Kara McCormick: South Dakota Biotech's director of science and operations

From board leader to full-time role, the newest member of South Dakota Biotech’s leadership team brings a strong background with the organization and a variety of industry experience.

Kara McCormick has joined South Dakota Biotech, the state affiliate of the international BIO organization, as director of science and operations.

“The impact this team has is so incredible,” McCormick said. “I’ve been involved in South Dakota Biotech since I was in graduate school and went to networking events, so I’m just excited because this feels like a very full-circle move in my career.”

A self-described “Air Force brat,” McCormick was born in England, but her parents are from South Dakota. As a child, she moved every few years, but in college she was drawn to South Dakota to be closer to family and continued to find opportunities to stay. She earned her Bachelor of Physical Science with chemistry and business specializations from Dakota State University and her Ph.D. in basic biomedical sciences with a specialization in infectious diseases from the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine.

McCormick has held multiple science industry roles early in her career, including vaccine research and development at Newport Labs and then as an epidemiologist for the state of South Dakota, focused on vaccine-preventable diseases and supporting the emergency response to the pandemic. Most recently, she served as research communications and outreach director for Sanford Research since 2021, when she also joined the board of directors of South Dakota Biotech.

“We’re so excited to welcome Kara to the team,” said Joni Ekstrum, executive director of South Dakota Biotech. “She’s already been a strong addition as a board member, so we know her skill set, background and relationships are a strong complement to us. I’m confident she’ll make an immediate and powerful impact to advancing our industry and supporting our members.”

We sat down with McCormick to learn more about her and the new role.

What appealed to you about the opportunity to join South Dakota Biotech?
It really comes down to impact. South Dakota is actually 50th in the nation when it comes to research investment per GDP, so there’s a lot of opportunity and growth available to expand our research activity. At the same time, we’re also seeing more opportunity for federal funding, so there’s a chance to position ourselves strongly to bring some of that funding into the region. I think there’s a lot of work that can be done in building our relationships across the state between universities and industry, and I really look forward to supporting that in addition to workforce development. Our executive director, Joni Ekstrum, has done an amazing job over the years building such a strong network across South Dakota Biotech, and so for me to come on board and really help showcase the work that’s been happening and continue to grow is something I’m really looking forward to.

How would you describe the core duties of your new role?
As director of science and operations, I’m helping oversee a lot of the scientific initiatives and resources. And then because we are a small team, I’ll be focused on a lot of behind-the-scenes work setting up systems for our team. I think pulling in data and sharing it out is going to be key as far as how we position ourselves within the industry. We have strong graduates in science degree programs versus our number of STEM openings, so we need to identify strategies to take advantage of our workforce and ensure we can have a very productive STEM economy. We want South Dakota Biotech to be a leading resource for data and connecting partners with opportunities that are available to them.

I also serve on the South Dakota EPSCoR REACH committee, which is focused on developing a broader science and technology plan for the state, so that’s a helpful relationship to bring as far as information and funding opportunities. My position really helps support all our biotech member companies, so as we identify needs, hopefully we’re also in a position to connect them with the resources they need, whether they’re starting up, scaling up or taking on new business activity.

What are some of your initial priorities at South Dakota Biotech?
We are working on some new funding opportunities right away in addition to some current grants, so that will be key. Also, I’m focusing on supporting and rolling out our STEM scholarship program and in supporting our upcoming South Dakota Biotech Summit & Annual Meeting in October.

Would you like to share more about this year’s summit?
Definitely. It will be held Oct. 22 at Dacotah Bank Center in Brookings. Our theme this year is really going to be focused on the global impact South Dakota is having on the rest of the world. Whether that’s in agriculture, recent trade discussions, health care and clinical trials, there’s a lot to discuss. You can learn more about how to join us here.

Big picture, what kind of potential do you see for the biotech industry in South Dakota?
I really do think we’re ripe for growth at this time. Even with a smaller population, it’s an advantage because we are very well connected and easily able to pull together the different teams needed to advance the industry. We have a lot of research going on in different areas. I think there are opportunities to continue building on our strengths, especially connecting industry and our universities, particularly our graduate programs. Technology will bring a lot of change, and we’re already seeing new trends in education, so it’s important to stay on top of that and really adapt to it.