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Life Science Washington Announces 2019 Inductees into the Washington Life Science Hall of Fame

April 23, 2019 Off By BusinessWire

Life science industry veterans Colleen Delaney, MD, MSc, Christopher
Henney, PhD, Ron Howell, Steven Reed, PhD, to be honored during Life
Science Innovation Northwest

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HallofFame?src=hash" target="_blank"gt;#HallofFamelt;/agt;–Life Science Washington today announced its 2019 inductees into the
Washington Life Science Hall of Fame, which recognizes innovative
leaders and industry pioneers in Washington state who have made
significant contributions to the life sciences. The recipients will be
honored at a special luncheon April 25 during Life Science Innovation
Northwest, the largest annual life science conference in the Pacific
Northwest.

“The Washington Life Science Hall of Fame is one of the highlights of
our organization’s year,” said Leslie Alexandre, DrPH, President and CEO
of Life Science Washington. “It is an opportunity to step back and honor
four champions in our industry; people who have made extraordinary
contributions spanning basic science research through the
commercialization of life-saving technologies for the betterment of
patients, science, and industry around the world. We are grateful they
live and work here in Washington State, enriching our scientific and
entrepreneurial community.”

The 2019 Hall of Fame inductees include:

Colleen Delaney, MD, MSc, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer,
Executive Vice President of Research and Development, Nohla Therapeutics

Colleen Delaney, MD, MSc is Scientific Founder and Chief Scientific
Officer, Executive Vice President of Research and Development of Nohla
Therapeutics, Inc., a cellular therapy company focused on development of
universal, off-the-shelf cell therapies for patients with hematologic
malignancies and other critical diseases. She is an Affiliate and former
Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Clinical Research
Division, where she also held the Madeline Dabney Adams Endowed Chair in
AML Research and was the principal investigator of an active, NIH-funded
laboratory. In 2006, she established and became the Director of the Cord
Blood Transplant Program at the Fred Hutch/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance,
which has grown to be one of the leading programs in the country and the
coordinating center of several multicenter clinical trials.

Dr. Delaney’s laboratory focused on the role of the Notch signaling
pathway in the regulation and directed differentiation of hematopoietic
stem and progenitor cells for clinical applications. This work led to
several clinical trials investigating the potential of cryopreserved,
non-HLA matched “off the shelf” ex vivo expanded cord blood progenitor
cells to provide rapid but transient hematopoietic reconstitution in the
settings of cord blood transplant and dose-intensive chemotherapy,
ultimately leading to the spin-out of Nohla Therapeutics in December
2015. Dr. Delaney received her MSc from Oxford University and her MD
from Harvard Medical School and is the recipient of numerous awards,
including the prestigious Damon Runyon Foundation Clinical Investigator
Award, the Dr. Ali Al-Johani Award in recognition of exemplary clinical
medical care and compassion to patients and families, the Seattle
Business Journal’s Leaders in Health Care Award for Outstanding Medical
Research and the Seattle American Women in Science’s Award for the
Scientific Advancement and Leadership in STEM.

Christopher Henney, PhD

Retired. Co-Founder, Immunex, Icos, and Dendreon

Dr. Christopher Henney came to Washington State in 1978 to lead
Immunology at the newly formed Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and to
teach and serve as a professor at the University of Washington.
Intrigued by the burgeoning opportunities in recombinant DNA technology,
he left academia to join what was then a fledgling biotechnology
industry. In 1981 Dr. Henney co-founded Immunex, which grew to become a
fully integrated pharmaceutical company employing 1600 people. Immunex
focused on discovering, developing, manufacturing and selling a new
class of gene-derived pharmaceuticals. The company was acquired by Amgen
in 2002, and its lead drug, Enbrel, remains a best seller worldwide for
the treatment of autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Henney went on to co-found two more biotechnology companies: Icos
and Dendreon Corporation. In both, he brought to life breakthrough drugs
in the form of Cialis (Icos) and Provenge (Dendreon). In 2010 Provenge
became the first immunotherapeutic vaccine approved by the FDA for the
treatment of prostate cancer.

