Wake Forest Baptist Names President of Piedmont Triad Research Park and Chief Innovation Officer

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., June 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Eric Tomlinson, DSc, PhD, a scientific and business leader whose career incorporates academia, product innovation and economic development, has been named President of Piedmont Triad Research Park (PTRP) and Chief Innovation Officer of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. He will join the Medical Center July 2, 2012.

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"Eric will focus on the commercialization of research and innovation, along with the business development of PTRP, which is the area's top regional economic project priority and one of the largest urban life science research parks in the country," said John D. McConnell, M.D., chief executive officer of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "His unique background in academic science, large pharmaceutical and small startup companies, product design and commercialization, and government policy made him the ideal candidate to build on our successes."

Tomlinson has also worked as an advisor to venture capital, government and professional agencies on biopharmaceutical sciences and has held academic appointments in the U.S. and in Europe, including at the University of Amsterdam as professor in the department of pharmacy. He is currently chairman of the board of directors of Metaclipse Therapeutics Corp., an early-stage company based in Atlanta, Ga., which develops patient- and tumor-specific immunotherapies.

As former CEO, president, and member of the board of directors of Altea Therapeutics Corp., Tomlinson brought several high-value pharmaceutical products into clinical development for the treatment of diabetes, blood disorders and pain. As the head of GeneMedicine, Inc., of Woodlands, Texas, a pioneering gene therapy company, he raised more than $100 million in private, public and partnership income, brought gene products into clinical trials for treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neuromuscular disorders, and transacted a merger to form Valentis Inc.

Additionally, Tomlinson served as worldwide head of advanced drug delivery research and as a member of the International Research Board of Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals in Horsham, U.K. He has also served as Chairman of the Georgia Biotechnology Industry Organization and as a member of the U.S. National Research Council task force on the high technology/information technology workforce that reported to the U.S. Congress. Tomlinson is a fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the American Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Tomlinson received his bachelor of pharmacy, his doctor of philosophy, and his doctor of science degrees from the University of London. He has authored or co-authored 230 research publications in the life sciences and the pharmaceutical sciences (solution thermodynamics, drug design, site-specific drug delivery and gene therapy). He is the co-founder and emeritus editor of the review journal Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews.

"Eric brings a wealth of talent and commercialization experience that will be invaluable as we work together to pioneer breakthroughs and create innovative solutions to improve our lives, our future and the world around us," said Edward Abraham, M.D., dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine.

With the recent completion of the state-of-the-art Biotech Place, the Medical Center has 10 departments in the park. Other park tenants include approximately 40 companies, professions, firms and organizations that employ about 1,000 people. 

Editor's Notes:

Tomlinson photograph available on request.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (www.wakehealth.edu) is a fully integrated academic medical center located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The institution comprises the medical education and research components of Wake Forest School of Medicine, the integrated clinical structure and consumer brand Wake Forest Baptist Health, which includes North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Brenner Children's Hospital, the commercialization of research discoveries through the Piedmont Triad Research Park, as well as a network of affiliated community-based hospitals, physician practices, outpatient services and other medical facilities. Wake Forest School of Medicine is ranked among the nation's best medical schools and is a leading national research center in fields such as regenerative medicine, cancer, neuroscience, aging, addiction and public health sciences. Wake Forest Baptist's clinical programs are consistently ranked as among the best in the country by U.S.News & World Report.

SOURCE Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center