News

Angel Investor, Dr. Faz Bashi, M.D., joins BioTalk from the West Coast to discuss the Venture Capital, partnerships and staying connected in the age of COVID-19

Dr. Faz Bashi, M.D., has a background in Immunology and Virology from UCSF. Faz is an active member of the LSA screening committee for Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals as well as the Medical Device + Digital Health Screening Committee. He is the Emeritus Board member of the Angel Capital Association (ACA), and Chair of the ACA’s Life Sciences Syndication Group, and Affiliate Partner at Boston Millennia Partners and Lead Venture Investor at Portfolia’s FemTech Fund

He joins BioTalk host Rich Bendis to discuss their recent successes in funding, research, and their growth in the BioHealth Capital Region

Dr. William Hearl is the founder of Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc. and is an experienced and successful life science businessman and entrepreneur. Dr. Hearl is adept at brokering mutually beneficial partnerships and identifying non-traditional collaborations and investment opportunities.

The advent of the commercial development of LAMP technology came from discussions between Dr. Hearl and Dr. Tom August at Johns Hopkins University. Based on their mutual vision of the value of LAMP, ITI emerged and began operations in 2006. Dr. Hearl’s extensive experience in intellectual property management and business development led to the reward of a sub-license of the LAMP technology to Geron Corporation within 30 days of initiating operations and subsequent license agreements, valued at over $300 million, in 2015 with Japan-based Astellas for next generation allergy vaccines based on the LAMP platform.

Sean M. Kirk, Executive Vice President, Manufacturing and Technical Operations at Emergent BioSolutions joins Rich Bendis to discuss the COVID-19 Health Crisis, Emergent’s Capabilities in Manufacturing in the BioHealth Capital Region and Beyond

Mr. Kirk joined Emergent BioSolutions in 2003 and has served as executive vice president, manufacturing and technical operations since April 2019. Prior to this position, Mr. Kirk has held various senior leadership roles including senior vice president, manufacturing operations and contract development and manufacturing operations (CDMO) business unit lead from April 2017 to March 2019, senior vice president, biodefense operations from November 2015 to March 2017, senior vice president, biosciences operations from February 2014 to November 2015 and senior vice president, biodefense vaccines and therapeutics development from March 2012 to February 2014. Mr. Kirk also served in multiple roles of increasing responsibility at Emergent’s manufacturing operations site in Lansing, Michigan.

Before joining Emergent, Mr. Kirk worked at Merial, a multinational animal health company, serving in various positions from 1996 to 2001. Mr. Kirk received both an M.B.A. and B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Georgia.

Executive Director of the Universities at Shady Grove, Stewart L. Edelstein, Ph.D., joins BioTalk to discuss his career, USG, and its role in the BioHealth Capital Region

Dr. Stewart Edelstein joined the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) as Executive Director in 2002 and in 2007 was named to the dual title of Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the University System of Maryland (USM).

USG is a regional campus of USM that offers both undergraduate and graduate degree programs from nine partner universities. During Dr. Edelstein’s tenure, USG expanded its number of participating universities, as well as the breadth and depth of its academic programs, and enrollment has grown significantly, to more than 3,000 students. The campus’s capacity for future enrollment growth has doubled with the recent opening of a new Biomedical Sciences and Engineering Education Facility, which is expanding degree and certification offerings in healthcare, engineering, biosciences, computer science and other areas.

BioBuzz and Workforce Genetics Founder, Chris Frew, Joins BioTalk to discuss building two organizations, talent acquisition, and his role in the BioHealth Capital Region ←Sub title

Chris is the Founder and CEO of Workforce Genetics, LLC (WGx), and BioBuzz Media to foster highly engaging experiences that connect people and companies across biohealth ecosystems. His insights into talent attraction, employer branding, and marketing have helped top companies to tackle their most pressing challenges in the new talent economy. Previously as Vice President at Breezio, a leading innovator in cloud-based online communities, he lead the development of the new Internship Network of Maryland (inMD) platform that was approved by Gov. Hogan in 2017. As Vice President of Tech USA’s Scientific Division Chris founded and ran a national staffing division operating at $23M annually when he left in 2015. Chris is passionate about impacting others, especially his family and his team, and helping to foster a strong community within the BioHealth Capital Region. He is a Maryland native and a graduate of Towson University. Learn more at https://www.workforcegenetics.com/ and http://biobuzz.io/

Judy Costello is the Managing Director of Economic Development for BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI). A longtime supporter of the region’s entrepreneur and start-up communities, Judy Costello joined BioHealth Innovation in August 2017. Prior to that she served as Director of the Maryland Department of Commerce’s Office of BioHealth and Life Sciences and Deputy Director of the department’s BioMaryland Center. She previously worked for fifteen years for the Business Alliance organizing venture pitch forums, entrepreneur bootcamps, tech transfer showcases, educational seminars, and other programs connecting entrepreneurs, faculty innovators, students, and industry leaders in Maryland, DC and Virginia with each other and with those providing funding and other resources to young companies.

Pete Briskman, an Executive Managing Director with JLL, leads the Tenant Advisory and brokerage business for JLL in Maryland, sits down with BioTalk Host Rich Bendis to talk his role with JLL, his focus on Life Sciences, and vision of the BioHealth Capital Region

Pete Briskman works with many of the regions’ most exciting and fastest growing Life Science Companies assisting them with their real estate and site selection strategies for Headquarter transactions, relocations, build-to-suits, renewals, expansions, and consolidations. Pete and his team bring proprietary tools to help organizations make informed decisions around the size and scale of their operation, assessment of labor, modeling and programming of occupancy, approach to optimizing business and economic incentives, and very unique real estate market intelligence that can be communicated via our proprietary geo-spatial market intelligence platform.  He is the recipient of GWCAR’s Commercial Leasing Broker of the Year and has been recognized with GWCAR Office Leasing Transactions of the Year for multiple clients.