The Washington Life Science Hall of Fame welcomed four new inductees into its ranks today.
The honor was awarded to a quartet of Washingtonians who have made an impact in research and discovery as pioneers in the field of life sciences.
Meet the people leading the path to the future of medicine and health care:
Lee Huntsman has dedicated much of his career to education at the University of Washington. He began as a research assistant professor in the late 1960s and rose through the ranks as director, assistant dean – and then, in 2004, president emeritus.
Today, his goal is to reinvent health care with the help of UW and other collaborators in Washington state.
He helped giving Washington life science researchers a leg up with a public-private partnership through the Life Sciences Discovery Fund Authority. Former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire appointed Huntsman to this position, and was honored today as an inductee herself.
Christine Gregoire broke barriers as the first female attorney general, then took her seat behind the governor’s desk. During two terms as governor, from 2005 to 2013, she chose to invest in the life sciences by creating the Life Sciences Discovery Fund Authority.
She advocates for STEM equality and inclusion, and serves as board chair at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Dr. A. Bruce Montgomery, a former trustee of the Life Sciences Discovery Fund, also made the list of inductees. He co-invented an AIDS treatment called aerosolized pentamidine, the second AIDS drug approved by the FDA.
Today, he continues his work with pharmaceuticals and serves as CEO of Genoa Pharmaceuticals, a company developing a new treatment for lung disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Before joining Genoa, he filled CEO roles at Cardeas Pharma and Corus Pharma Inc.
H. Stewart Parker, principal of Parker BioConsulting, also joins the ranks of the second class of Hall of Famers. She’s held leadership roles in a number of fields including biotechnology, infectious disease research and targeted genetics.
She gives back to the Pacific Northwest by volunteering her time as a board member of WINGS, a non-profit angel network for medical technologies.
“We are very pleased to honor these highly influential leaders with induction into the Washington Life Science Hall of Fame,” Life Science Washington CEO Leslie Alexandre said in a press release.
The Washington State Hall of Fame inducted its inaugural group of five inductees last year. Huntsman, Gregoire, Montgomery and Parker are now being given the same honor bestowed upon the inventor of the heart defibrillator, an engineer who revolutionized Doppler technology and one of the pioneers behind the Human Genome Project.
