Investing in Biotechnology for Life, Food and Energy,” is the theme for the 4th Annual South Dakota Biotechnology Summit and Annual Meeting on Thursday, September 17, 2009. This annual event is presented by the South Dakota Biotech Association and will be held at the Ramkota Hotel, Rushmore Room in Sioux Falls, SD.
James C. Greenwood will be the keynote speaker. Mr. Greenwood is President and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in Washington, D.C., which represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. Mr. Greenwood represented Pennsylvania's Eighth District in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 1993 through January 2005. A senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, he was widely viewed as a leader on health care and the environment.
Additional featured speakers include Dr. David Fischhoff, Vice President, Technology Strategy & Development, and Chief of Staff for the Technology division at Monsanto Company. Dr. Fischhoff invented and developed insect resistant transgenic crops. He and his team were the first to develop insect resistant tomato, potato, cotton and corn through the expression of insecticidal genes from Bt. Recently appointed Broin Chair for The Sanford Project, Dr. Paul Burn, a native of Switzerland, will also speak at the Summit. Dr. Burn’s goal is to build a diabetes center that can compete with the best in the world. Also speaking at the Summit is James W. Abbott, the 17th president of The University of South Dakota, who is in his 12th year at the University of South Dakota.