WMU Entrepreneurship Series to feature Kalexsyn president

Dr. Robert Gadwood, co-founder, president and chief scientific officer of Kalexsyn president Inc., a contract research laboratory specializing in solving chemistry problems for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, will be the Nov. 9 speaker in a series on entrepreneurship.

His company is involved in research to find new medicines for use in various therapeutic areas such as infectious diseases, cancer and diabetes. Kalexsyn is known for its ability to solve difficult problems both in the United States and abroad.

Gadwood co-founded the Kalamazoo-based Kalexsyn in 2003. The company has since grown to a staff of 37 employees. Its customer base of small and large companies is located in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Its success has resulted in Gadwood and his company being named Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010 and Best Small Business of the Year in 2004 by the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center.

Before founding Kalexsyn, Gadwood was associate director of medicinal chemistry at Pharmacia where he supervised a staff of 19 chemists, who worked on multiple projects in both the infectious diseases and central nervous system therapeutic areas.

Gadwood will speak at 8 a.m. Friday, Nov. 9, in Room 2159 of Schneider Hall, as part of the Haworth College of Business Entrepreneurship Forum. The event is free and open to the public and begins with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 269-387-6059. Entrepreneurship Forum is a monthly speaker series created by WMU's Haworth College of Business to bring stories of entrepreneurial success to the greater Kalamazoo community.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave Media
Source: Mark Schwerin, Western Michigan University
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