Georgia Bio today announced recipients for a new award category, the Innovation Award. The Innovation Award will be presented to two individuals, Amy Baxter, M.D., CEO MMJ Labs / buzzy4shots.com and Ami Klin, Ph.D., Director, Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

The Georgia Innovation Award honors the department, institution, company or individuals who are forging new ground by thinking outside traditional paradigms to create some unique technology. The recipients will receive their awards at the Georgia Bio Annual Awards Dinner January 23, 6 pm to 9 pm, at Atlanta's Fox Theater. Here is a link to register.

Amy Baxter, M.D., CEO MMJ Labs / buzzy4shots.com

Dr. Baxter is a pediatric emergency physician and the Director of Emergency Research, Scottish Rite, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. After graduating from Yale University and Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Dr. Baxter completed a pediatrics residency, child abuse fellowship, and emergency pediatrics fellowship. She is boarded in Pediatrics and Emergency Pediatrics. Federally funded for her work in needle pain management, she has published multiple first author papers and lectures nationally and internationally on sedation and procedural pain management. A founding board member of the Society for Pediatric Sedation, she serves on the MedScape board for pediatrics, as well as reviewing for multiple scholarly journals and serving on PAS and NIH reviews. Dr. Baxter also holds patents on MDEA-Winning Buzzy and DistrACTION cards and is CEO of MMJ Labs/buzzy4shots.com, making personal pain products. Her funded research includes a 1.1M NIH SBIR FastTrack grant to study Buzzy, and creation of a pediatric nausea scale. Among other awards, she has been recognized as an Inc. Magazine Top Woman in Tech to Watch, a MakerFaire speaker, and Kimberly Clark MomInspired grant recipient.

Ami Klin, Ph.D., Director, Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Professor & Division Chief, Autism and Related Disorders, Emory University School of Medicine
Center for Translational Social Neuroscience, Emory University
Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar

Ami Klin, Ph.D. obtained his Ph.D. from the University of London, and completed clinical and research post-doctoral fellowships at the Yale Child Study Center. He directed the Autism Program at the Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine until 2010, where he was the Harris Professor of Child Psychology & Psychiatry. The Marcus Autism Center, an NIH-designated Autism Center of Excellence, is one of the largest centers of clinical science in the country, providing a broad range of diagnostic and treatment services, and an interdisciplinary program of research in clinical science. Dr. Klin's primary research activities focus on the development of social mind and brain, and on various other aspects of autism from infancy through adulthood.

Other leading companies, executives, researchers and dedicated individuals will receive Georgia Bio Awards for the following categories (listed alphabetically by award title):

  • Community Awards - Richard diMonda, BEE, MSBME, MBA; Judy M. Gantt M.Ed., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Joseph M. Patti, Ph.D., Biota Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Todd Sherer, Ph.D., CLP, Emory University
  • Deals of the Year Awards - Arbor Pharmaceuticals, LLC.; Clearside Biomedical Inc.; CorMatrix Cardiovascular, Inc.; EndoChoice, Inc.; Royal Philips & Georgia Regents Health System
  • Emerging Leader of the Year - Dana Fallaize, Emory University
  • Industry Growth Awards - David Hartnett, Metro Atlanta Chamber; David Perryman, DRIVE LLC
  • Legislator of the Year Award - Representative Ben Watson (R-166)
  • Phoenix Award - Merial LTD & the University of Georgia
  • Teacher of the Year - Julie A. Johnson, RN, MSN/MBA, Ed.S., Social Circle High School

For a list of past Georgia Bio Award recipients, click here.

Georgia Bio (www.gabio.org) is the private, non-profit association whose members include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, medical centers, universities and research institutes, government groups and other business organizations involved in the development of life sciences related products and services.

Note to Editors: Credentialed members of the news media are invited to attend. Registration is complimentary. Please contact Maria Thacker (404-920-2042; maria.thacker@gabio.org).

Georgia Bio
Maria Thacker Goethe, 404-920-2042
maria.thacker@gabio.org