As a senior statesman for the industry, Dr. Henney remains deeply
involved in all entrepreneurial aspects of the biotechnology industry –
serving as Chairman or board member of several companies, both public
and private. He is renowned globally for his many contributions to the
field. In 2011, Dr. Henney was elected to the International
Biotechnology CEOs Hall of Fame.

Ronald Howell

Chief Executive Officer, Washington Research Foundation (WRF)

As Chief Executive Officer of Washington Research Foundation for nearly
3 decades, Ronald Howell leads one of the most successful technology
transfer grant-making and investment organizations in the nation. He
joined WRF in 1989 to execute the Foundation’s licensing strategy on Dr.
Benjamin Hall’s platform technology expressing heterologous proteins in
yeast. Becoming CEO of WRF in 1992, he led the WRF team through an
expansion of the organization and its licensing programs.

As one of the early architects of the WRF, Mr. Howell helped create the
licensing programs that have delivered more than $535 million to
not-for-profit research institutions in Washington State. Under Mr.
Howell’s leadership, the foundation’s venture investment arm, WRF
Capital, was formed in 1994 with a mission to invest in early-stage
science, engineering, and technology companies in Washington State. The
fund has backed more than 98 companies, with more than 60 exits. Today
the active portfolio includes 37 innovative companies, about half of
them in life sciences. In addition to serving as a very important early
investor in life science and tech companies throughout Washington, WRF
has created numerous grant programs to support the recruitment, training
and development of investigators.

Mr. Howell has served on many prominent boards at the University of
Washington, Washington State University, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center and The W Fund. A proud Cougar, Mr. Howell holds a degree in
biochemistry from Washington State University.

Steven Reed, PhD

Founder, Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI)

In 1993, Dr. Steven Reed founded the Infectious Disease Research
Institute—IDRI—to apply for advances in immunology to the product
development of diagnostics, vaccines, and drugs. IDRI took up this
pragmatic approach at a time when few research dollars were addressing
global health. The pathogens in his scope still include Malaria,
leishmaniasis, tuberculosis, and cancer.

Dr. Reed’s academic appointments include Professor of Medicine at
Cornell University Medical College in New York and Research Professor of
Pathobiology at the University of Washington. He serves on several
editorial review committees, has served as a member of the Tropical
Medicine Review Board of the National Institutes of Health, and has
served as a member of diagnostic and vaccine steering committees of the
World Health Organization. In 1994, he co-founded Corixa Corporation
(which was later sold to GlaxoSmithKline, GSK) where he served as Chief
Scientific Officer until leaving in 2004. In 2008 Steve co-founded
Immune Design Corp. where he served as CEO until 2011.

Steve has more than 250 original publications, 40 book chapters and
reviews, and 105 issued patents on diagnostics, vaccines, and
therapeutics of infectious diseases and cancer. He currently serves as a
Distinguished Investigator at IDRI focusing on spinning out new
companies that will creatively partner with IDRI to advance its global
health solutions, and provide opportunities for novel funding mechanisms.

Hall of Fame History

Life Science Washington created the Washington Life Science Hall
of Fame in 2016 to honor industry leaders and pioneers in the field.
Hall of Fame inductees from 2016, 2017, and 2018 include:

Donald W. Baker
Karl William Edmark, MD
Alan Frazier
Denise A Galloway, PhD
Steven Gilles, PhD
Christine Gregoire, JD
Leland Hartwell, PhD
Leroy Hood, MD, PhD
Lee Huntsman, PhD
A. Bruce Montgomery, MD
H. Stewart Parker
Christopher Porter, PhD
E. Donnall Thomas, MD and Dorothy “Dottie” Thomas

About Life Science Washington

Life Science Washington is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(6) trade
association whose mission is to stimulate life science innovation, job
creation and ecosystem vibrancy across Washington state through
engagement, collaboration, promotion, and advocacy. Serving more than
500 members, Life Science Washington brings together research
institutions, investors and innovators to grow the state’s life science
economy. More information can be found at www.lifesciencewa.org.

About Life Science Innovation Northwest conference: www.lifesciencewa.org/page/LSINW19

www.lifesciencewa.org
| @LifeScienceWA