On Tuesday October 23, 2012 the stars were shining inside the Phoenix Convention Center at the AZBio Awards as our community came together to celebrate the companies and individuals who are moving us forward faster.

The Cord Blood Registry team celebrates being named the 2012 Arizona Bioscience Company of the Year

At the end of the evening, Cord Blood Registry was named 2012 Arizona Bioscience Company of the Year in celebration of a 20 year history of innovation and leadership in the field of cord blood stem cells.  CBR helps more families save and use their cord blood stem cells for treatment than any other family bank in the world.  From superior quality and service to their unique access to groundbreaking research, CBR is the world leader and heir facility in Tucson, Arizona is  home to the world’s largest community of privately stored cord blood stem cells.  Our community will have the opportunity to get together with the CBR team and tour the Tucson facilty this coming January as we kick of AZBio’s Tucsoon events in Southern Arizona.

Local  and national leaders joined the celebration and we were truly honored to have with us Governor Jane D. Hull, who during her years of service as Arizona Governor, led us in creating a focused environment for  leadership in the biosciences.  Senator Jon Kyl, Congressman Trent Franks, Congressman Paul Gosar, DDS, Arizona Senator Al Melvin, and Arizona Representative Vic Williams joined AZBio Chairman Glen Galster, Pfizer’s Shelby Fletcher and Fritz Bittenbender, Vice President of the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO) to sit with 2012 Pioneer Award winner Raymond L. Woosley, MD,PhD.   Next door, University of Arizona President Ann Weaver Hart enjoyed the evening with her University of Arizona leadership team, Arizona Senate President Steve Pierce, and Arizona Speaker of the the House, Andy Tobin.

AZBio Board Member Mike Mobley of M. J. Mobley Consulting, LLC  and his team of independent judges selected an amazing group of honorees for us this year.  Each award category had its own independent panel  made up of leaders from across Arizona and the thought and consideration that was put into the selection of each award winner from the body of nominations was a significant contribution of both tiime and leadership.  Thank you judges!

U.S. Senator Jon Kyl was honored with the AZBio Centennial Award in recognition of his decades of leadership in Washington, D.C. and dedicated service to our industry and to the people of Arizona.

The 2012 AZBio Award winners are:

Centennial Award:
U.S. Senator Jon Kyl.

AZBio Pioneer Awards:
Dr. David S. Alberts

Dr. Raymond L. Woosley

Michael A. Cusnovich
Bioscience Educator of the Year
Jennifer Kehlet Barton, PhD

2012 Public Service Award
Rick Myers, Chair of the Arizona Board of Regents

Bioscience Researcher of the Year
Paul Keim. PhD

Jon W. McGarity
Bioscience Leader of the Year
Harry A. George

Fast Lane Award Winners:

Critical Path Institute
Global Cancer Dx
Ulthera

Bioscience Company of the Year
Cord Blood Registry

Finalists:  Brain State Technologies and Flagship Biosciences.

The audience enjoyed gettiing to know our honorees through video vignettes throughout the evening.  You can replay them all by visiting the AZBio Expo Online.  Simply register and login for access and then view the videos in the “2012  AZbio Awards” innovation folder.  We’ll be adding the videos from the evening’s events this wee also, so come back and visit often for all of the latest AZBio Awards videos and highlights from across our biosciencee community.   You will also find hundreds of photos from the event at the AZBio Facebook Page.

Here are some memories from the 2012 AZBio Awards.  Click on the image to see the full size photo.