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Welsh joins BTEC as new associate director for strategic support

Published Feb 28, 2011

Dr. Bill Welsh has joined BTEC as associate director of strategic support. Welsh comes to BTEC with a mandate to further its mission of expanding partnerships with local, national and international organizations and companies and to drive innovation and job creation in the biomanufacturing industry in North Carolina.

“Bill brings an extensive background in the biomanufacturing industry to BTEC, along with a track record of dynamic leadership. He’s a valuable addition to the BTEC management team and will play a key role in the Center,” said Dr. Ruben Carbonell, BTEC’s director.

Welsh’s job responsibilities include developing and delivering curricula for both university students and industry trainees; establishing and maintaining relationships with biomanufacturing industry partners, identifying research opportunities and facilitating technology transfer; managing the implementation of integrated data and document systems; and overseeing much of the day-to-day operations of the center.

Welsh, who earned a doctorate in foods and nutritional sciences from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, has more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. In his most recent position, as a product quality manager for both clinical and commercial products at Biogen Idec, he was responsible for a wide variety of activities including regulatory submissions, third-party corporate management, technical transfer, and overseeing chemistry, manufacturing, and control (CMC) activities.

A resident of North Carolina since 1999, Welsh’s prior work experience in the state includes an appointment as a senior process development scientist at Biolex Therapeutics, where he specialized in developing recovery processes for high-value biologicals from transgenic plant materials. He also worked as a senior scientist in the Vaccine Process Development group at Wyeth Vaccines (now part of Pfizer, Inc.) in Sanford, developing and validating purification processes for meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines.

Welsh also earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1983 and a master's degee in in food science in 1988, both from the University of Manitoba.