BALTIMORE, March 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three biotech CEOs and
the president of one of the area's major research universities were honored
today by the Greater Baltimore Committee as winners of the region's third
bioscience award competition.
Winners of the 2008 Greater Baltimore Region Bioscience Awards are:
-- Best New Product or Progress: Timothy E. Askew, President & CEO, CSA
Medical, Inc. Askew's very young Baltimore-based company has developed a
breakthrough product incorporating a new medical device and use of liquid
nitrogen cryo-therapy treatment to literally freeze cancer tissue. The CSA
system has been successful in treating esophageal cancer and Barrett's
esophagus, a condition that often progresses to esophageal cancer.
-- Entrepreneurship: Dr. Julie D. Suman, co-founder & president, Next
Breath, LLC. Suman's five-year-old company, Next Breath, provides contract
services to pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies that bring
new inhalation and nasal products to market. Located at the UMBC incubator
in southwest Baltimore County, Next Breath provides services to support the
drug development efforts of 45 pharmaceutical companies in the U.S.,
Canada, Europe and India.
-- Leadership in Bioscience: Dr. Blake M. Paterson, CEO and co-founder,
Alba Therapeutics Corporation. Under the leadership of Paterson, Alba
Therapeutics has grown in four years from a two-person start-up at the
Emerging Technologies Center in Baltimore into a thriving biotechnology
company with 45 employees at its headquarters at the University of
Maryland, BioPark. Alba is a pioneer in the treatment of Celiac disease, an
autoimmune disorder.
-- President's Award: Dr. David J. Ramsay, president, University of
Maryland, Baltimore. Dr. Ramsay has championed the growth of biomedical
research and technology transfer at UMB, where biotech research has grown
by 500 percent since 1994. Ramsay has been the driving force behind the
development of the UMB BioPark in west Baltimore. During the last five
years, the park has grown to 340,000 square feet of research space and 200
biotech jobs. This year, another 300,000 square feet and 150 more jobs will
be added.
Approximately 150 leaders from the Baltimore region's bioscience
industry and research community attended the awards presentations at the
Renaissance Harborplace Hotel.
"The most important thing that the Greater Baltimore Committee can do
is to listen to the voices of individual companies, owners, and researchers
-- and find the best ways to support and celebrate the work that you do
every day," GBC President & CEO Donald C. Fry told the bioscience
researchers, entrepreneurs and advocates.
Nurturing development of the region's bioscience industry is a top
priority of the GBC, the region's most prominent organization of business
and civic leaders.
Winners of the 2008 Greater Baltimore Region Bioscience Awards were
selected by a panel of judges from among 22 nominees submitted by
businesses, bioscience advocates, higher education institutions and
government agencies.
Judges for this year's awards were: Dr. Ravinder Dhallan, chairman and
CEO, Ravgen; Steve Dubin, chief executive officer, Martek Biosciences
Corporation; Dr. Aaron H. Heifetz, vice president, business development,
Cognate BioServices, Inc.; James Hughes, vice president, research and
development, University of Maryland, Baltimore; Dr. Shira Kramer,
president, Sterilex Corporation; and Mark E. Rapson, CPA, shareholder and
leader, Health & Life Science Group, KAWG&F.
SOURCE Greater Baltimore Committee
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Related links:
http://www.gbc.org
CONTACT:
Gene Bracken, +1-410-727-2820 ext 33, cell,
+1-430-274-0287, or Diane Hughes, +1-410-727-2820, ext 32, both
of Greater Baltimore Committee
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