BioUtah today announced its 2025 Life Sciences Awards, which will be presented during the 2025 Mayer Brown Utah Life Sciences Summit on November 12 at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center Hotel. The awards recognize leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and companies that have made significant contributions to Utah's life sciences industry. To register for the summit and learn more about the award winners, visit utahlifesciencessummit.com.
“We are proud to recognize this year's award winners,” said Kelvyn Cullimore, president and CEO of BioUtah. “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 the world over.”
“These awards reflect the dynamic leadership and culture of healthcare innovation we have here in Utah,” said Mark Paul, executive director of the University of Utah Health Center for Medical Innovation and chair of the BioUtah Board of Directors. “I look forward to celebrating these distinguished individuals and companies at the summit.”
The awards will be presented as part of the summit's morning plenary session. The honorees include Wesley Sundquist, PhD, Samuels Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Utah, recognized for his decades-long contributions and research on HIV assembly and replication, which led to the FDA approval of Lenacapavir in June 2025, a drug created by Gilead Sciences using his findings for HIV prevention. Sundquist, a recipient of numerous awards including the TIME100 2025 list, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Fred Lampropoulos, Executive Chairman of Merit Medical Systems in South Jordan, Utah, will be honored for his leadership in founding and guiding the company since 1987, resulting in over 500 domestic and international patents and applications on medical devices. Under his leadership, Merit Medical has grown to over $1.5 billion in revenue and expanded globally.
Shawn Fojtik, CEO of Distal Access in Park City, Utah, will receive an award for his innovative spirit and drive, resulting in more than 100 combined issued and pending patents and the founding of multiple companies, including Axiom, CIRCA, Distal Access, Fluidx, Pinyons, PolyEmbo, Transit, and VentiV. His technologies have seen more than one million safe-patient uses.
Nusano, based in West Valley City, Utah, will be recognized for developing a new class of targeted therapies using radioisotopes that deliver precise radiation to tumor cells. Their platform can produce more than 40 different isotopes, enabling advanced diagnostic imaging and next-generation cancer therapies, and is attracting other life sciences companies to Utah, such as Ratio Therapeutics and PharmaLogic.
Taylor Randall, President of the University of Utah, will be honored for his partnership and support in advancing Utah's life sciences ecosystem. His initiatives include the Life Sciences Workforce Initiative, the building of the University of Utah Eccles Health Campus and Eccles Hospital, and the establishment of the University of Utah Venture fund in partnership with EPIC.
