Doug Colson (Photo provided)

SARANAC LAKE — The Trudeau Institute has announced the appointment of Douglas Colson to its Board of Trustees.

Colson comes to Trudeau with an acute awareness of the impact that infectious disease has on rural poverty. He spent extensive time in East Africa as a founding board member of the BOMA Project, a relief and development organization that helps women in rural populations start small businesses. BOMA helped start over 22,000 businesses during his tenure.

“I’m excited to support the Trudeau Institute’s mission to dramatically improve the treatment of TB, especially the drug-resistant strains, as well as coronavirus and tick-borne viruses,” Colson said.

Colson is president and CEO of Dorset Capital Partners, a private equity firm providing advisory services and equity investment for small- and medium-sized businesses looking for support in business strategies, acquisitions, divestitures, product development and distribution management.

He is also the chairman of Eastern Engineered Wood Products (Bethlehem, Pensylvania), CEO of Huston Lumber & Supply Company (North Plainfield, New Jersey) and vice president of International Swimming Pools Inc. (New Brunswick, New Jersey). Colson received a degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University. He lives full time on Upper Saranac Lake with his wife Kathleen.

“Doug’s business acumen, entrepreneurial track record and deep nonprofit leadership experience are particularly invaluable as we expand our research initiatives fighting global TB and coronavirus and regional tick-borne infectious diseases,” said Atsuo Kuki, Ph.D., Trudeau’s president and director.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Doug to Trudeau,” said Dorothy Federman, M.D., chair of Trudeau’s Board of Trustees. “The Institute will gain from his perspective and his commitment to guiding this transformational stage of the institute’s biomedical innovation.”