Wistar’s Dr. Heather Steinman Appointed PHL Life Sciences Co-chair

PHL Life Sciences, a business development division of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, will welcome two new co-chairs to lead its Advisory Board, tasked with advocating for the Greater Philadelphia region as a life sciences meetings destination.

Dr. Heather Steinman, vice president for business development and executive director of technology transfer at The Wistar Institute, and Dr. Darryl Williams, senior vice president of science and education at the Franklin Institute, will succeed Dr. Margaret Foti, president and CEO of the American Association for Cancer Research and Chris Yochim, founding member and chairman of the Board of the Delaware Bioscience Association.

Since joining Wistar in 2014, Steinman has worked to reduce barriers between biomedical research and its ultimate commercial application. By streamlining this process, she’s helped enhance the city’s reputation for breakthrough science and technology innovation. Prior to this role, Steinman served as the director of the Penn Center for Innovation, Perelman School of Medicine Office at the University of Pennsylvania. She also spent more than a decade as a technology licensing professional in the Office of Technology Management at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

“We’re fortunate to have a deep bench to step up and lead the next two years of the PHL Advisory Board, and we are thankful for the countless hours Margaret and Chris have dedicated to our mission,” said Bonnie Grant, executive director of PHL Life Sciences, at the PHLCVB. “Both Heather and Darryl have spent extensive time building their reputations in other comparable life sciences destinations, making their perspectives invaluable as we continue to promote Philadelphia’s strengths to life sciences meeting planners.”