January 23, 2017
The Chicago Biomedical Consortium: Celebrating 10 Years of Success and Unveiling New Initiatives
On December 16, 2016, a celebration of renewed CBC funding took place at VenueSIX10 in downtown Chicago. Guests included researchers from the CBC universities and representatives from the area’s pharmaceutical and biotech entrepreneurial industries. The CBC is profoundly grateful for past and future support from the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust.
The 90-minute program included comments from the provosts of the three CBC universities (Daniel Diermeier from UChicago, Dan Linzer from Northwestern, and Susan Poser from UIC). Katie Stallcup, CBC Executive Director, gave a brief presentation about CBC’s history and the scientific and educational work it has supported over the past decade. Rick Morimoto, CBC Scientific Director for NU, spoke about CBC Phase 2, which will focus on translation of basic biomedical discovery into clinical applications by nurturing a culture of entrepreneurship (see Event Program).
Brian Kay, CBC Scientific Director for UIC, moderated a panel of faculty members (Tony Kossiakoff of UChicago, Milan Mrksich of NU, and Brenda Russell of UIC) who discussed their entrepreneurial experiences. Dr. Lucy Godley CBC Scientific Director for UChicago, led a discussion about the recently established 5-year partnership between AbbVie and UChicago to advance research in several areas of oncology. AbbVie participants were Dr. Gary Gordon, Dr. Steven Davidsen, and Dr. Scott Brun. Dean Kenneth Polonsky, Dr. Everett Vokes and Steve Kuemmerle represented UChicago.
The official program concluded with closing remarks by Renee Michaels, Searle Family representative and Vice President of the Kinship Foundation, and Terry Mazany, President and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, who spoke about their pride in the CBC’s work so far and their enthusiasm for the programs envisioned for Phase 2.
The evening ended with a celebratory reception, enabling members of the Chicago-based biomedical ecosystem to connect and discuss future research that will, over time, improve the health of citizens of Chicago and beyond.
PHOTOS: Brian Kay, CBC
see also:
▸ Download the Event Program (PDF)
▸ Press Release, January 18, 2017: “Support for Chicago Biomedical Consortium renewed”