VIDEO: Gov. Patrick Celebrates Burlington's IDBS's New Healthcare Center of Excellence

Gov. Deval Patrick and was in Burlington last Friday to celebrate the opening of IDBS's Healthcare Center of Excellence and participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

According to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the events stemmed from a meeting between UK-based IDBS, Governor Patrick, the Center and other Massachusetts officials at the BIO International Convention in Washington DC last year, and from the stronger business ties between Massachusetts and the UK built during the Governor’s Massachusetts Innovation Economy Partnership Mission to the UK.

In July, 2011 IDBS announced that its , at 25 Mall Road, would become its U.S. Healthcare Headquarters, and unveiled plans to expand the facility to include a new Healthcare Center of Excellence. The expansion has included a doubling of the company’s local workforce from eight to sixteen employees.

“Thanks to our investments in education, innovation and infrastructure, Massachusetts is a great place for international life sciences companies to do business,” said Governor Patrick. “Our Administration was happy to work with IDBS at the BIO International Convention this past June, and thrilled now to have them grow jobs in Massachusetts by establishing their U.S. Healthcare Headquarters here.”

During the ribbon cutting Patrick said he was excited about IDBS's work in helping organize medical information for more accurate, better, personalized healthcare.

According to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center release, the IDBS Healthcare Unit is "dedicated to the advancement of personalized medicines and improved patient outcomes through the delivery of advanced translational medicine and biomarker research informatics that bridge the worlds of clinical, molecular and image data."

IDBS's analytic solutions aim to improve disease understanding, more effective diagnosis and treatment selection, the release states.

At the event, IDBS Vice President of Business Development Chris Molloy introduced Gov. Patrick, who spoke to the role of companies such as IDBS in strengthening Massachusetts‟ innovation economy. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center was represented by Melissa Walsh, Chief Operating Officer. Also participating in the ribbon-cutting were Massachusetts State Representative Charles Murphy, Massachusetts

State Senator Kenneth Donnelly, Massachusetts Office for International Trade & Investment Executive Director Ken Brown, and UK Deputy Consul Anne Avidon. The ribbon cutting ceremony was attended by a wide range of IDBS customers and analysts across biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and healthcare research.

Check out our video of the ribbon cutting ceremony and a selection of remarks from the event.