bionorthTX President and CEO Harold Strong today announced that the annual Helix Award will be renamed the Dr. Dennis K. Stone Life Science Achievement Award in honor of Dr. Stone’s decades of service to the North Texas healthcare and life sciences community.

The award recognizes individuals for their achievements as innovators, leaders, mentors and educators in the healthcare and life sciences industry. Dr. Stone, former chief scientific officer of Remeditex Ventures and a longtime promoter of life sciences in the North Texas region, was the 2016 recipient of the Helix Award at bionorthTX's annual iC3 summit on October 26th.

The award was presented to Dr. Stone’s family members, including his wife, Dr. Helen Hobbs, M.D., a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and their son, Dr. Langdon Stone, M.D., University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. The presentation of the award was made by Dr. Kern Wildenthal, president emeritus of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and president of the Children’s Medical Center Foundation in Dallas. “This award could not have been given to a more appropriate person. Dennis’ contributions to medicine, science and the community will result in a legacy his family can be very proud of,” said Dr. Wildenthal.

There has been an outpouring of accolades from area life sciences leaders for Dr. Stone and his contributions to the community:

“I can’t think of anyone who has done more to promote biomedical research, to promote the formation of companies, or to promote the North Texas biotech community than Dennis Stone. It is wonderful that bionorthTX picked Dennis as the 2016 recipient of this award, and I can’t imagine anyone being able to match his contribution. It is most appropriate for this award to be renamed in his honor,” said Warren Huff, CEO of Reata Pharmaceutical.

“A man as passionate as him (Dr. Stone) is rare, and his motivation to help/guide are from within, part of his DNA, and ever so deserving of an award as the Helix Award,” said Andrew Dennis, Ph.D., Managing Director of Office of technology Commercialization, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

“All of us here in the Office of Technology Development at the UT Southwestern Medical Center owe Dr. Stone a debt of gratitude for his years of service…Perhaps most importantly the patient population in North Texas, the U.S. and the world benefitted from the commercialization, mass production, and wide distribution of the medicines, treatments and technologies at UT Southwestern enabled under his watch,” concluded Frank Grassler, VP of Technology Development at UT Southwestern.

About bionorthTX

bionorthTX is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(6), member-driven trade association serving and representing the life science industry in North Texas. North Texas is home to 1,000 life science and medical technology related companies, six major universities and more than 26,000 industry professionals. For information on membership in bionorthTX and upcoming events visit www.bionorthtx.org.