Tiffany Wilson and Steven L. Stice, PhD are the recipients of the 2017 Georgia Bio Industry Growth Awards. Wilson is the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Center for Medical Innovation (GCMI) and T3 Labs in Atlanta. Stice is the D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor, GRA Eminent Scholar, Director of the Regenerative Bioscience Center at the University of Georgia, and founder of two Athens-based biotechnology companies, ArunA Biomedical and SciStem.

The Industry Growth Awards are the highest honors bestowed each year by Georgia Bio. They recognize individuals in the public and private sectors who have made extraordinary contributions to the growth of Georgia’s life sciences industry.

Tiffany Wilson is being honored for her leadership of GCMI, her overall dedication to the medtech industry and the creation and chairmanship of the Southeast Medical Device Associations’ Medtech Women organization. Wilson’s drive to increase the commercialization of novel medical device inventions from academic and research institutions is demonstrated in the success of GCMI and her appointment to numerous industry boards. In addition, she has served as a Member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) at the U.S. Department of Commerce and has worked tirelessly to raise the national profile of GCMI.

Steven L. Stice, Ph.D. is being honored for his longstanding commitment to the advancement of regenerative medicine research and commercialization in the state of Georgia. Dr. Stice is an internationally recognized scholar in biotechnology and stem cell research and has founded numerous companies to contribute to Georgia’s bio-economy.

Ms. Wilson and Dr. Stice will be honored at the Georgia Bio Annual Awards Dinner, January 26, 2017 6 pm to 9 pm, at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North. Other leading companies, executives, researchers and dedicated individuals will receive Georgia Bio Awards. Learn more and register at www.gabio.org/awards.

Biographies of Honorees

Tiffany Wilson
Tiffany has spent over a decade bringing innovative medical technology from benchtop to bedside. She leads the Global Center for Medical Innovation, a non-profit organization that represents the Southeast’s first medical device innovation center. GCMI has supported 70-plus innovative medical technologies making their way through design, prototype, preclinical testing, and clinical trials to commercialization. The organization acquired T3 Labs from Emory Healthcare in 2016 and is catalyzing a highly capital efficient method approach to move innovation to products that impact patient outcomes and healthcare efficiently.

Tiffany joined GCMI from Scientific Intake, where she was VP of Business Development & Strategy. In 2002, she launched ACell as VP of Corporate Strategy & Finance, leading a broad range of initiatives, including regulatory, reimbursement, and the scientific advisory board. A former consultant & investment banker, she brings considerable experience in strategic planning, business development, operations, and financial analysis.

Tiffany serves as Past-President of the Board of the Southeast Medical Device Association (SEMDA) and served as the Chair of the T3 Labs Advisory Board. She is a Member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She led the Sponsorship Committee of the 2013 SEMDA Conference and has served as the Co-Chair of the Medical Device Subcommittee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber Bioscience Leadership Council. In 2015 she received the prestigious Georgia Bio Community Award and joins the Georgia Bio Board of Directors in 2017. She was recently recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of “17 Inspiring Women to Watch in 2017.”

Steven L. Stice, Ph.D.
Dr. Steven Stice, awarded the highest scholastic faculty award, the D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professorship, is also a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar endowed chair, and director of the Regenerative Bioscience Center (RBC) at the University of Georgia. The RBC consist of more than 35 faculty/researchers, representing six different colleges. (www.rbc.uga.edu)

He has over 25 years of research and development experience in biotechnology and is a co-founder of five biotechnology companies, including ArunA Biomedical and SciStem, where he currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer. ArunA was the first company to commercialize a product derived from human pluripotent stem cells, and the company has developed stem cells that were used to facilitate clinical testing of Pfizer’s current cognitive enhancing pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Stice sits as one of the directors for REM, Regenerative Engineering and Medicine — a partnership between Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology and UGA. He also plays an active leadership role in EBICS: Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems, a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His newest role for 2016 is an invitation to serve as a member of the Science Advisory Board to the National Center for Toxicological Research of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Science Board provides advice to the Commissioner and other appropriate officials on specific complex scientific and technical issues important to FDA and its mission, including emerging issues within the scientific community.

Prior to joining UGA, Dr. Stice was the co-founder and served as both CSO and CEO of Advanced Cell Technology, the only US company currently in human clinical trials using human pluripotent stem cells. Additionally, he co-founded startups; Prolinia and Cytogenesis, which later merged with what is now ViaCyte.

For a list of past Georgia Bio Industry Growth Award recipients, click here.

Georgia Bio (www.gabio.org) is the state’s life science industry association whose members include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, medical centers, universities and research institutes, government groups and other business organizations involved in the development of life sciences related products and services.

Note to Editors: Credentialed members of the news media are invited to attend. Registration is complimentary. Please contact Maria Thacker (404-920-2042; mthacker@gabio.org).