Dr. George Poste, Caris Diagnostics Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Advisor, Receives the 2009 Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award
IRVING, Texas, and PHOENIX, Arizona; December 14, 2009 – Caris Diagnostics™ is pleased to announce Vice-Chairman and Chief Scientific Advisor George Poste, D.V.M., Ph.D, D.Sc., F.R.S., was named the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Poste accepted the honor during the 5th Annual Scrip Awards ceremony in London on November 18th, hosted by Scrip World Pharmaceutical News.
The internationally-renowned Scrip Awards acknowledge outstanding achievements in the pharmaceutical, biotech and allied industries. An esteemed panel of judges comprised of independent industry experts from around the world selected Dr. Poste for his nearly four decades of research accomplishments spanning academia, industry, and government.
“I am deeply honored to have received such a distinguished award”. “I am now very excited about adding a new dimension to my career in collaboration with Caris in developing new molecular diagnostic tests for the improved detection and treatment selection of cancer and forging new vistas in personalized healthcare” said Dr. Poste.
The Award Committee cited the following accomplishments; Dr. Poste’s studies on clonal diversity in tumors, in the 1970s and 1980s, provided new, important conceptual insights into tumor cell heterogeneity.
In 1981, Dr. Poste accepted the Research Director role at SmithKline and French (later SmithKline Beecham and GlaxoSmithKline), where he later became the President of R&D Chief Science and Technology Officer and a Member of the Board. During his tenure at SmithKline Beecham, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, Dr. Poste oversaw the successful registration of 31 drug, vaccine and diagnostic products and the launch of a global program for eradication of lymphatic filariasis. Dr. Poste retired from SmithKline Beecham in 2000.
From 2003 to 2008, Dr. Poste founded the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University (ASU), to harness the growing convergence of biology with engineering and computing. Dr. Poste designed the state-of-the-art Biodesign Institute facilities, achieved cumulative research funding of $225 million for the program, and recruited more than 60 faculty members, including three members of the National Academies of Science and Engineering.
Most recently, Dr. Poste launched the Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative at Arizona State University to leverage key university research strengths against complex global challenges in healthcare, environmental sustainability and national security.
Dr. Poste has published over 350 research papers and edited 14 books on pharmaceutical technologies and oncology. He has received honorary degrees in science, law and medicine for his research contributions and was honored in 1999 by HM Queen Elizabeth II as a Commander of the British Empire for his contributions to international security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal College of Pathologists and the UK Academy of Medicine, a Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University and a member of the Council for Foreign Relations. He is a member of the Defense Science Board and Health Board of the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the US Institute of Medicine Board on Global Health. He Chaired the DoD Task Force on Bioterrorism and the newly launched DoD Task Force on Synthetic Biology.
In addition to his roles as Vice-Chairman and Chief Scientific Advisor at Caris, he is Chief Scientist, Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative (CASI) at Arizona State University. He also serves on boards for Monsanto, Exelixis and Synthetic Genomics and as an advisor to Burrill & Co.