The winning Elon student team from Stanford’s Global Innovation Challenge and Elon entrepreneurship students visited Aldagen, Inc. in the Research Triangle Park on Feb. 26.
The students participated in a conference meeting discussion with the management team and senior staff of Aldegen. CEO Tom Amick, a 1969 Elon alumnus, discussed the importance of following your passions. “If you find yourself one day looking around and hating where you are, it’s time to get up and move on.”
Aldagen is a biopharmaceutical company that is currently working on four products which are developed as proprietary regenerative cell therapies that target unmet medical needs. Aldagen is able to manufacture all of the product candidates’ onsite, as well as work on adult stem-cells; which is unique to the company. Aldagen’s technology is “the only one able to isolate from a patient’s bone marrow or other stem cell sources, a potent population of therapeutic cells including all of the stem and progenitor cell types needed for optimal cell therapy.”
The Aldagen team consisting of approximately twenty highly accredited scientists and executives lined the conference room and shared their experiences and chosen paths of life. As they listed off their lengthy resumes consisting of job after job, there was one resonating theme throughout it all; it’s okay not to know exactly what you want to do, just make sure to always be doing something that your passionate about, and don’t be afraid to take risks.