Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to Discuss Access and Equality at BIO Digital
With only one day until BIO Digital, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) continues to add to its impressive line-up of featured speakers. Today, BIO announced that U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join BIO President and CEO Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath for a fireside chat at BIO Digital on building access and equality for rural families on Wednesday, June 16, at 11:05 AM EST.
The discussion comes as Secretary Vilsack has renewed USDA’s commitments to address social inequalities in access to nutritious food and climate change and prioritized the need for ag innovation both domestically and abroad.
“Secretary Vilsack has long been a champion of biotechnology’s potential in agriculture to tackle pressing issues and grow rural economies,” said BIO’s Acting Lead for Agriculture and Environment Policy Sarah Gallo. “This conversation could not come at a more important time as the country looks to build a resilient future and ensure new economic opportunities reach those who need it most.”
From his time serving as governor of Iowa—America’s top ethanol producer and a leading state in biomass and renewable chemical production—to his leadership at USDA, Secretary Vilsack has played a leading role in developing policies that advance industrial biotechnologies and grow America’s rural economies.
In 2019, Secretary Vilsack received BIO’s George Washington Carver Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology and Agriculture at the BIO World Congress in Des Moines, Iowa.
Vilsack joins a long list of BIO Digital keynote and featured speakers, including experts and newsmakers from across the field:
- Tom Vilsack, Secretary, USDA
- Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization
- Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Julie Gerberding: How to End the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Collaboration and Investment to Address Global Unmet Needs and Prioritize Research
- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN; Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Emory University Hospital: Media and the Medicine
- Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer: Breaking Barriers in Vaccine Development
- Dr. Jennifer Doudna, Nobel Laureate and CRISPR pioneer: Breaking Barriers in Science
- Michael Vounatsos, Chief Executive Officer, Biogen: Breaking Barriers to Corporate Responsibility
- Richard Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations: Fireside Chat
- Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health: Fireside Chat
- Dr. Janet Woodcock, Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Food and Drug Administration: Fireside Chat
- Robert A. Bradway, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Amgen: Fireside Chat
- Dr. Tony Coles, Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Cerevel Therapeutics: Fireside Chat
Former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin will serve as emcee for the conference.
Last year’s first ever BIO Digital hosted over 7,000 participants from more than 4,000 companies and 64 countries around the world to view the 553 virtual sessions across 17 focus areas. More than 26,000 scheduled BIO One-on-One Partnering meetings across 28 time zones occurred among 3,269 companies at the virtual event.
BIO offers complimentary media registration to editors and reporters working for print, broadcast or web publications with valid press credentials.
BIO updates its education sessions and speakers regularly. Follow the 2021 Convention at @BIOConvention and @IAmBioTech and join the conversation using #BIODigital.
For more information about BIO Digital sessions, click here.
