Hans B Snyder is now officially on the Worcester Technical High School advisory board (Biotechnology). Here are the minutes of the last meeting.
Worcester Technical High School
Advisory Board Meeting
Biotechnology
The meeting was held on Wednesday, May 15, 2013. A general advisory board meeting was held from
5:00 – 6:00 pm and was followed by dinner. The Biotechnology Board meeting was held after dinner.
BIOTECHNOLOGY ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
1. Introduction of new instructor and new members
2. Student recruitment
3. Scheduling
4. Internships
5. Introduction of graduating Seniors
6. Introduction of juniors
7. Field trips
8. Guest Speakers
9. Third Instructor
10. Money, Equipment and Space
11. Adjournment
Members present:
Johanna vanderSpek, PhD, Biotechnology Dept. Head, WTHS
Andrea Pereira, PhD, Instructor – Biotechnology Dept. WTHS
Destiny Albino, Biotechnology Student, WTHS
Amber Albino, Parent of Biotechnology Student
Fransheska Clara, Biotechnology Student, WTHS
Shawn Fitzpatrick, Sr. Operations Project Manager – Manufacturing, Shire
Ellen Fynan, PhD, Chair, Biology Dept., Worcester State University
Hadeel Hamza, Biotechnology Student, WTHS
Deborah Grant, Training Specialist, Abbvie
Saana Hamza, Parent of Biotechnology Student
Samer Hamza, Parent of Biotechnology Student
Michael W. Henry, Vice President of Business Development, Quest Diagnostics
Abigaele Mann, Biotechnology Student, WTHS
Loice Njoki, Biotechnology Student, WTHS
David Orion Girardo, Student, Math and Computational Biology, WPI
Gary Ostroff, PhD. (Advisory Chairperson) Professor – Molecular Medicine UMMS
Maura Collins Pavao, PhD, Associate Professor – Biology WSU
Andrea Portnoy, Sr. Regulatory Affairs Specialist – Medical Devices, Covidien
Hans Snyder, B.S. (HT) CEO and Director – Histologistics, WPI
Bruce Wentworth, PhD, Sr. Res. Dir., Rare Genetics Disease Research Group, Genzyme – a Sanofi Co.
Members absent:
Betty Copeland, Instructor – Math Department, WTHS
J.B. Duffy, PhD, Assoc. Prof. and Dept. Head – Biology and Biotech, Life Science and Eng. Center, WPI
Raymond Dunn, MD. Professor/Chief – Dept. of Surgery, UMMS
Dennis Guberski, MS, Founder/CEO, Biomedical Research Models
Lance Hartford, Executive Director, Mass. Biotechnology Education Foundation
Magali Hickey, PhD, Senior Staff Scientist, Alkermes
Elizabeth Higgins, PhD, Founder CEO Glyco Solutions
Kevin O’Sullivan, President/CEO, Mass. Biomedical Initiative
Tony Raymond, President New Harbor SQA LLC
Cynthia Syverson-Mercer, Director of Marketing & Catalogue Sales, National/Swift Optical
David A. Wilson, Director Project Management Engineering, Bristol-Meyers Squibb
BIOTECHNOLOGY ADVISORY BOARD MEETING (cont.)
A Power Point presentation was used throughout the meeting to highlight student activities.
1. Introduction of New Instructor and New Members
• Jo vanderSpek introduced the new instructor, Andrea Pereira and the new committee members to all members present.
2. Student Recruitment
• Jo vanderSpek described the 8th grade parents’ night and the 8th grade walk through as means of introducing parents and students to the program.
• The board members discussed methods that might be used to inform the public of the program, including educating middle school guidance counselors and introduction of the program through a summer program.
3. Scheduling
• Jo vanderSpek explained the scheduling of the explore, academic and shop weeks.
• The board discussed the scheduling of classes during the academic week and junior AM presented the information that WPI will provide Calculus classes for interested students.
4. Introduction of Graduating Seniors
• The seniors present were introduced to the members.
• The accomplishments and future plans of all the seniors were presented.
• Thanks to Gary Ostroff (UMMS) Joe Duffy (WPI) the Clinical Pharmacology Study Group and Hans Snyder (Histologistics, WPI) for providing internships for the seniors.
5. Introduction of Juniors
• The juniors present were introduced to the members.
6. Internships
• The summer internship positions at WPI for juniors AM and HH were described.
• Mike Henry suggested that an internship position might be available at Quest Diagnostics.
• Hans Snyder discussed plans to implement internship positions at Histologistics, at WPI.
7. Field Trip
• The freshman field trip to Ellen Fynan’s lab at WSU was described.
• The sophomore and junior field trip to Quest Diagnostics was described.
• Deborah Grant offered to provide a field trip for the Biotechnology students as well as the STEM club members to Abbvie.
8. Guest Speakers
• Deborah Grant (Abbvie) and Andrea Portnoy (Covidien) offered to provide lectures on Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP) and Regulatory Affairs, respectively.
9. Third Instructor
• Jo vanderSpek informed the members that a third instructor would be hired for the program.
10. Money, Equipment and Space
• JovanderSpek informed the committee that a grant for $100,000 had been awarded to the program by the Massachusetts Life Science Center. The equipment and supplies ordered will be available for the fourth year of the program. In addition, U. Mass. Medical School has notified the school of their intent to provide funding for the program, over a five-year period, that is to be used to purchase equipment and supplies.
• Shawn Fitzpatrick (Shire) offered equipment to the program through the Shire donation program.
• The biotechnology space will be expanded to include the entire suite in which B016 is currently located.
11. Adjournment – 8:00 pm