Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/83317
TODD R. DAVIAU, PH.D. Tampa-based CoreRx offers comprehensive drug product development and manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Supporting virtual, mid-size and multinational companies, CoreRx offers customized formulation development and clinical material manufacturing solutions. Education: B.S. in Chemistry and Marine Biology, Roger Williams University, Purdue University and University of Maryland President & CEO CoreRx Inc. www.corerxpharma.com Inspiration: I always wanted to be involved in medicine. But, from an early age I knew that being a physician was not for me. I knew that I could have an influence in medicine by utilizing my passion for and skills in chemistry. From that moment forward, I continued to seek out jobs that would put me in situations that forced me to grow and learn more and more about the pharmaceutical industry. Best advice: Very early on in my education, my biology professor told me that if I learned anything in college it should be problem-solving. "No one will care what you memorized if you can't fight your way out of a paper bag." We find ourselves continually working to solve problems for our clients, from improving the bioavailability of a drug, to finding more accurate ways to analyze the compounds, to creating novel packaging — all for the benefit of the end user—the patient who will someday use these medicines. BERND LIESENFELD Quick-Med Technologies in Gainesville builds technologies to improve public health by interdicting pathogen transfer. We work on keeping things clean and prevent them from developing bad smells or deteriorating from bacterial and/or fungal growth. Education: B.S. in Engineering Management, University of Vermont; Graduate diploma in Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University; Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida Principal Scientist Quick-Med Technologies Inc. www.quickmedtech.com Career goals: I really enjoy working on projects where we can take a technology and make it not only simpler, but also more accessible to the people who can benefit from it. As a career goal I would like to lead a team that brings products to market that are useful and helpful to the end-user, and that can sustainably displace technologies that leave a worse environmental footprint. Best advice: One of the professors on my research committee suggested that after graduating it was an excellent idea to explore research directions that went away from my comfort zone, basically moving in new directions. In graduate school, where it is very important to focus on a very particular and specialized task, this is pretty counterintuitive advice. I found it to be really useful to explore new territory technologically, which allows you to carry over experiences from other fields of science, and make novel combinations of knowledge from each field. 48 florida.HIGH.TECH 2012