More Than 245 Life Sciences Professionals Attend Inaugural Diversity Alliance for Science Conference

Morristown, NC, May 24, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Diversity Alliance for Science (DA4S) (www.diversityallianceforscience.com) has announced that more than 245 life sciences professionals attended the inaugural conference held May 19-20 at the Westin Governor Morris in Morristown. With a focus on developing and integrating more minority, women and service-veteran disabled business owners into the life sciences space, the two-day conference featured keynote speaker Dr. Gyan (John) Prakash, chief scientific officer and senior vice president of AMAR International, Inc. Dr. Prakash discussed the challenges he faced growing up as an immigrant in the United States and share how he successfully became not only the senior drug development expert at the Department of Health and Human Services, but also the nation’s first director of the Transformational Medical Technologies Initiative (TMTI), a pioneer national biodefense and biomedical product development at the Department of Defense. Other speakers at the event included Heyward B. Davenport, regional director of the United States Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency, and Simon Sinek, world-renowned author of “The Why?” book and founder and CEO of SinekPartners.

Morristown mayor Donald Cresitello welcomed suppliers to the event on Monday and New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, formally kicking off the tradeshow portion of the conference. The corporate tradeshow provided corporations an opportunity to meet top minority, women and service-veteran disabled business owners and suppliers of products and services that support the clinical and scientific arena. Merck & Co., Inc. was the keynote sponsor for the event.

“The inaugural Diversity Alliance for Science conference was huge success,” said Leah Brown, DA4S board member and president of Aten Solutions, Inc. “It was a great opportunity for diverse suppliers to network with large pharmaceutical organizations, and I hope the relationships that were developed lead to the integration of more women, minority and service-veteran disabled owned businesses into the life sciences space.”

About Diversity Alliance for Science, Inc. (DA4S):
Diversity Alliance for Science, Inc. (DA4S) is a nonprofit organization aimed to provide pharmaceutical/bio-tech companies, academic medical centers and governmental agencies the ability to identify, develop, mentor and partner with woman, minority, veteran and disabled-owned enterprises (both large and small) in the life sciences industry. For more information, please visit www.diversityallianceforscience.com.

Patty Briguglio
MMI Associates, Inc.
(919) 233-6600
patty@mmimarketing.com
PR Firms Raleigh, NC

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