Almac Group Launches Scholarship Fund, Will Award $50,000 to Triangle Student in 2021

Fund aims to promote opportunity and remove the financial barriers to undergraduate study

Durham, North Carolina – 27 January 2021 –Almac Group has today announced the establishment of the Almac Scholarship Fund in partnership with Triangle Community Foundation. The inaugural award, a $50,000 over four-year scholarship, will be made to a sole recipient in Spring 2021.

The Almac Scholarship Fund of Triangle Community Foundation exists to support first-year college students in the Triangle region pursuing four-year degrees at a North Carolina public college or university. Applicants must be a resident of Chatham, Durham, Orange, or Wake county, and must demonstrate financial need.

In addition to tuition assistance, the selected student will receive resources from Triangle Community Foundation to help support a successful undergraduate experience and will have the opportunity to develop a meaningful relationship with Durham-based contract development and manufacturing organization, Almac Group, gaining exposure to the organization’s role in the global pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

Support for the Almac Scholarship Fund comes directly from the McClay Foundation, the sole shareholder of Almac Group. The Foundation was established by the late Sir Allen McClay, one of Northern Ireland’s most distinguished entrepreneurs and philanthropists and founder of Almac Group, with the vision to “make a meaningful improvement and advance human health,” through the contributions of Almac Group’s innovative family of companies and support to a wide range of global charitable organizations.

The application for this year’s Almac Scholarship Fund award is currently live and interested students must apply via Triangle Community Foundation’s online portal (link here) by noon on March 1.

“Recognizing the significant barriers to education that many students face, we are honored to launch the Almac Scholarship Fund, specifically designed to support local students in their educational ambitions, regardless of financial circumstance,” commented Alan Armstrong, CEO of Almac Group and Chairman of the McClay Foundation. “We are delighted that in Triangle Community Foundation, we have successfully identified a charitable partner which shares in one of our core values —that educational opportunity has the power to transform lives and communities. We look forward, with great anticipation, to making our first award to a deserving student this spring.”

“As an employer of approximately 400 individuals in the Triangle region, Almac, with the support of the McClay Foundation, has always endeavored to make a positive contribution to the community in which we all live and work,” commented Donna Christopher, Global VP of Operations, Almac Clinical Services. “With the average college debt sitting at over $25,000 per student in North Carolina, our scholarship award is poised to make a considerable, measurable impact on the life of a local student. On behalf of all my colleagues in Durham, we look forward to celebrating this year’s awardee in the spring, and chart their success in the future.”

“We’re excited to be partnering with Almac, an international business with a local presence, to offer such a significant scholarship to a Triangle student,” said Sarah Battersby, MSW, Senior Scholarships & Education Officer, Triangle Community Foundation. “In these challenging economic times, and with the added impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that scholarships are more critical than ever in enabling our youth to attend and successfully complete college.”

Locally, over the past two years, the McClay Foundation has continued to support Duke Children’s Development Hospital programs for families in need. Most recently, this support has provided access to vital small items, such as thermometers for infants, diapers, infant, toddler and child car seats, transportation vouchers and health & hygiene packages for adolescents, to over 14,000 families in the region. In addition, recognising that charitable organisations had been impacted significantly as a result of the pandemic, Almac announced late last year that it had donated a quarter of a million pounds to 33 charities globally in order to support their critical work.

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About Almac Group

A unique culture delivering exceptional solutions

The Almac Group is an established contract development and manufacturing organisation providing an extensive range of integrated services across the drug development lifecycle to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors globally.

Its innovative services range from R&D, biomarker discovery development and commercialisation, API manufacture, analytical services, formulation development, clinical trial supply, IRT (IVRS/IWRS) through to commercial-scale manufacture.

The international company is a privately owned organisation which has grown organically over the past five decades now employing over 5,600 highly skilled personnel across 18 facilities including Europe, the US and Asia.

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