Centers of Expertise Specializations  View an overview profile on the National Center for Biotechnology Workforce.
Forsyth Technical Community College ~ Winston-Salem, NC      Biotech Research & Development in the Southeast      View Department Website      View Center Profile Forsyth Team: Lucas Shallua, Alan Beard, Aju Lekwauwa, Russ Read, Stephen Johnson, Toni Beery and Lucien Houenou
N. H. Community Technical College ~ Portsmouth, NH      Biomanufacturing in the Northeast      View Department Website      View Center Profile New Hampshire Team: Deb Audino, Tim Dubuque, Susie Harvey, Kari Britt, Sonia Wallman and Bob O'Brien
Indian Hills Community College ~ Ottumwa, IA      Agriculture & Food Processing in the Midwest      View Department Website      View Center Profile Indian Hills Team: Jane Lewachowicz, Janet Paulson, Suzanne Keller, Chuck Crabtree and Eric Olson
Bellevue Community College ~ Bellevue, WA      Life Science Informatics in the Northwest      View Department Website      View Center Profile Bellevue Team: Patricia Dombrowski, Christina Semeling, Jennifer Jones, Michele Royer and Tatem Murphy
Miracosta Community College ~ San Diego, CA      Bioprocessing in the Southwest      View Department Website      View Center Profile Miracosta Team: Mike Fino, Gail Baughman, Ric Matthews and Mike Urbach

R. H. Read, National Center Director
R.H. (Russ) Read was born and educated at Loyola, McGill and Concordia Universities in Montreal. He has worked in senior positions in the pharmaceutical industry for over thirty years. His work with Burroughs Wellcome and subsequently Glaxo Wellcome led him to successive strategic marketing opportunities, including the launches of "bench to the bedside" antivirals such as acyclovir, AZT, 3TC and abacavir for the treatment of HIV. In 1999-2000 he helped set up the initial commercial strategy which won the Federal Networks of Centers of Excellence an $18 million grant application for the Canadian Network of Excellence in Vaccines for Chronic Viral diseases and Cancer (CANVAC). From mid 2001 until August 2004 he was the founding CEO & President of the Kucera Pharmaceutical Company, formerly based in Winston- Salem NC, having raised just under $3 million in funding. In January of 2005 he was appointed Executive Director of the National Center for the Biotechnology Work Force, a $5 million program sponsored by a U. S. Department of Labor grant, based at Forsyth Tech Community College (Forsyth County, NC). He serves on the Board of Directors of Onconix Inc., the NC BIO Board of Directors; the Science Advisory Board for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), the Forsyth Tech Community College Biotechnology Program Advisory Committee. He is the current Co - Chair of the Piedmont Triad Life Sciences Executives Round Table, Vice - Chair of the NC Biotech Piedmont Triad Biotechnology Committee, Co- Chair of the UNCG Science Advisory Board and is a past Co - Chair of the Winston - Salem Chamber of Commerce Technology Council.