Wake Forest Innovations Seminar: From Biotech Entrepreneur to Venture Philanthropy

Wake Forest Innovations is proud to host a seminar presented by Max Wallace, President and Chief Executive Officer of Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure.

Max Wallace is Chief Executive Officer of Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure (ABC2), an entrepreneurial not-for-profit organization that seeks to develop effective new treatments and hasten the discovery of a cure for brain cancer.  Prior to joining ABC2, Max was CEO of TheraLogics, an early-stage anti-cancer biopharmaceutical company based on technology developed at the University of North Carolina. 

He previously co-founded and served as President of Trimeris, a public biopharmaceutical company that created and brought to market the world’s first entry inhibitor, establishing a new class of drugs for HIV/AIDS and other viral diseases.  Max also founded and developed several other biopharmaceutical companies, including Cogent Neuroscience, Sphinx Pharmaceuticals Corporation (now a division of Eli Lilly & Co); and SARCO (now a part of PPD/Pharmaco).  He also helped form and serves on the board of directors of Humacyte, a tissue engineering company based on the work of Dr. Laura Niklason of Yale University.  Humacyte was just recognized as one of the country’s ten most innovative biotech companies by Fast Company magazine.

Prior to starting Trimeris in 1993, Max spent 10 years on the staff of Duke University in Durham, NC.  There he was a founding investment director of Duke Management Company, the asset management company for the University, where he developed novel approaches to technology development, commercialization and new business creation.  Previously at Duke, he served in the Office of General Counsel, as the University’s Medical Center Legal Counsel, and as Duke’s Director of Government Relations.  Prior to joining the staff at Duke, Max practiced law with the firm of English, McCaughan & O’Bryan in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Max currently serves as a member of the NCI Director’s Consumer Liaison Group.  Previously Max served as President of North Carolina’s Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) and he co-founded and subsequently served as President of the North Carolina Bioscience Organization (NCBIO), the biotechnology industry’s trade organization in North Carolina.  He also served as Chairman of the North Carolina Drug Discovery Center of Innovation.  He served for two years as a Senior Fellow in Leadership and Innovation at the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University, working with former Governor James Hunt on issues of public policy related to economic development and the commercialization of innovative technologies.  He has also served on the boards of directors of the Emerging Companies Section of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the Kenan Institute of Engineering, Technology and Science and on the Advisory Board for the Whitehead Institute at MIT.  He co-founded Duke’s Program in Non-Profit Management and taught graduate courses in Non-Profit Management at the University’s Terry Sanford School of Public Policy. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 1974 and his JD degree from the University of Florida in 1977

Mr. Wallace will give a seminar titled "From Biotech Entrepreneur to Venture Philanthropy." We encourage all of you to register to attend to learn more about the new approach of venture philanthropies in funding research and drug development. 

A complimentary lunch will be served. 

We look forward to seeing you there!

Wake Forest Innovations

 

Register Now!