The Iowa Biotechnology Association (IowaBio) has announced Dr. Frances Johnson, chief innovation officer of Perspective Therapeutics, and Anthony Kinney, research director at Corteva Agriscience, as the recipients of the 2024 Iowa Biotech Leader Award. The awards were presented to Johnson and Kinney during IowaBio’s Iowa Biotech Showcase and Conference on Feb. 28. Johnson, a physician, scientist and entrepreneur, founded Viewpoint Molecular Targeting to bring innovative cancer therapeutics to market, according to a press release. In 2023, Viewpoint partnered with Isoray to become Perspective Therapeutics, which recently purchased a 20,000-square-foot building in Coralville to expand production and research and development. Kinney recently retired from a 35-year career at DuPont, DuPont-Pioneer and Corteva. He led a team applying emerging transgenic and gene editing technologies to improve the value of agricultural crops. The team delivered Corteva’s first gene-edited variants in soybean and made essential technical contributions to the advancement of next-generation soybean products, the release said. Johnson and Kinney were selected from a pool of nominees by a panel of industry experts.
