Daily Business Report-Feb. 21, 2017
Salk Professor Tony Hunter will receive the award March 31 in Stockholm. (Credit: Salk Institute)
Salk Scientist Tony Hunter Awarded Inaugural
Sjöberg Prize for Cancer Research Breakthrough
Salk Institute Professor Tony Hunter, who holds an American Cancer Society Professorship, has been awarded $500,000 as part of the $1 million inaugural Sjöberg Prize for Cancer Research for “groundbreaking studies of cellular processes that have led to the development of new and effective cancer drugs.”
The prize ceremony will be held in Stockholm during the academy’s annual meeting on March 31 in the presence of His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen of Sweden. Hunter shares the honor with immunologist James P. Allison of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Hunter studied how normal cells become tumor cells, demonstrating that a special process was necessary: tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins. His discovery led to the development of a new type of cancer pharmaceutical, tyrosine kinase inhibitors. These have revolutionized the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia and also are of great benefit in several other forms of cancer.
Hunter’s work has led to a complete catalogue of the 90 human genes that encode tyrosine kinases, over half of which have become targets for the development of drugs to treat cancer and other human diseases. Currently, 26 tyrosine kinase inhibitors are FDA approved for human therapy, with many more in clinical trials.
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BAE Systems Cuts Ribbon on New
Drydock — The Pride of California
BAE Systems and partners across the state celebrated earlier this month when the Barrio Logan-based shipyard cut the ribbon on its new dry dock, the Pride of California.
At 950 feet long and capable of lifting nearly 55,000 tons, the dry dock is the largest in California and the third largest in the nation. Used for ship repair and construction, the dry dock is flooded to allow watercraft to float in and then drained so watercraft can be set on a dry platform for work.
San Diego Regional EDC board member and BAE Vice President Bob Koerber joined Congressman Scott Peters, Congressman Duncan Hunter, Port Chairman Robert “Dukie” Valderrama and an audience of more than 150 senior military personnel for the event inside the dry dock’s 100-foot walls. The dry dock was shipped across the Pacific Ocean on a 7,000-mile, 60-day journey. It represents approximately $100 million in infrastructure investment from BAE to increase the shipyard’s capacity to meet the growing needs of the U.S. Navy.
BAE currently employs 2,000 workers in San Diego, with the dry dock anticipated to add more jobs over the next several years. BAE is a part of San Diego’s working waterfront, where the shipbuilding and ship repair industry employs 12,000 San Diegans and has an economic impact of $1.75 billion annually throughout the county.
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SoccerCity Plan: 4,800 Homes, 2 Stadiums,
Parking and Commercial Space at the Q Site
The proposed $1 billion-plus redevelopment of Qualcomm Stadium property, dubbed “SoccerCity,” would include up to 4,800 homes, more than 3 million square feet of office and retail space, 55 acres of parks and nearly as many parking spaces as currently exist at the 166-acre site, according to plans released Monday. San Diego Union-Tribune
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Badiee Development Reaches Construction
Milestone for Carlsbad Victory Industrial Park
Badiee Development reached a construction milestone Friday with the completion of the concrete wall panel tilt-up for the Carlsbad Victory Industrial Park. The 55,573-square foot industrial project is on track for completion in early Summer 2017.
Pre-leasing for the Carlsbad Victory Industrial Park is currently underway with representation by Colliers International San Diego. TFW Construction is the general contractor.
Carlsbad Victory Industrial Park is located within the Carlsbad Raceway Business Park at 3248 Lionshead Ave., Carlsbad. This is the first project under construction in Badiee Development’s current $90 Million, 425,000-square-foot industrial development pipeline in North County.
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SDSU Grad Ellen Ochoa Headed
For U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
San Diego State graduate Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman to go into space and the current director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, is to be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Ochoa joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer at Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. She moved to JSC in 1990 as an astronaut candidate. After completing training, she served on the nine-day STS-56 mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1993, conducting atmospheric studies to better understand the effect of solar activity on the Earth’s climate and environment. She has logged nearly 1,000 hours in orbit and participated in four space flights, including the first docking mission with the International Space Station.
Ochoa earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from SDSU and a master’s degree and doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University. As a research engineer at Sandia National Laboratories and Ames Research Center, Ochoa investigated optical systems for use in information processing. She is a co-inventor on three patents and author of several technical papers.
