DR. ERIC EDWARDS
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, PHLOW CORP., RICHMOND
Edwards made national news earlier this year when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services chose his Richmond-based pharmaceutical startup for a $354 million, four-year contract to manufacture generic medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients needed to treat COVID-19, creating a U.S. supply chain. Although Phlow was incorporated only in January, Edwards is a co-founder — with his twin brother, Evan — of Kaléo Inc., another Richmond pharma company, which produces an injectable pen for allergy emergencies, an invention the two came up with as teenagers with deadly allergies. Edwards also is a three-degree holder from
Virginia Commonwealth University, including med- ical and doctoral degrees in pharmaceutical science. He chairs VCU’s School of Pharmacy Graduate Advisory Board. Phlow’s contract with the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) could be extended to 10 years and $812 million. Te company will collaborate with VCU’s Medicines for All Institute and AMPAC Fine Chemicals, which has a plant in Petersburg. Edwards also served as chief science officer and chief medical officer at Kaléo, which he and his brother left in 2019.
W. HEYWOOD FRALIN
CHAIRMAN, MEDICAL FACILITIES OF AMERICA INC.; CHAIRMAN, RETIREMENT UNLIMITED INC., ROANOKE
Fralin’s name is well known in Virginia, even to those who don’t know about his work leading two of the commonwealth’s major resources for elder care — MFA Inc., which offers skilled nursing and rehabilitation services, and Retirement Unlimited, a 10-facility network of senior living communities. He serves on the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia as well as the Virginia Business Higher Education Council. Fralin also has been a member of the boards of visitors for both the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, and his charitable philanthropy has impacted everything from medical research to the arts.
U.Va.’s art museum was renamed to honor
Fralin and his wife Cynthia after the couple donated to the museum their 40-piece collection of American art, including works by John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt. Similarly, at Virginia Tech, the family’s $50 million gift to the Carilion Research Institute led to a name change: The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute now has 27 research teams working on basic, translational and clinical medical research. The Fralins also were major donors to Tech’s Fralin Life Sciences Institute.
MICHAEL J. FRIEDLANDER
EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR, FRALIN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT VTC, ROANOKE
In 2010, Friedlander founded Virginia Tech’s Roanoke-based biomedical research institute, where more than two dozen research teams are studying cancer, neuroscience, addiction and other topics. Te center is funded by more than $125 million in federal research grants and $50 million from the Fralin family. Friedlander also is senior dean for research
at Tech’s Carilion School of Medicine and is vice president for health sciences and technology, teaching at Tech’s colleges of science and engineering. In April, Friedlander led an initiative to develop in-house COVID-19 testing kits and processing, helping Southwest Virginia health departments to increase testing. He also leads the Friedlander Lab at Virginia Tech, which focuses on synapses between neurons, especially in response to brain injury. Friedlander received his Ph.D. from the
University of Illinois and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Virginia. Before joining Virginia Tech, he was a neuroscience professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
MIKE
GRISHAM
PRESIDENT AND CEO, VIRGINIA CATALYST, RICHMOND
Grisham has led the research-funding nonprofit organization — previously known as Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corp. — since its begin- ning in 2013. He spent more than 20 years working in biosciences, having founded several diagnostic and health care companies, including biomedical tech firm GPB Scientific LLC, based in California and Richmond, for which he remains CEO. A University of California, Berkeley and Stanford
Graduate School of Business alumnus, Grisham excels in raising venture funding capital, having raised more than $30 million in matching funds from private com- panies and $130 million in follow-on funding between 2014 and 2018 at Virginia Catalyst. He also received more than $41 million from investors for GPB, which focuses on cell therapies for cancer patients. Virginia Catalyst has partnered with seven
universities in Virginia and is funded by the state government. It has granted $19.1 million to 43 proj- ects in the life sciences across the commonwealth. In April, the organization started its 11th round of grant funding, aiding projects focused on the treatment of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
DR. J.
STEPHEN JONES
PRESIDENT AND CEO, INOVA HEALTH SYSTEM, FALLS CHURCH
Jones leads a double life. As the overseer of Inova, the Washington, D.C., region’s largest nonprofit health care system, the University of Arkansas graduate oversees five regional hospitals and several ambulatory programs. But Jones also is a celebrated doctor — Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., a health care research and information company, ranks him among the top 1% of the nation’s cancer physicians and urologists. Jones is a professor of urology at the University of
Virginia, which has partnered with Inova for a special undergraduate medical program at the Inova Fairfax Medical Campus. In May, Jones announced that the 1,927-bed Inova, which employs more than 18,000 and serves 2 million patients annually, will expand into the Springfield market with a new hospital. Somehow Jones found the time to publish more
than 200 peer-reviewed articles, contributing to more than 40 books (including two of his own) and serves as editor of the American Urological Association’s journal, Urology Practice. Before joining Inova, Jones was president of
Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and Family Health Centers and was a professor of surgery at Case Western Reserve University.
DR. K.
CRAIG KENT
INTERIM CEO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA MEDICAL CENTER; EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR HEALTH AFFAIRS,
U.VA. CHARLOTTESVILLE
Kent was hired in February to fill two important positions within the
U.Va. Health System, which posted approximately $3 billion in revenue last year despite an embarrassing billing scandal that led to the establishment of a community-led billing and collections advisory council. A respected physician and administrator with a
sterling reputation, Kent had quite a journey getting here, from herding cattle at his family’s Nevada ranch to becoming one of the nation’s top vascular surgeons to landing top faculty and leadership positions at, among others, Harvard Medical School, Cornell, Columbia and Te Ohio State University. At the latter, he served as president of its college of medicine and oversaw a seven-year strategic plan that included investing more than $3 billion in new research facilities.
WHAT WOULD A COMPETITOR SAY ABOUT YOU? “Great integrity, straightforward, resolute”
HOBBIES: Running/exercise/cycling — or anything my kids enjoy
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCES RECENTLY: Hiking in Virginia — spectacular and beautiful. Creating a financial mitigation plan — heart-wrenching.
FAVORITE VACATION: A road trip with my family through the Southwest in a Mustang convertible
www.VirginiaBusiness.com 89
W. HEYWOOD FRALIN: PHOTO COURTESY VIRGINIA TECH
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164
