Biocom’s Joe Panetta is making good on his pledge to spend more time in Washington D.C. In fact, he got a ticket to President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
“This will be a great opportunity,” said Panetta, the CEO of Biocom, the local life sciences industry association. “I’ve never been to one of these before.”
He said the invite from Congressman Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad, to Obama’s first big speech to Congress was a “lucky coincidence.” He is in D.C. to, among other things, coordinate a presentation to members of Congress by the Burnham Institute for Medical Research President John Reed on the need for National Institutes of Health funding.
I’ll be writing more this week about the efforts of Panetta and others to steer federal money San Diego’s way.