North Texas has a booming biotech sector that includes Fort Worth businessman Paul Dorman, the chairman and CEO of DFB Pharmaceuticals who has a strong record as an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. And bionorthTX, North Texas’ life sciences trade association, recognizes that.
Dorman has been named as the recipient of bionorthTX’s 2019 Dennis K. Stone Award, which recognizes contributions that have improved the community’s quality of life.
Dorman will receive the award on Friday, Sept. 27 at the 5th Annual iC3 Life Science Summit in Arlington.
The Summit was launched in 2014 as a meeting place for startups and large multinationals in biotech, pharma, healthcare, academic research, innovation, and more. Each year, the event is a forum for leaders to discuss strategic issues, exhibit a variety of local life sciences products and services, network, and grow business through collaboration.
Jorge Varela, who was appointed bionorthTX CEO and president in December, said Dorman checked all the boxes as this year’s award recipient.
“Dorman epitomizes the attributes we seek in recipients of the Dennis K. Stone Award through his entrepreneurship, investments, and philanthropy,” Varela said in a statement. “His success and contributions over the past 30 years has contributed to the growing North Texas biotech and healthcare sectors.”
Dorman has etched a prominent spot in the history of the Dallas-Fort Worth life sciences arena, a sector that is gaining increasing importance in biotech and biomedical research and development with new companies and facilities contributing to the region’s future.
He co-founded DFB Pharmaceuticals in 1990 after the purchase of Dermatological Products of Texas from Fort Worth-based Alcon Laboratories. DFB Pharmaceuticals invests in, develops, and operates pharma businesses that develop and commercialize life-saving drugs.
Dorman later founded the H. Paul Dorman Charter Scholarship Program in 2017 to provide first-year tuition to the entire inaugural class of M.D. students at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine in Fort Worth.
“I understand the need for exceptionally trained physicians, and I believe the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine team is creating the right formula to prepare students to practice medicine in the future,” Dorman said at the time. “This school will change the medical and economic landscape of our community and I can’t wait to meet the students who make up the first class.”
Dorman’s latest venture, Nanology LLC, seeks to gain a foothold in oncology by developing a submicron (smaller than one millionth of a meter) drug development platform.
Nanology was formed in 2015 by DFB Pharmaceuticals in collaboration with CritiTech and US Biotest. It is led by leaders from each company.
Nanology joins entities in North Texas such as OncoNano, the North Texas Genome Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, UNT Health Science Center, Phynd Technologies, CerSci Therapeutics, Galderma, Neuro Rehab VR, and Nanoscope.
Dorman joins an impressive list of previous recipients of the Dennis Stone Award:
- 2018 — Darlene Boudreaux, executive director (retired) of TECH Fort Worth
- 2017 — Lyda Hill, philanthropist and entrepreneur
- 2016 — Dennis K. Stone, chief scientific officer of Remeditex Ventures
- 2015 — Phil Ralston, CEO and co-founder of MacuClear
The iC3 Life Science Summit
BionorthTX’s iC3 Life Science Summit is scheduled for Sept. 26-27 at various locations around Dallas-Fort Worth.
A VIP dinner reception will be held at American Airlines’ CR Smith Museum in Fort Worth, and the conference and exhibits will be at E.H. Hereford University Center at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Included among the confirmed featured speakers are:
- Melissa Acosta, director of clinical research at JPS Health Network
- Dr. Claire Aldridge, AVP commercialisation and business develop at UT Southwestern
- Halden Conner, CEO of Nacuity Pharmaceuticals
- Ratinder Dhami, director of regulatory affairs, Network Partners,
- Valerie Freeman, CEO of Imprimis Group
- Jinming Gao, co-founder of OncoNano Medicine,
- Kathleen Gibson, CEO of Southwestern Medical Foundation
- James Greenwood, president andCEO of Biotechnology Innovation Organization
- Alvaro Guillem, investor and former CEO and founder of ZS Pharma
- Dr. Vistasp Karbhari, president of the University of Texas at Arlington
- Tom Kowalski, CEO of the Texas Healthcare and Bioscience Institute
- Les Kreis, founder/managing partner of Bios Partners
- Milton de la Paz, vice president airline relations and cargo business at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport
- Luces Rodriguez, CEO and founder of CerSci Therapeutics
- Veena Sommareddy, CEO and founder of Neuro Rehab VR
- Baran Sumer, co-founder of OncoNano Medicine
- Hua Tu, CEO and founder of LakePharma
- John Walling, COO of Barricade Therapeutics
- Dr. Jon Weidanz, director of North Texas Genome Center
- Huber Zajicek, COO and co-founder of Health Wildcatters
Sponsors for the conference are Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, The University of Texas at Arlington, Alitek, Office Depot, Polsinelli, Pureflow Inc., Huck Medical, TW Consulting & Assiciates, UNT Health Science Center, Quest Diagnostics, Medix, Sky+Cell, CRB, UT Southwestern, and Cohortias.
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R E A D N E X T
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Deadline for nominations is Friday, September 17. The 2021 award, sponsored by BioLabs at Pegasus Park, will be presented on September 30 at the iC3 Life Science Summit. The impact that Dr. Dennis K. Stone left on the DFW biotech industry is, without doubt, immeasurable, says BioNTX. Past recipients of the award that honors his memory are Phil Ralston, Lyda Hill, Darlene Boudreaux, Paul Dorman, and Hubert Zajicek.
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