbi.org/Events
CONTACT US
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