Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Health Go Hand-In-Hand at WV Bio Summit

Dr. Gee stated that creativity is in our DNA and for that reason West Virginia can become a leader in growing the life science industry.  Gee noted that West Virginia must find ways to keep its talent here at home.  He joked that West Virginia should build a wall around the state and ask Ohio to pay for it. 

Dr. Gilbert explained that he has always associated West Virginia with science.  As a young student, his first experience with the state was through attending the National Youth Science Foundation camp as a delegate from Mississippi.  He suggested that we need to increase industry/academic partnerships and that the bioscience industries can become an economic stimulus for the state.  However, he stated, we must get our political and opinion leaders to both understand and support it more fully. 

Dr. Hendrix outlined steps Shepherd University is taking to grow economic opportunity for West Virginia. She discussed the university’s establishment of a center for regional innovation, which has led the school to become a resource and convener for individuals starting businesses.  She said that Shepherd is reaching out to companies like Proctor & Gamble, Randox and Amazon, among others, to find out the skill sets they need for their future workforce.  These are the types of initiatives, she suggested, that our college system is taking to assist entrepreneurs and facilitate job growth. 

George Bennett, a native of Morgantown and one of West Virginia’s preeminent entrepreneurs, provided the keynote address during the Bioscience Summit.  

His firm, Good Measures, LLC, has developed a patent-protected approach that helps individuals achieve and maintain nutritional balance for the top 30 nutrients (while only eating foods that they like). Peer-reviewed research shows that when individuals achieve some reasonable level of nutritional balance, their bodies work better.

Good Measures has developed an approach for helping individuals achieve clinically meaningful levels of nutritional balance that combines clinically trained coaches who provide support via phone, email, text, secure video, or in-person.  And, various forms of digital technology are used to track progress, to provide real-time feedback on nutrition status, and to generate personalized meal and snack recommendations.