UC Recognizes Entrepreneurial Excellence On Campus

Entrepreneurs ranging from students to legends were honored on May 14, when the University of Cincinnati's Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research hosted its sixth annual Entrepreneurship Recognition Banquet.

Legendary Cincinnati restauranteur Buddy LaRosa received the 2004 Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence. LaRosa is being honored during the year when his family business is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Says Charles H. Matthews, director of UC's Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research: "Donald "Buddy" LaRosa is a most deserving candidate for the 2004 Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence.ÿThe founding of LaRosa's is an entrepreneurial success story from every dimension.ÿ He is truly a leader in business, family, and community.ÿLaRosa's share of the local pizza market is over 50 percent, giving strong testimony to the viability of a product that arguably was the prototype of the birth of the pizza industry in the 50s and 60s."

UC also honored an alumnus and three faculty members for entrepreneurship in translating their expertise into new business opportunities. The achievements of the four honorees range from formation of venture capital firms to development of low-cost systems for exploring molecular pathways in disease, mechanical devices for treating heart failure, and a new ultrasound clot-dissolving system that will benefit stroke patients.

Business alumnus Edward W. Wedbush received the Lifetime Achievement Award; Eric Gruenstein, PhD, the Established Entrepreneur Award; David Melvin, MD, PhD, the Emerging Entrepreneur Award; and Christy Holland, PhD, an Honorable Mention honor.

Wedbush, a UC College of Engineering alumnus, lives in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. He earned his MBA at UCLA in 1957 and received an honorary doctor of commercial science from UC in 2000. In 1980 he formed Wedbush Corporation, which later became E*Capital Corporation, a private holding company for all Wedbush subsidiaries. Wedbush is now president of the E*Capital Corporation-owned company Wedbush Morgan Securities.

Gruenstein, a professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology, founded Intracellular Imaging, Inc., in 1991 and has since developed low-cost systems designed to measure intracellular calcium in living cells. These systems, consisting of hardware to collect cellular images and software to analyze these images, allow researchers to explore molecular pathways involved in health and disease. More than 140 systems have been sold worldwide. Use of this system has resulted in over 100 scientific publications.

Melvin, an associate professor in the Department of Surgery and professor of biomedical engineering, developed technologies to treat heart failure. With an increase in aging populations, the market for mechanical devices for treating heart failure is growing. Dr. Melvin's work with CardioClasp, Inc., and CardioEnergetics, Inc., a start-up corporation in the BIO/START business incubator, has generated more than $8 million in venture, corporate and individual investment.

Holland, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and radiology in the Colleges of Engineering and Medicine, developed a transcranial ultrasound thrombolysis system (TUTS). Preliminary studies suggest that ultrasound, combined with the clot-busting drug t-PA, dissolves a clot more quickly than t-PA alone and has significant potential in stroke therapy.

A number of students were also honored at the banquet, including the third straight team from UC to take first-place honors nationally in the Small Business Institute's Case of the Year Competition. The team of Genomatix USA - made up of MBA students Marvin Abrinica, Derek Blank, Thad Edmonds, Teresa Lake and Wendy Lau Tenn - were awarded first place honors in the SBI competition this winter.

The program also included recognizing three student ventures that will be receiving money from the program's Bearcat Bridge Fund to help with start-up expenses as they seek to transition into functioning ventures.

Also included in the banquet's program was the awarding of the inaugural California Scents Scholarship, a $2,000 scholarship to go to a UC undergrad who is pursuing an education in entrepreneurism. The first recipient is current UC freshman Derek Brown.

UC's Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research hosts the banquet annually to reward achievements of current and former faculty and students. The Entrepreneurship Recognition Banquet is sponsored by UC's senior vice president and provost for health affairs, senior vice president and provost for baccalaureate and graduate education, and vice president for research and advanced studies. For further information visit http://www.uc.edu/eawards.