Awards recognize regional life science trailblazers in the BioHealth Capital Region
BALTIMORE, MD (May 5, 2022) – BioBuzz Media, a platform for industry professionals and job seekers looking to plug into regional biotech communities, recently celebrated the distinguished winners of the 2021 BioBuzz Awards. The event, which was attended by over 125 industry leaders, executives and professionals, was held at the new City Garage Science & Technology Center in Baltimore’s developing Port Covington neighborhood and was sponsored by Workforce Genetics, Scheer Partners, South Duvall, Weller Development, Fulton Bank, and Steer, LLC. The BioTechnical Institute (BTI) of Maryland was also a nonprofit workforce development partner.
The BioBuzz Awards were started in 2020 to celebrate the exciting and groundbreaking work being done by the BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) life science community and the individuals that make innovation happen across the region.
Finalists are selected based on solicited nominations, with the community voting to determine the winners. This year there were over 4,500 votes total, more than double the number of votes from the awards’ inaugural year. Awards are distributed to winners as digital art non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“By issuing the awards as NFTs we have established, through an immutable digital record, that these individuals and organizations have earned these achievements as decided by our community,” shared Chris Frew, BioBuzz Media Founder and CEO. “As BioBuzz progresses with the development of our next generation Web3 community platform that will not only continue to create value for the ecosystem, but also allow members to share in that value, the NFT awards were a fun way to begin to educate our community and expose them to digital assets built on the blockchain.”
The award categories and winners included:
The Community Builder Award: This award honors someone in the region who has gone above and beyond their responsibilities to make an impact on their ecosystem.
Winner: Amritha Jaishankar, Ph.D., Executive Director, MSCRF/TEDCO
The “John Holaday” BioHealth Leadership Award: In honor of the late John Holaday, renowned scientist, CEO, philanthropist, mentor, and community leader, this award recognizes a regional biohealth leader who embodies Holaday’s personal credo — “do well by doing good,” and exemplifies a similar unwavering devotion to excellence.
Winner: Doug Doerfler, CEO at MaxCyte
The BioBuzz Media Award: This award honors a media campaign that most aligns with BioBuzz’s mission; ‘to create exceptional experiences that better connect people and employers and foster a stronger regional ecosystem.’
Winner: Maryland Life Sciences “It’s Better Here” Campaign
The Workforce Champion of the Year Award: This award recognizes the program or organization that has made a measurable contribution to enhancing the biotech workforce within the region.
Winner: Kite Pharma – Apprenticeship Program with Hood College and Frederick Community College
The COVID-19 Impact Award: This award honors those life science and biohealth technology companies who have responded to the pandemic and developed a product, project, or service this year that has made the greatest impact on easing the effects of COVID-19.
Winner: Ellume – COVID Diagnostic Test
The Breakthrough Company of the Year Award: This award recognizes the companies who have pursued their mission with dedication and perseverance and built momentum towards commercialization with a substantial breakthrough this past year.
Winner: Adaptive Phage Therapeutics
The Employer of the Year Award: This award honors the life science employers who are the foundation of a vibrant biotech cluster. Being a great employer is about building an exceptional workforce, developing an employee-centric culture that keeps employees engaged and empowers them to be ambassadors for your company, and fostering a more inclusive and resilient workforce.
Winner: Novavax
“The city skyline of Baltimore continues to evolve—from the research coming out of Johns Hopkins University to the technologies growing out of the University of Maryland BioPark to the developments at Port Covington,” said Marco Chacón, Ph.D., Founder and President of IRAZÚ BIO, and Founder and former Chairman of the renowned Paragon Bioservices, during his keynote address at the event. “Together we are making the collective case for Baltimore as a hub for entrepreneurial and financial success.”
Learn more about this year’s BioBuzz Award winners at https://biobuzz.io/meet-your-2021-biobuzz-award-winners
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About BioBuzz Media
BioBuzz Media, a division of Workforce Genetics, LLC, is the go-to community platform for industry professionals and job seekers looking to plug into regional biotech communities. We meet our users where they are and enable them to learn about the employers and individuals driving biohealth innovation forward. Our mission is to create exceptional experiences that help life science professionals grow their careers and employers to grow their workforce
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Sarah Ellinwood, Ph.D.
Managing Editor