BIG RESEARCH NONFICTION

The Chemistry of Innovation: The Regis Duffy story (Island Studies Press)-Read about this book’s entrance into the world in 2021

 The Chemistry of Innovation: Regis Duffy and Diagnostic Chemicals - released by the Island Studies Press
 Book Summary

 April 27, 2020

The Chemistry of Innovation: Regis Duffy and Diagnostic Chemicals shares the story behind one of Prince Edward Island’s most successful companies and brilliant entrepreneurs. In 1970, Regis Duffy — then Dean of Science at the University of Prince Edward Island — started a small chemical company to create summer employment for his students. From that time, Diagnostic Chemicals and its offspring, BioVectra, grew into global competitors in the demanding industries of diagnostics and pharmaceuticals, employed hundreds of Islanders, and provided shining examples of the potential for entrepreneurship and economic development in Canada’s smallest province. As founder, Regis Duffy is now known as “the godfather of biotech.” He has received a host of business awards and the Order of Canada and mentored countless entrepreneurs and innovators. He and his wife, Joan, have become major benefactors to their community — with a particular focus on supporting education, the arts, and health.
 This book begins by providing a peak into Duffy’s background shaped by growing up the hard-working farmers of Kinkora, practising his spirituality, and embarking on his university career before exploring the founding of “DCL,” some early foibles in manufacturing, the company’s major successes and expansion into the U.S. in the 1980s, changes in market landscape through the 1990s, the creation of BioVectra in 2000, and finally the sale of Diagnostic Chemicals in 2007. A brief epilogue provides a snapshot of how Diagnostic Chemicals and BioVectra, the P.E.I. biocluster, and the Duffys continue to contribute to the Island today.
 
The book co-authors are Maureen Duffy Cobb, a gifted non-fiction writer and daughter of Regis and Joan Duffy, and Lori Mayne, a journalist turned freelance writer/researcher and UPEI writing instructor. Using her gifts of detail and storytelling and her family experience and conversations, Maureen has focussed on crafting an engaging and comprehensive narrative. Applying her journalism background, Lori has focussed on completing research and interviews, assisting with chapter planning, and providing structural and content revisions. The research has included selecting from the Duffy family collection of articles, press releases, business catalogues, and photos; completing more than forty personal interviews; reviewing newspaper and magazine coverage; and gathering resources from Robertson Library, the P.E.I. Public Archives, and the P.E.I. BioAlliance.

For Regis and Joan Duffy, Diagnostic Chemicals was family. The lines between business and home simply did not exist. The Duffy children grew up in the business, and business literally came home – whether Joan Duffy fashioned filters for equipment or sorted out parcels with customs while watching over her children or Regis brought home business associates for dinner or lodgings. DCL employees, in turn, speak of the company as family and note how Regis and Joan treated them that way. For that reason, while the book covers major events, milestones, and company legacy, it emphasizes the rich memories in the DCL story.

Overall, this book will shed light not only on Diagnostic Chemicals and the Duffys themselves but also on UPEI, the local biotech industry, entrepreneurship, and the potential for success stories in P.E.I

THE TRAVEL MEMOIR

Unpacked: from PEI to PALAWAN: by mo duffy cobb (2017) 

“This is a charming, poignant, and at times touchingly hilarious memoir of travel, love, loss and healing. With her wise and effervescent voice, Mo Duffy Cobb takes us on a journey to South East Asia with her young family after the death of her baby. But this is not just a travel memoir; it is an intimate voyage through the unpredictable and ultimately restorative landscape of grief.” Christy Ann Conlin, Author of The Memento 

“Through her beautiful, winding story of backpacking across Asia—husband and toddler in tow—Mo Duffy Cobb shows how grief can sometimes propel us forward, first into the unruly unknown then, slowly, toward a new sense of home.” Katherine J. Barrett, Editor-in-Chief of Understorey Magazine

“Becoming a mom is not unlike world travel off the beaten path. Both are fraught with unexpected trials and joys, laughter, anxiety and sometimes, tears. Mo Duffy Cobb’s memoir captures the awe-inspiring, often comedic journey of motherhood, the shocking twists of grief and the unexpected healing powers of international travel.” —Marnie Woodrow, author of Heyday  

 about the book

Unpacked: From PEI to Palawan is a travel memoir of a young family, brokenhearted and hungry for change, that take off on an around the world journey of love and redemption.

Narrative driven, Unpacked is the passionate and candid story of a family struggling to cope with the stillbirth of their second daughter and the bewildering months that came after, and follows their decision to pack up their two-year old daughter and to travel through Southeast Asia.
Broken-hearted, they leave the Maritimes to fill the silence of their grief with the noisy spice markets of Bali, the crashing waves of the Philippines, and the golden surrenders of Borneo’s hot sun.

The inspiring story of a mother in search of herself, a husband and wife fighting for their marriage, Unpacked reveals the scenes that bring the narrator out of the pain and into the perspective of a new world.

After twelve countries, nine months and one unforgettable journey, this family begins to find acceptance in the humanity that surrounds them, the inspiration in each other to continue, and the courage to come back from their complicated grief.