Inaugural Dinner

The Women in Bio Inaugural Dinner was held in conjunction with and immediately following the annual Maryland BioScience Forum organized by Maryland BioAlliance of the Tech Council of Maryland.
The Inaugural Dinner celebrated "Women Entrepreneurs in BioScience." The Dinner featured two trailblazing entrepreneurs in the bioscience industry. The speakers were:

Dr. Nancy Chang
CEO, President and Founder of Tanox, Inc.
(NASDAQ:TNOX)  

As chief executive officer of Tanox, Inc., Dr. Chang draws on 22 years of biotechnology experience to guide the company's strategic vision and oversee operations. Dr. Chang also served as the president and chairman of the board of directors since she co-founded the company in 1986 to address significant unmet medical needs in the areas of asthma, allergy, inflammation, and diseases affecting the human immune system.

Before starting Tanox, Dr. Chang served as an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine in the division of molecular virology and as director of research, molecular biology group, for Centocor, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company.

Dr. Chang has received numerous academic, national and international awards for her business acumen and contributions to the biopharmaceutical industry. She was inducted into the Texas Science Hall of Fame in 2001 for exemplary achievement in science and is the recipient of coveted awards such as the Associate of Women in Computing: Top 20 Houston Women in Technology, Who's Who National Registry and Houston Entrepreneur of the Year (sponsored by Ernst & Young, Inc. Magazine and Merrill Lynch). As an active member in the biopharmaceutical industry, she has published more than 35 papers on topics ranging from monoclonal antibodies to HIV and holds seven patents.

Dr. Chang currently serves on the board of the Houston Technology Council and the Center for Houston's Future. She also has held leadership positions with various biotechnology, business and technology organizations including CSIS Council on Biotechnology Research, Innovation and Public Policy, the Governor's Advisory Committee on Biopharmaceuticals and the Texas Science and Technology Council.

Dr. Chang received her doctorate in biological chemistry from Harvard University.
 
Dr. Sharon Mates
CEO, Chairman and Founder
 
Dr. Mates is the Chairman and CEO of Functional Genetics, Inc. (FGI) and Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. (ITI). From 1989 to 1998, Dr. Mates was the President of North American Vaccine and its predecessor companies. Since 1998, Dr. Mates has been involved in the formation of several biotech and healthcare companies, including FGI and ITI, which were launched in December 2000 and May 2002, respectively.

Functional Genetics was formed by Dr. Mates, Dr. Stanley Cohen and Dr. Limin Li of Stanford University to develop therapeutics in the areas of oncology, infectious disease, and Alzheimer's disease based on disease relevant genes discovered and validated by FGI technologies.
Intra-Cellular therapies was formed by Dr. Mates along with Dr. Paul Greengard and Dr. Allen Feinberg of Rockefeller University to develop new therapeutics for CNS diseases based on proprietary technologies developed in Dr. Greengard's laboratory.

Dr. Mates is a member of the Board of Visitors of the Biotechnology Institute of the University of Maryland, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for Society and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Mates received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington and was a postdoctoral fellow and fellow at Harvard Medical School and the Massachussetts General Hospital.