FOSTERING COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN ACADEMIA AND INDUSTRY
An increasing number of academic researchers are collaborating with industry in many scientific areas, from patenting their findings and commercializing new technologies, to setting up companies based on novel discoveries and developing new products; however, collaborations with a goal of generating peer-reviewed publications remain an area of untapped possibility. This panel will focus on developing mutually beneficial, successful collaborations between industry and academic researchers to drive shared research interests and increase the scientific knowledge base. Panelists will talk about their own experiences, obstacles that they may have faced and the strategies they implemented to get mutually beneficial outcomes.
Kenneth ANderson
KRAFT FAMILY PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
DIRECTOR OF THE JEROME LIPPER MULTIPLE MYELOMA CENTER AND LEBOW INSTITUTE FOR MYELOMA THERAPEUTICS AT DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE
Kenneth is a Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Research Scientist and American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor.
Over the last three decades, he has focused his laboratory and clinical research studies on multiple myeloma. He has developed laboratory and animal models of the tumor in its microenvironment which have allowed for both identification of novel targets and validation of novel targeted therapies, and has then rapidly translated these studies to clinical trials culminating in FDA approval of novel targeted therapies. His paradigm for identifying and validating targets in the tumor cell and its milieu has transformed myeloma therapy and markedly improved patient outcome. He is a recipient of many scientific and humanitarian awards and appointment as a Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy, to the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute, and to the Institute of Medicine’s National Cancer Policy Forum. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, served as President of the International Myeloma Society, and is President of the American Society of Hematology.
Dr. Anderson is a graduate of Boston University and Johns Hopkins Medical School. He trained in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and then completed hematology, medical oncology, and tumor immunology training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Brian Bates
Biology Director, Centers for Therapeutic Innovation at Pfizer
Brian Bates leads the Biology Group at Pfizer’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) in Boston. This group supports drug development efforts for all projects in CTI-Boston’s diverse portfolio covering programs in neurology, oncology, immunology, and renal diseases. The group advances these programs through active collaboration with academic investigators in a large participant network. Prior to joining Pfizer, Brian led functional genomics and molecular genetics teams at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals dedicated to target identification and validation efforts. Brian did his graduate work at Columbia University and his postdoctoral training at the Whitehead Institute.
Weining Lu
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Dr. Weining Lu is a Principal Investigator, Associate Professor of Medicine, Primary Mentor of Graduate Students and Postdocs in the Renal Section, Department of Medicine, Boston University Medical Center. The primary research interests in Dr. Lu’s laboratory focus on translational research of the kidney and urinary tract development and disease. Dr. Lu’s research program is supported by grants from government (National Institutes of Health, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center), foundation (March of Dimes, National Kidney Foundation), and industry (Pfizer Centers for Therapeutic Innovation). Prior to joining Boston University Medical Center in 2004, Dr. Lu served as an Instructor in Medicine and Technical Director in the genome center at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Lu received his medical degree from Zhejiang University School of Medicine and his graduate degree from Northeastern University Bouve College of Health Sciences. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Renal Division and Genetics Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
Raunaq Malhotra
BIOINFORMATICS SCIENTIST AT SEVEN BRIDGES GENOMICS
Raunaq Malhotra is a Bioinformatics Scientist at Seven Bridges, where he facilitates both academic and commercial researchers with developing and deploying scalable and reproducible bioinformatics workflows on the cloud. He is also part of the academic collaborations team on the Seven Bridges Cancer Genomics Cloud. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the Pennsylvania State University, State College, where he researched on de novo methods for reconstruction of viral populations.
Ann Schlesinger
Industry-Academia Liaison at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research
Ann Schlesinger works in the Academic Relations team at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. Her role is to build connections with academia through collaborative research and education, and develop mechanisms to bring scientists together in order to innovate and improve health. Ann received a BA from the University of Chicago, a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, and trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute and the Harvard Immune Disease Institute. Prior to joining Novartis, Ann was at Harvard’s Clinical and Translational Science Center, supporting translational research.