Genentech Foundation for Biomedical Sciences Awards Nearly $1.2 Million to Health Science Education Programs in the Bay Area

South San Francisco, Calif.- The Genentech Foundation for Biomedical Sciences announced today that its Board of Directors has awarded 24 grants in 2007 totaling $1,158,636 to educational institutions and community-based organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 2007 health science education grantees share the Foundation’s commitment to supporting innovation and expanding the scientific knowledge of local students.

“The Genentech Foundation for Biomedical Sciences has been supporting access to quality health science education programs for Bay Area students since 1988. Our grantees provide an impressive range of biotechnology and health science education programs that educate and inspire young people to expand their skills and have fun with science,” said Herbert Boyer, Ph.D., chairman of the Foundation and Genentech co-founder. “The Board is proud of the impact our grantees have been able to achieve over the years in the lives of young people.”

Among the 2007 grantees is Skyline College, which was awarded a grant for the annual Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science (EYH) conference. The EYH conference targets girls in grades six through 12 in San Mateo County, and allows them to explore future career options in mathematics and science. Conference objectives include promoting education and providing students opportunities to meet and form personal contacts with women working in traditional and non-traditional occupations. The EYH conference served more than 1,000 last year, and more than 20,000 girls since it began in 1980.

“EYH helps provide young women with positive views of education and the world of work in an effort to actively engage them in planning and preparing for their future,” said Christine Case, ED.D, Biology professor at Skyline College and conference director. “We focus on inspiring and building confidence in young women so that they will choose to seek out constructive challenges and opportunities.”

One eighth grade student described her EYH experience, “Doing the experiments was awesome.” A sixth grade student said, “Now I know I can be anything.”