BioUtah Announces 2025 Life Sciences Award Winners at Annual Summit

BioUtah today announced its 2025 Life Sciences Awards with five awards to be presented during the 2025 Mayer Brown Utah Life Sciences Summit on November 12 at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center Hotel. The annual awards recognize leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and companies who have made significant contributions to the state's life sciences industry. Kelvyn Cullimore, president and CEO of BioUtah, stated that these honorees exemplify the innovation and dedication that define Utah's life sciences community, and their work continues to deliver transformative healthcare solutions to patients in Utah and worldwide.

Wesley Sundquist, PhD, Samuels Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah, received recognition for his decades-long contributions to Utah's life sciences industry, particularly for his research on human immunodeficiency virus assembly and replication. His work led to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of Lenacapavir in June 2025, a drug Gilead Sciences created using his findings for HIV prevention. Sundquist is a recipient of numerous awards including the Horwitz Prize for Biochemistry and has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.

Fred Lampropoulos, Executive Chairman of Merit Medical Systems in South Jordan, Utah, was honored for his outstanding leadership, vision, and determination in founding and guiding the company since its formation in 1987. His zeal for developing life-changing medical technologies has resulted in more than 500 domestic and international patents and applications on medical devices. Under his leadership, Merit Medical Systems has grown to over $1.5 billion in revenue through organic product development and strategic acquisitions, expanding operations to Texas and Virginia in the U.S., and globally to Ireland, Mexico, Singapore, Netherlands, and France.

Shawn Fojtik, CEO of Distal Access in Park City, Utah, was recognized for his bold, inspiring can-do spirit and constant drive for innovation to improve patients' lives, resulting in 100+ combined issued and pending patents and the founding of multiple companies. His intellectual property contributions include cardiovascular angioplasty and delivery catheters, embolic liquids and plugs, blood-clot filters, and thrombectomy systems with more than one million safe-patient uses that Fojtik anticipates will be 10 times that amount soon. His technology has resulted in more than 10 exits to third parties who have commercialized or incorporated the technologies he has invented.

Nusano, based in West Valley City, Utah, was honored for developing a new class of targeted therapies using radioisotopes that deliver precise, high-energy radiation directly to tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. Their proprietary platform can produce more than 40 different isotopes, enabling both advanced diagnostic imaging and next-generation cancer therapies. Nusano's work is attracting other life sciences and radiopharmaceutical companies to Utah, such as Ratio Therapeutics and PharmaLogic that are interested in expanding their operations and partnerships in the state. Their technology is building an ecosystem of innovation that accelerates the fight against cancer, fuels job creation, and cements Utah as a destination for breakthrough science.

Taylor Randall, President of the University of Utah, was recognized for his partnership and support in advancing Utah's life sciences ecosystem. His administration is focused on transforming the university's research into practical applications that benefit society and the state's economy, including building the University of Utah Eccles Health Campus and Eccles Hospital in West Valley to expand access to healthcare and training in Utah. He has been deeply involved with initiatives such as the Life Sciences Workforce Initiative to ensure the state has a pipeline of highly skilled workers for the field. Registration for the summit and information about award winners is available at utahlifesciencessummit.com.