[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The Illinois life sciences community gathered last Thursday evening at The Salt Shed\u2019s Three Top Lounge for the 2025 iBIO iCON Awards. The event brought together researchers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, educators, and community partners for a night focused on recognizing achievement and strengthening relationships across the ecosystem.<\/p>\n
Attendees filled the venue, catching up with colleagues and celebrating the honorees whose work is shaping the future of life sciences in Illinois. The atmosphere reflected the energy and growth happening across the region \u2014 not just in labs or boardrooms, but across the community itself.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s honorees represent the broad spectrum of innovation that defines Illinois: visionary leadership, translational research, entrepreneurial execution, and public service that improves access to care.<\/p>\n
Timothy P. Walbert<\/b><\/span>, former Chairman, President & CEO of Horizon Therapeutics, received the Civic iCON Award<\/i> for his economic impact and leadership in building infrastructure that supports other companies and entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The Innovator iCON Award<\/i> went to Bradley Merrill, PhD<\/b><\/span>, Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago and Co-Founder of Syntax Bio, for advancing CRISPR-based synthetic biology and stem cell engineering.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Harry D. Rowland, PhD<\/b><\/span>, Co-Founder and former CEO of Endotronix, received the Entrepreneur iCON Award<\/i> for taking breakthrough cardiac monitoring technology from concept to FDA approval.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Illinois State Senator Adrianne Johnson<\/b><\/span> was honored with the Patient Advocate Award<\/i> for her commitment to increasing access and championing patient-centered care.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Portal Innovations<\/b><\/span>, accepted by Founder John Flavin, received the Community Impact Award<\/i> for building a platform that grows early-stage companies and expands the region\u2019s innovation capacity.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n During the program, iBIO President and CEO John Conrad<\/b><\/span> emphasized why the celebration matters:<\/p>\n \u201cNow more than ever, it\u2019s important that we come together and celebrate. Tonight wasn\u2019t just about recognizing success \u2014 it was about recognizing leaders who are transforming our ecosystem and making Illinois a destination for life sciences innovation.\u201d <\/i><\/i>\u2014 <\/span>John Conrad, President & CEO, iBIO<\/b><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n While the evening spotlighted today\u2019s leaders, it also supported the workforce of tomorrow. Proceeds from the event fund iBIO\u2019s statewide STEM education initiatives, including after-school programming, the STEMgirls Camp for middle school girls in underserved communities, and LabShare \u2014 a program that redistributes working lab equipment from companies to Illinois schools and early-stage labs.<\/p>\n The event was made possible through generous industry support. iBIO extends a special thank you to Takeda<\/b><\/span>, the lead sponsor of this year\u2019s celebration, and to supporting sponsors Perkins Coie, McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP, Avantor, BIO, Regeneron, Vertex, Immedica, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Syntax Bio<\/b><\/span>.<\/p>\n The 2025 iCON Awards underscored the strength of Illinois\u2019 life sciences ecosystem \u2014 collaborative, innovative, and driven by people committed not only to discovering breakthrough science, but to building opportunity for others.<\/p>\n The Illinois life sciences community gathered last Thursday evening at The Salt Shed\u2019s Three Top Lounge for the 2025 iBIO iCON Awards. The event brought together researchers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, educators, and community partners for a night focused on recognizing achievement and strengthening relationships across the ecosystem. Attendees filled the venue, catching up with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" The Illinois life sciences community gathered last Thursday evening at The Salt Shed\u2019s Three Top Lounge for the 2025 iBIO iCON Awards. The event brought together researchers, CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, educators, and community partners for a night focused on recognizing achievement and strengthening relationships across the ecosystem.<\/p> Attendees filled the venue, catching up with colleagues and celebrating the honorees whose work is shaping the future of life sciences in Illinois. The atmosphere reflected the energy and growth happening across the region \u2014 not just in labs or boardrooms, but across the community itself.<\/p> This year\u2019s honorees represent the broad spectrum of innovation that defines Illinois: visionary leadership, translational research, entrepreneurial execution, and public service that improves access to care.<\/p> Timothy P. Walbert<\/b><\/span>, former Chairman, President & CEO of Horizon Therapeutics, received the Civic iCON Award<\/i> for his economic impact and leadership in building infrastructure that supports other companies and entrepreneurs.<\/p><\/li> The Innovator iCON Award<\/i> went to Bradley Merrill, PhD<\/b><\/span>, Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago and Co-Founder of Syntax Bio, for advancing CRISPR-based synthetic biology and stem cell engineering.<\/p><\/li> Harry D. Rowland, PhD<\/b><\/span>, Co-Founder and former CEO of Endotronix, received the Entrepreneur iCON Award<\/i> for taking breakthrough cardiac monitoring technology from concept to FDA approval.<\/p><\/li> Illinois State Senator Adrianne Johnson<\/b><\/span> was honored with the Patient Advocate Award<\/i> for her commitment to increasing access and championing patient-centered care.<\/p><\/li> Portal Innovations<\/b><\/span>, accepted by Founder John Flavin, received the Community Impact Award<\/i> for building a platform that grows early-stage companies and expands the region\u2019s innovation capacity.<\/p><\/li><\/ul> During the program, iBIO President and CEO John Conrad<\/b><\/span> emphasized why the celebration matters:<\/p> \u201cNow more than ever, it\u2019s important that we come together and celebrate. Tonight wasn\u2019t just about recognizing success \u2014 it was about recognizing leaders who are transforming our ecosystem and making Illinois a destination for life sciences innovation.\u201d <\/i><\/i>\u2014 <\/span>John Conrad, President & CEO, iBIO<\/b><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote> While the evening spotlighted today\u2019s leaders, it also supported the workforce of tomorrow. Proceeds from the event fund iBIO\u2019s statewide STEM education initiatives, including after-school programming, the STEMgirls Camp for middle school girls in underserved communities, and LabShare \u2014 a program that redistributes working lab equipment from companies to Illinois schools and early-stage labs.<\/p> The event was made possible through generous industry support. iBIO extends a special thank you to Takeda<\/b><\/span>, the lead sponsor of this year\u2019s celebration, and to supporting sponsors Perkins Coie, McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP, Avantor, BIO, Regeneron, Vertex, Immedica, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Syntax Bio<\/b><\/span>.<\/p> The 2025 iCON Awards underscored the strength of Illinois\u2019 life sciences ecosystem \u2014 collaborative, innovative, and driven by people committed not only to discovering breakthrough science, but to building opportunity for others.<\/p> \u00a0<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[143],"tags":[262,695,89,694,121,484,542],"class_list":["post-10972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ibio-news","tag-chicago","tag-harry-rowland","tag-ibio","tag-icon-awards","tag-illinois","tag-portal-innovations","tag-tim-walbert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10972"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10977,"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10972\/revisions\/10977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” gallery_ids=”10971,10970,10969,10968,10967,10966,10965,10964,10963,10962,10961,10960,10959,10958,10957,10956,10955,10954,10953,10952,10951,10950″ show_title_and_caption=”off” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_gallery][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"