The Los Angeles Business Journal held its fourteenth annual Women Making a Difference Awards Reception and Luncheon event at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles on Wednesday, August 24th, 2005.
Described by attendees as an uplifting and inspirational event, the celebration honored Los Angeles based women who “lead by example,” successfully blending effective business vision with a passionate commitment to positively “making a difference,” both in the world of business and in the communities they serve.
Nearly 200 prestigious nominees were submitted to the judges this year, including Agi Hirshberg, President and Founder of the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research as well as SIDMAP, a leading provider of tracer-based dynamic metabolic phenotyping services that help biotech and pharmaceutical companies improve the drug discovery process.
Established in 1998, The Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing pancreatic cancer research and providing information, resources, and support to pancreatic cancer patients and their families.
“It is gratifying to be recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal because it brings more attention to an important cause that I truly believe in,” Agi stated. “Making a difference in the world of medical treatment and care continues to be my personal mission. My partners and I have a common goal and hope of one day finding answers for the dreaded diseases we face as a community.”
It is because of her philanthropic efforts to find a cure for pancreatic cancer that Agi became interested in scientific research and founded SIDMAP, which marks the third entrepreneurial venture she has pursued in a career that spans over thirty years. “The more involved I became with the Hirshberg Foundation’s work, the more I realized that the cure for cancer must come from a variety of areas – including research and drug development,” Agi said.
SIDMAP is a new competing technology to genomics and proteomics that provides answers to organizations seeking to enhance the drug discovery and development process, and develop further insight into disease states. The intended benefit of SIDMAP is to shorten the time from discovery to FDA approval using the knowledge of the interaction of the drug and the cellular metabolic network.
In addition to her numerous successful business endeavors, Agi has tirelessly dedicated her life to pancreatic cancer causes both through funding and day-to-day action. She has lobbied congressional leaders, met with officials from the NIH and FDA, and become the central voice in raising awareness of the devastating results of the disease.
Combining philanthropy with business acumen, Agi continues to blaze a path of leadership and inspiration as a woman making a difference.
