Speakers Biographies
Nat Alston is the President & Founder of The Horizons Group, LLC, a human capital consulting firm specializing in human resources strategic planning, recruitment/search, management training, employee relations, compensation/benefits analysis, customer service, and wellness programs. Nat has over 28 years of executive & mid level human resources experience in a variety of positions covering such industries as financial services, health care, hospitality, food service & distribution, local & state government. Prior to the founding of The Horizons Group, Nat was the Vice President of Human Resources for State Employees Credit Union in that capacity he directed the overall human resource function for the largest credit union in the State of Maryland. With over 450 employees and one billion dollars in assets, Nat was part of the senior management team that set the strategic direction for the credit union. He was also involved in setting the corporate sales culture for the credit union as it approached the 21st century.;He is a member of the Executive Board for the University of Maryland University College Alumni, and a member of the Executive Board of the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources. ;He has twice served as Chapter President for the Baltimore Chapter of the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources.; Nat is a graduate of the University of Maryland University College.
Taka Amano (full name: Takatsugu Amano) has been in the business of communication between cultures since 1980. That year Kodansha International conducted a translating contest commemorating the publication of their English translation of Musashi; winning First Place was the official send-off of Taka's professional career. Previously, Taka had attained notoriety in Japan¹s English language professional community as the youngest ever to pass the prestigious Standard Test of English Proficiency (known as "Ei-Ken Ikkyu").
Taka grew up in Yokohama, New York, and Los Angeles and graduated private schools in Tokyo ("Azabu" may ring a bell with those familiar with Japan) and in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). He has a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is highly educated to read, write, and speak both English and Japanese natively. He is quite unique in his ability to function naturally and appropriately in both cultures. Unlike many language specialists, his skills and education are strong in business, science and technology as well as in the arts and humanities.
Taka educates American clients on business issues and cultural background to increase comfort and effectiveness in working with the Japanese, sits in on meetings to create comfort and facilitate understanding, and acts as a go-between to the two parties for communication and correspondence. In addition, Taka is a top-level interpreter and translator.
Brenda Baker earned her Master's degree in Biotechnology in Fall, 2006 from University of Maryland University College (UMUC). Being trained in Social Work, she worked for 10 years as a therapist for adults with disabilities based. Brenda's interest in biotechnology was sparked when she worked for an independent bio-medical testing laboratory, coordinating toxicology, microbiology, and chemistry testing of products to ensure FDA compliance. She also worked for a law firm conducting research on the 2001 anthrax attacks. Last 2 years, she has been a UMUC Graduate Teaching Assistant for BIOT681 - Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, BIOT 640 - Societal Issues, and BIOT682 - Lab Practicum.
Donna Dimke is the Sr. Director, Human Resources for Human Genome Sciences (HGS). HGS is a late-stage biopharmaceutical Company with seven products in clinical development, including drugs to treat hepatitis C, lupus and other autoimmune diseases, anthrax exposure, and cancer. Donna started her career with HGS over 14 years ago in laboratory and led a group of 70 researchers performing molecular biology services before joining Human Resources in 2000. Currently, Donna leads the HR Business Partner and strategic staffing functions and is a member of the senior HR team. She works with the managers and executives on talent selection and development, organization design, and developing solutions for their complex business and people challenges. She received her BS in Biology from LeMoyne College and her MBA from George Washington University.
Alice has worked in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry for over sixteen years.; During this time she has worked with a large pharmaceutical company, small start-up companies as well as a clinical research organization (CRO). Alice’s career has progressed through Data Management, Clinical Research Associate, Clinical Research Manager, Project Manager and Director of Clinical Research. Although the majority of studies Alice has worked on have been in oncology, she has also worked on cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and vaccine studies.;
Alice is currently employed by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals in Rockville, Maryland which is a company specializing in the human immune system and other unmet medical needs.; Previously, she has been employed by Bristol Myers Squibb, Kendle International, British Biotech and Henri Beaufour Institute.; Alice received a B.S. in Public and Community Health from Southern Connecticut State University.
Lori M. Kelman is Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences and Professor of Biotechnology at Montgomery College, Germantown, MD.; She received an A.B. in biochemistry from Mount Holyoke College, a M.S. in biology from St. John’s University, a MBA in management from Iona College, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Cornell University.; Prior to coming to Montgomery College, she was on the faculty of Iona College in New Rochelle, NY, and performed research at the Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the National Institutes of Health.; She has taught more than 20 different courses at three colleges, and is the author of one textbook.; She is also Editor of BIOS: a quarterly journal of biology, a journal of undergraduate research and the journal of the Beta Beta Beta Biological Society.;
Dr. Michael Kinch leads Product Development at Functional Genetics, a biotherapeutics company located in Gaithersburg, MD.; Dr. Kinch’s scientific areas of expertise include cancer cell metastasis, signal transduction, antiviral development, immunology, cell biology, biochemistry and in vivo studies.; He has authored more than 60 manuscripts and serves on the scientific advisory boards for Alfacell Corp. and Vasgene, Inc. and as Chairperson for the Synergistic Idea Award section of the Department of Defense CDMRP and serves as a reviewer for multiple scientific journals and study sections.
Prior to Functional Genetics, Dr. Kinch served as MedImmune’s senior director, research and development and head of the company’s cancer biology and in vivo biology departments. He joined MedImmune in December 2001 and was promoted to director, research in 2003 and senior director in 2005. Prior to MedImmune, Dr. Kinch spent six years with Purdue University, holding the position of associate professor of pharmacology (with tenure). At Purdue, he conducted extramurally funded research in the fields of cancer metastasis and microenvironment.
Before his employment at Purdue, Dr. Kinch served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. Kinch holds a bachelor of science degree in molecular genetics with distinction in immunology from The Ohio State University and a doctorate of philosophy in cell and molecular biology from Duke University, Department of Microbiology and Immunology.;
Douglas Liu joined the Company in 2005 as Vice President Global Operations. Mr Liu has a MBA from Boston University and Science degree from the University of Illinois. Mr Liu has a twenty year track record of success in operations, strategic planning and R&D in molecular diagnostics, immunodiagnostics and other healthcare market segments. Before joining QIAGEN Mr Liu worked at Bayer Healthcare as Head of Operations for Nucleic Acid Diagnostics in the US and in Strategic Planning and Consulting at Bayer AG, Leverkusen. Prior to these positions, Mr Liu worked at Abbott Diagnostics and Chiron Diagnostics. Douglas Liu has recently relocated from Hilden to the Germantown and assumed responsibility for the Chairmanship of the North American Leadership Team (NALT) on January 1, 2007.
James SaundersJames Saunders currently is Director of Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics (MB3) at Towson University. Prior to that, from 1977-2003, he served as a research chemist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Maryland. His research interests include plant biochemistry of secondary natural products including alkaloids, phenolics, drugs of abuse, smoking and tobacco issues, and the chocolate industry; molecular biology with emphasis on DNA fingerprinting, gene transfer and gene expression methodology.