TechJournal South selected 25 of the most influential people in Southeast tech in its Nov. print edition and their bios will be appearing online for the next few weeks. Today: Charles Hamner, visionary leader of the NC Biotech Center for decades and recent founder of the Hamner Institutes for Heath Science.
Visionary Charles Hamner helped NC grab envied position as a biotech hub
By Allan Maurer
RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC—Dr. Charles Hamner has often been called “visionary” because of his instrumental role in steering North Carolina toward its now much envied position as the third largest biotech hub in the United States. It didn’t happen overnight, though. It took 20 years and for that first 20 years, Hamner led the accent.
When the North Carolina General Assembly created the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in 1981, it was the nation’s first state-sponsored biotechnology initiative. Reorganized in 1984 as a private, nonprofit corporation, the center recognized that a fresh vision and strong leadership was vital for growth.
Hamner met with the center’s board of directors in 1987 to propose his comprehensive business model, which featured cornerstones of support from academics, industry and state government. His own background was a unique combination of experience in these three areas. The center agreed and gave him the opportunity to lead the organization.
At the time, Hamner had just finished serving 10 years as Associate Vice President for Health Affairs at the University of Virginia Medical Center, where he helped transform the organization to a thriving medical institution with an annual profit.
From cats to the Biotech Center
He consulted and worked for many years at a pharmaceutical company and also as a researcher at the University of Virginia, where he helped develop the technique of in vitro fertilization in cats. With a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and three degrees from the University of Georgia — a master’s degree in chemistry, a doctor of veterinary medicine degree, and a doctoral degree in biochemistry — Hamner was well prepared to coordinate collaboration among university, government and industry at the Biotechnology Center.
TJS asked Hamner what led him to see, back then, that biotech had the potential to become such as strong industry in NC.
“Biotechnology is a broad based life sciences technology having product potential in pharmaceuticals, agriculture ( animals, plants- food, forestry, increased production, quality and much more), chemicals ( alternative fuels, complex molecules synthesis), environmental sustainability and remediation.
“North Carolina has all the right ingredients: Strong Life Science programs in it’s research universities, a robust agricultural industry, substantial pharmaceutical presence, strong State government support, a willingness of all sectors to work together and and a public with faith in the future,” Hamner says.
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Years of accomplishments
First, though, he had to persuade North Carolina leaders why biotechnology should play a major role in the state’s future. To accomplish this, Hamner asked the Biotechnology Center’s board of directors to help him meet with the 30 most influential academic, industry and government leaders in North Carolina. Of those leaders, half were enthusiastic about Hamner’s vision and said they wanted to help, while the other half were noncommittal. Yet Hamner ultimately succeeded in persuading decision makers to understand the big picture.
Hamner developed a convertible loan fund that helped 52 startup companies obtain $450 million in venture capital. Among the 14 top biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies he helped recruit to the area are Bayer, BASF, Biogen and Wyeth. These companies built $900 million worth of facilities and created 6,000 new jobs in North Carolina.
Today, More than 358 bioscience companies are headquartered or have operations in North Carolina, employing more than 48,031 people, according to the Biotechnology Center’s database. For the third consecutive year, North Carolina ranks third in the nation in the number of biotechnology companies, according to Ernst and Young’s 2006 industry survey.
Out of the gate early
Hamner also nudged the Biotech Center and NC toward an emphasis on attracting biotech manufacturing facilities by developing what is now a world renowned biotech training program spanning community colleges and universities statewide. He still sees biotech as a growth industry.
“The glass is still half full,” Hamner says. “The expected growth curve over the next 30 to 50 years is about one- third realized. North Carolina got out of the gate ahead of most of the world and slightly behind California and Boston in this country.”
Does he have any advice for Norris Tolson, the new CEO and president of the Biotech Center?
“Norris Tolson is way too smart to rely on my advice,” he says. “But his current program to look at emerging technology potentials and develop Centers of Innovation in key State economic clusters is brilliant.
I wish we could develop a credit vehicle to help young companies build manufacturing capacity before we lose those jobs overseas; not acting in that area has caused the State to miss at least 10,000 manufacturing jobs and at least that many support jobs over the past five years. North Carolina with help from the Golden Leaf Foundation working with the Community College and UNC System has a great capacity to train biotech industrial technicians.”
After leading the North Carolina Biotechnology Center for 14 years, Hamner retired on March 31, 2002, but not for long. Now he is the namesake for The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, a private, nonprofit organization with goals just as lofty as those of the Biotechnology Center.
The Hamner is in a strong position to continue its traditional environmental risk assessments while expanding to translational pharmaceutical research and development. Translational research teams consist of basic and clinical multidisciplinary scientists who are members of both academic and industrial communities.
Throughout his research career, Hamner has authored more than 50 scientific publications, co-authored chapters in 12 books on reproductive physiology and biochemistry, and edited two editions of Drug Development.
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