For the past 8 years, PEI bioscience pioneer and founding mentor of the Emergence Incubator Regis Duffy has made a lasting impact on the bioscience community in Atlantic Canada. Celebrated at an event in October, he has now formally retired from his role and was recognized as Emergence’s first-ever Mentor Emeritus for his dedication and service to the program and the bioscience sector in PEI and Atlantic Canada. Regis was a mentor in the Critical Path Team Mentorship program, and his direction and leadership has been invaluable to many bioscience companies.
“On behalf of the Emergence team and all of the companies in the program, we wanted to extend our thanks, and share how privileged we have been to have had Regis’ participation in this program and the experience and advice he has shared,” said Jason Cleaversmith, Executive Director, Incubation and Infrastructure, PEI BioAlliance.
Regis Duffy’s career is an inspiration to many of those working in the bioscience sector, who have dubbed him “the godfather of bioscience in PEI.” In 2021, his daughter published a book about his career entitled The Chemistry of Innovation: Regis Duffy and the story of DCI.
About Regis Duffy
Dr. Regis Duffy is the former Dean of Science and Chairman of the Chemistry Department at the University of Prince Edward Island. In 1970, he founded Diagnostic Chemicals Limited (now Sekisui Diagnostics), a chemical manufacturing company engaged in the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients, fine chemicals, enzymes, and chemical reagents.
After serving as Chair of the UPEI Board of Governors from 1996 to 2006, Regis was named Board Chair Emeritus in 2007 for his contributions as a board member and chair, and for his many years of service to the university. His many honours include being named a member of the Order of Canada, receiving the PEI Region Canadian Red Cross Humanitarian Award, being awarded Atlantic Canada’s Innovator of the Year and Atlantic Canada’s Entrepreneur of the Year, and being inducted into the PEI Business Hall of Fame. He is the founding chair of the PEI BioAlliance, a leadership organization for the bioscience cluster, and he is a member of the NRC Institute for Marine Biosciences-Institute for Nutrisciences and Health (IMB-INH) Advisory Committee. In April 2008, a state-of-the-art bioscience and health research centre at UPEI was named the Regis and Joan Duffy Research Centre.