iCON Awards Gala
The iCON Award was developed to recognize the important role of education, research, and training in fostering growth and in building the next generation of Midwest biotechnology and life sciences innovators and leaders. This award celebrates the achievements of leaders who nurture education, training, and scholarship in the life sciences in Illinois.
2009 Award Recipients Previous award recipients
iCON Knowledge Builder Award (Grades 6-12):
Terry Meyer, Red Bud High School
After attending seminars he began implementing some small labs into his advanced biology and general biology classes. As Mr. Meyer worked to become more familiar with the advancements in biotechnology, the labs conducted in the classrooms became larger and more skilled. Terry has become a professional development leader in biotech in the Southern Illinois Region. One key contribution came when he was selected into the Teacher-Leader program conducted by the Biotechnology Institute. Through the Teacher Leader Program he gained valuable developmental hands-on training with professional biotech educators, and gained an increased desire to provide professional development programs to fellow educators in the surrounding area. Mr. Meyer was honored by his selection to the Teacher-Leader Program conducted by the Biotechnology Institute. He was also awarded a $10,000.00 grant for classroom biotech supplies funded by the generosity of Baxter International, Inc while attending the Teacher-Leader Program in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Meyer was professionally recognized as an outstanding teacher when he was selected as the Red Bud CUSD #132 Teacher of the Year for 2008. Mr. Meyer was recognized as an outstanding teacher when he was selected to participate in the HEART Gk-12 Program funded by the National Science Foundation and implemented through the ecology department at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
iCON Innovator Award (University Level):
Dr. Thomas J. Meade, Professor, Department of Chemistry; Department of Biochemistry, Cell Biology, and Molecular Biology; Neurobiology & Physiology; Department of Radiology, Northwestern University
Dr. Meade is The Eileen M. Foell Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Physiology and Radiology at Northwestern University. His revolutionary research focuses on coordination chemistry and its application in bioinorganic problems that include biological molecular imaging, electron transfer processes and the development of electronic biosensors for the detection of DNA and proteins. Dr. Meade joined Northwestern University in 2002 and is the only professor to have four different faculty department appointments. Dr. Meade is a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record. He has founded four successful start-up companies based on his research at Caltech and Northwestern; Clinical Micro Sensors (CMS), which is involved in the electrochemical detection of nucleic acids, and Metaprobe (now Alerion Biomedical), which focuses on in vivo biochemically-activated magnetic resonance contrast agents. CMS was sold to Motorola in 2000 for more than $300 million. Dr. Meade is currently the inventor on more than 70 patents and patent applications.
Previous honors, awards, or recognition he has received: Miller Professor, University of California Berkeley (2009), Northwestern University Excellence in Teaching Award (2008), Beaumont Award, Wayne County Medical Society (2007), Eileen Foell Chair in Cancer Research, Northwestern University (2005), Founder, Ohmx Inc., Evanston IL (2005), Founder, PreDx Corp., Evanston IL (2005), Elected President – Society of Molecular Imaging – Membership >1,000 (2004), FMC Award, Princeton University (2004), Elkin Distinguished Investigators Cancer Lecturer, Emory University (2003), Neuroscience Award Lecture, Society for Neuro-Oncology (November 2002), National Academy of Engineering Lecturer, Cleveland OH (2000), Founder, Imaging in 2020 conference (1999-2009)
