Keith Aspinall Named Director of Strategic Operations for BIO5 Institute

Tucson, Ariz.– September 25, 2012 – Keith W. Aspinall has joined the University of Arizona’s (UA) BIO5 Institute as Director of Strategic Operations. Aspinall will direct day-to-day operations for the Institute, with a focus on streamlining productivity and promoting scientific excellence. He will also play a leadership role in the areas of fundraising, faculty partnerships, and business development activities.

Aspinall is an accomplished strategist and innovative thinker with extensive experience building and leading efforts to translate science into successful business solutions. He will be responsible for operational strategy development and deliverables to drive key organizational initiatives that build BIO5’s brand and promote its mission, faculty, and cutting-edge research.

According to Dr. Fernando Martinez, Director of the BIO5 Institute, “We were looking for a proven business leader who understands the innovative vision of BIO5 and the core values of the University, and is also capable of guiding our day-to-day operational objectives. Mr. Aspinall will be a strong connector within our business community locally and across the country. He was a clear choice to lead these efforts with his extraordinary combination of scientific and business acumen.”

“BIO5 is the place where someone who has spent their career on the Biology/Business intersection can make a contribution,” said Mr. Aspinall. “Brilliant science requires teamwork to translate it into bold solutions – biologists who understand a disease’s pathogenesis, chemists than can craft drugs that work, engineers who can bring ideas from paper to reality, mathematicians who can isolate signal from noise, and information scientists who can manage massive data sets, just to name a few. This process depends on many people working together and inspiring new ways of thinking about challenges. BIO5 excels at being the lens through which the UA focuses its efforts in these critical areas, and where researchers are supported in progressing their science. I am thrilled to help facilitate this process, and honestly feel there is no more exciting place to be.”

Aspinall has been with Bain & Company, Inc. since 1980, most recently serving as Senior Advisor on Healthcare.

The BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona mobilizes top researchers in five disciplines—agriculture, engineering, medicine, pharmacy, and science—to find creative, collaborative solutions to humanity’s most pressing health and environmental challenges. Since 2001, its multidisciplinary approach has been an international model of how to conduct collaborative research and has resulted in improved food crops, innovative diagnostic devices, and promising new therapies. In addition, BIO5 supports the next generation of scientists through its science education, outreach and training programs throughout Arizona. Importantly, BIO5 also plays a vital role in impacting Southern Arizona’s economy though jobs and funding. Learn more at BIO5.org