Shelter Insurance® Honors Dr. Jay Keasling

02/10/2023

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Shelter Insurance^® honored Dr. Jay Keasling with one of the company’s most prestigious awards. Shelter President and CEO, Randa Rawlins, will be presenting the Fred V. Heinkel Award of Excellence to Keasling on Friday, February 10, at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, California.

Keasling is the Principal Investigator at The Keasling Lab, which focuses on engineering microbes to produce life-saving therapies, clean-burning fuels, and new materials for a variety of applications. Considered a pioneer in engineering microbes and metabolism, the contributions Dr. Keasling has made to the fields of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering are immense. One of Dr. Keasling’s most impactful contributions has been his lab’s innovation of an anti-malarial drug. This product has been used to reduce costs and increase supplies to fight against Malaria, a disease which infects about 500 million people yearly. More than 50 million treatments have been shipped all around the world saving millions of lives since its creation. His researchers are now using the same technology to produce other life-saving drugs and biofuels.

Keasling has published more than 300 publications, which has earned him numerous awards. Some of those awards include the 2021 Distinuguished Scientists Fellow from the US Department of Energy; 2013 George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology; 2009 Inaugural Biotech Humanitarian Award; and the 2005 Scientist of the Year from Discover Magazine.

Keasling was nominated by Shelter Insurance Agent Nicholas J. Voorhees, of Omaha, Nebraska. Nick and Jay both grew up in Harvard, Nebraska.

“Dr. Jay Keasling’s products make this world a better place to live today, tomorrow, and for decades to come,” Rawlins said. “Shelter Insurance® is proud and honored to be able to say thank you.”

Shelter Insurance® has presented the annual award, named after the company’s first president and chairman, since 1982 to people that have demonstrated excellence in one or more areas that include science, medical, research, health services, education, history, agriculture, athletics, or overall community service. Each recipient is nominated by a Shelter employee or agent. The winner is then chosen by the Board of Directors of Shelter’s charitable organization, the Shelter Insurance® Foundation. Each winner is also given a $2,500 award.

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Shelter Insurance® is a group of companies with four personal lines property and casualty companies, a reinsurance company, and a life insurance company. Shelter markets through Shelter Insurance®, AmShield Insurance®, Haulers Insurance, and offers auto, home, life, farm, and business insurance services to customers in 21 states. The firm’s corporate headquarters is in Columbia, Missouri and more information is available at ShelterInsurance.com.

For more information about the Fred V. Heinkel Award for Excellence, contact Jay MacLellan, Director of Public Relations at (573) 214-4393.