Joseph M. DeSimone, PhD, will be the keynote speaker at the Luther Hodges Ethics Luncheon on March 21, 2012, at the Radisson Hotel RTP beginning at 12 noon, and is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Research Triangle Park. The title of his presentation is “Diversity is a Fundamental Tenant of Innovation.”

Dr. DeSimone is the Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineer at North Carolina State University. He is also an Adjunct Member at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. DeSimone has published over 280 scientific articles and has 120 issued patents in his name with over 120 patents pending.

He founded Liquidia Technologies in 2004, and the company has just recently brought its first product to clinical trials. His current research is focused designing high-performance, cost-effective vaccines and medicines utilizing fabrication technologies from the semiconductor industry and nanotechnology.  For more information on Dr. DeSimone and the DeSimone Research Group, please visit their website. Members of the media are welcome to attend.