A message from Eddie Pauline, President & CEO
BioOhio has evolved. Meet OLS.
This week, more than 100 leaders from around our state joined us at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus as we started the next chapter in our 35-year-old organization: BioOhio is now OLS, the Ohio Life Sciences Association.
While I am delighted and invigorated by the turnout this week, I also want to be clear that this is just the beginning. Our new name is the outward expression of the behind-the-scenes work we’ve undertaken in the last 15 months, identifying the opportunities and challenges that face the life sciences industry across Ohio and recognizing that our role in advancing and advocating for that industry has evolved.
An amazing day at the Ohio Statehouse.
Watch on YouTube | Read the announcement
The life sciences in Ohio have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to become one of the U.S.’s core hubs for the research, development, discovery, and manufacturing of new cures and treatments for patients suffering from some of the most terrible diseases and chronic conditions. We are well on our way already, with world-class innovation districts in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, along with life sciences industry clusters in every corner of our state.
But to achieve our bold vision, we must take bold action. OLS will advance the work that BioOhio started by increasing advocacy efforts among policymakers in Ohio and Washington, D.C. We have already created the OLS Gene and Cell Therapy Industry Council, which will allow us to better represent member investor interests in that space; we intend to form more of these councils in priority areas.
OLS has developed, and will soon implement, a workforce development strategy, catalyzing industry education partnerships, promoting public awareness of innovative life sciences careers and empowering our state’s life sciences employers to compete for world-class talent. And we’ll help develop that talent right here in Ohio.
Eddie Pauline, President and CEO, OLS | State Senator Steve Huffman | State Representative Scott Lipps | OLS Board Chair Erica Conroy, Ph.D., SVP, Employer Partnerships, AndHealth | OLS Board Member Tyler Allchin, Managing Director, Healthcare, JobsOhio
Our new mantra is this: Convene. Advocate. Accelerate — boldly. We have a chance here to make Ohio a destination for the life sciences — for treatments, for research jobs, for the kinds of innovation that changes lives around the world — for generations to come. When we look back on our life’s work, I believe this moment will stand out as a pivotal time, one in which we did not stand idly while opportunity passed us by. I hope we will look back and celebrate that we seized this chance, that we made it possible for scientists and others to create treatments that saved, improved, and prolonged happy human lives.
We cannot do this alone. If you are involved in one of the many life sciences fields across our great state, join us as a member investor. If you are already a member, let us know how OLS can continue to help your organization flourish. Share your stories of research, discovery, and care with your friends, your communities, and your elected officials. Connect with other life sciences professionals from Ohio and around the world and create internships within your organization or K-12 programming with schools where you live.
Perhaps most importantly, I challenge you to be bold. Countless Ohioans — brilliant, hard-working and collaborative by nature — have built the life sciences ecosystem we have today. They created a foundation for an even more promising future as one of the strongest life sciences industries in the country.
We stand now on the precipice of advancements that will create lifesaving treatments, advance healthcare, drive sustainable agriculture and build a robust network of high-paying jobs across Ohio for generations to come. Join us, and let’s move Ohio — and scientific discovery — forward together.
Eddie Pauline
President & CEO
BioOhio