Ochoa has been recognized with NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for senior executives in the federal government. SDSU honored Ochoa as Distinguished Alumna of the Year in 1995.
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St. Paul’s Senior Services Awarded
Eli Pick Facility Leadership Award
St. Paul’s Senior Services in San Diego has been awarded the Eli Pick Facility Leadership Award from the American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA). Last year, only 284 of the nation’s 15,600 facilities received this honour.
The Facility Leadership Award was introduced by one of ACHCA’s most revered leaders, the late Eli Pick, in 2008. Pick worked with colleague John Sheridan of eHealth Data Solutions to develop an awards program that uses data driven criteria to objectively identify high-performing skilled nursing facilities and the leaders who make them excel.
Administrators of the facilities are honored during ACHCA’s national awards ceremony held at the annual Convocation and Exposition each spring.
“The American College of Health Care Administrators holds the standard for senior care,” said Brian D. McBee, administrator for St. Paul’s Manor and John A. McColl Family Health Care Center. “I am very proud of my team for achieving and maintaining such an impressive standard.”
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Cubic Corp.’s Australian Business Unit
Honored by Australian Defence Magazine
Cubic Defence New Zealand, a unit of San Diego-based Cubic Corporation, has been named the No. 1 2016 Defence Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise for the third consecutive year by Australian Defence Magazine. It was ranked 24th among the top 40 Australia/New Zealand Defence Contractors.
“Cubic has three decades of engagement in Australasia, and the region remains pivotal to our mission of delivering enhanced training systems and services to our allies,” said Dave Buss, president of Cubic Global Defense, the business unit of Cubic Corporation. “We are honored to receive this recognition for both our teams in New Zealand and Australia, as this demonstrates our successful efforts to strengthening our NextTraining strategy and advancing mission readiness to our partner nations.”
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Personnel Announcements
Will Neblett Named Executive
Director of Bach Collegium
Bach Collegium San Diego, San Diego’s only early and Baroque music performance ensemble, has named Will Neblett as its new executive director.
Neblett is well known to the San Diego performing arts community. He has more than 20 years of experience as a nonprofit executive. He has worked with San Diego Junior Theatre, Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, Carlsbad Music Festival, and others. During his 13 years at San Diego Junior Theatre, he tripled the size of the organization’s operating budget, student body, and audience.
In addition to his work as an arts administrator, Neblett is a theater director, educator, and speaking coach, with a passion for history and classical music. His love of classical music expanded greatly when, in the 1980s, he discovered an affinity for early music, collecting a large music library of recordings of the Academy of Ancient Music and The English Concert.
Neblett is also an accomplished musician who plays bass and acoustic guitar, and has been a singer in bands, choirs, and many musical theater productions.
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Alfredo Aguirre Appointed to No Place
Like Home Program Advisory Committee
Alfredo Aguirre, 63, of San Diego, has been appointed to the No Place Like Home Program Advisory Committee by Gov. Jerry Brown. Aguirre has been director of behavioral health at the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency since 2012, where he has held several positions since 1999, including director of mental health, director of children’s mental health and acting director of mental health.
He held multiple positions at San Mateo County Mental Health from 1979 to 1999, including deputy director, program manager, supervisor and psychiatric social worker. Aguirre is co-chair of the County Behavioral Health Directors Association’s Cultural Competence, Equity and Social Justice Committee and a member of the Network for Social Work Management Board of Directors.
The position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Aguirre is a Democrat.
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Tara Lake Joins KTUA as Senior Associate
Urban Planner Tara Lake has joined KTUA as a senior associate on the Land Use, Park and Transportation Planning Team. Lake is managing specific plans, park master plans, visual assessments, community character studies and other long-range planning projects.
Lake, 44, has a bachelor’s degree in urban studies and planning from UCSD and a master’s degree in landscape architecture from North Carolina State University. She has worked at LandDesign in Alexandria, Va.; the county of Arlington, Arlington, Va.; the city of San Diego; the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC, now Civic San Diego), and Latitude 33 in San Diego.
Lake has a broad range of experience in entitlement planning, park planning and long-range planning in both the public and private sector. She has a background in public outreach.
KTUA is a collaboration of land-use, transportation, and federal planners, landscape architects, GIS analysts, irrigation designers and graphic designers focused on healthy community place-making.
