Life Sciences Foundation
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| Founded | 2010 |
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| Type | 501(c) |
| Focus | Biotechnology |
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Key people
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Heather Erickson, President and CEO Arnold Thackray, Founding President and CEO |
| Slogan | Telling the story of biotechnology |
| Mission | collect, preserve, interpret, and promote the history of biotechnology |
| Website | Life Sciences Foundation |
Life Sciences Foundation (LSF) is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that was established in 2011 to collect, preserve, interpret, and promote the history of biotechnology. LSF conducts historical research and archives and publishes historically relevant materials and information.
On December 1, 2015, the LSF and the Chemical Heritage Foundation finalized their merger, creating an organization that covers "the history of the life sciences and biotechnology together with the history of the chemical sciences and engineering." The organization will be headquartered in Philadelphia and will retain offices in the San Francisco Bay area.
The LSF mandate is to collect and promote the history of biotechnology. This includes telling the stories of "scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs, managers, executives, and financiers" in order to "humanize" biotechnology to a lay audience. The history of the biotechnology industry includes examining the complex relationships and socio-political dynamics that occur when science and entrepreneurship come together.
The idea for a foundation that would collect and share the history of biotechnology came about at a meeting in early January 2009 in San Francisco attended by G. Steven Burrill of Burrill & Company, Dennis Gillings of Quintiles in Durham, NC,, John Lechleiter of Eli Lilly & Co., Henri Termeer, then CEO of Genzyme and Arnold Thackray, founding President and CEO of the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF)
"Five years ago, G. Steven Burrill was part of a small group of biotech leaders who came together to discuss the importance of capturing the great stories and lessons of the biotech pioneers for future generations. From this meeting, the Life Sciences Foundation was formed in 2010."
Thackray had shaped Chemical Heritage Foundation—"the premier institution preserving the history of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related sciences and technologies." Oral history was one component of the CHF mandate of preserving interpreting, and promoting the history of science. In 1982 the University of Pennsylvania and the American Chemical Society had launched the Center for the History of Chemistry which was renamed the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) in 1992. Thackray, a Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry, Thackray received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in the history of science from Cambridge University.
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