BioUtah Award Winners and Utah Rare Disease Advisory Council Take Center Stage at Utah Life Sciences Innovation Caucus

November 21, 2024

More than a dozen Utah legislators on Wednesday, November 20, held a breakfast meeting of the Utah Life Sciences Innovation Caucus (ULSIC) at the state capitol. Senator Ann Millner, a member of the ULSIC leadership, welcomed legislators to the event.  BioUtah President and CEO, Kelvyn Cullimore, introduced the morning’s speakers, including Justine Case, a member of the Utah Rare Disease Advisory Council (RDAC) who talked about the needs of the rare disease community and how policy impacts this particular patient population. The RDAC was established by the state legislature in 2020.

Also recognized at the meeting were several winners of BioUtah’s 2024 Life Sciences Awards. The awards were recently announced at the Mayer Brown Utah Life Sciences Summit. Dr. Wm. Dean Wallace, CEO of Liger Medical, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award, spoke to the caucus about his work developing innovative medical devices to advance women’s health and working with the National Cancer Institute to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030. Blackrock Neurotech’s Marketing Manager, Jess Nani, also addressed legislators, sharing the company’s work in innovative brain technologies that hold promise for people with paralysis and other neurological disorders to walk, talk, hear, see, and feel again. Blackrock received BioUtah’s Innovation Impact Award. Although Entrepreneur of the Year awardee, Jay Muse, CEO of Piper Access, wasn’t present, attendees were shown a video about Muse in which his pioneering, can-do spirit was on full display.

Meetings of the ULSIC continue to serve as a forum for legislators to learn more about Utah’s life sciences industry and policies that impact its mission to innovate, improve, and save lives. The bi-partisan, bi-cameral leadership team of the ULSIC is comprised of Senator Ann Millner, Senator Luz Escamilla, Representative Steve Eliason, and Representative Jenn Dailey-Provost.